Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan earned his 700th career victory and Jac Caglianone homered for a program-record seventh-straight game.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida plated three runs in the first and never relinquished the lead en route to a 12-1 win over Jacksonville in seven innings at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> (2-for-4) led the offensive onslaught, recording his first-career multi-homer game with a two-run shot in the first and three-run tank in the fifth. He also paced the squad with a career-high five RBI, followed by two runs driven in apiece from Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> (2-for-4) and Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> (2-for-3) highlighted by the 21st home run of the season from the latter. On the mound, five UF pitchers combined to allow just five hits across seven innings of one-run ball.
Following a scoreless frame on the mound from starter Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/16366>, the Gators (19-17, 7-8 SEC) opened an early 3-0 lead over the Dolphins (16-19, 10-5 ASUN) with a trio of runs in the bottom of the first. Caglianone and Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> hit back-to-back one-out singles and the former scored the first run on a throwing error by the pitcher on a failed pickoff attempt at first base. From there, Shelnut unloaded for a two-run home run to left field to add an exclamation point to the opening frame.
Clemente stranded the bases loaded while picking up three strikeouts in the second. Southpaw Frank Menendez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/frank-menendez/16627> relieved him in the third and worked a clean frame featuring a pair of strikeouts.
Florida manufactured one run in the third to extend its advantage to 4-0. It began with a two-out single down the third-base line by Kurland, who advanced to second on a throwing error by Tyler Hinrikus. Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621> then found a hole up the middle to single home Kurland.
The Gators scored again in the fourth, as Caglianone walloped a long home run over the scoreboard in right field to plate Evans and push the UF lead to 6-0. Jacksonville responded by getting one run back in the top of the fifth on a two-out, RBI single to center off the bat of Josh Steidl.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Florida erupted for a five-spot to take a commanding 12-1 advantage. Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> bunted two Gator runners over to second and third, but an errant throw to third by UF pitcher Leyton Finley allowed Kurland to score all the way from second as the ball rolled downed the left-field line. With two runners still on base, Evans singled home both Donay and Thomas with a base knock back up the middle. Capping off the outburst, Shelnut hammered his second home run of the night – a three-run shot to left field that put the Gators in the driver’s seat.
After entering in the fifth, right-hander Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/16377> fired a clean frame for the Orange & Blue in the top of the sixth. Fellow righty Landon Russell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/landon-russell/16636> replaced him at the onset of the seventh to make his collegiate pitching debut, working around a pair of one-out baserunners to produce a zero. His effort cemented a 12-1, run-rule victory for Florida.
Clemente (1-0) earned his first-career win in a controlled start on a scheduled staff day. He pitched two shutout innings on two hits and one walk while fanning a career-high five batters.
Jacksonville starter Dakota Stone (0-1) received the loss in his first appearance of the campaign. He lasted two-thirds of an inning and allowed three earned runs on three hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Evans, Caglianone, Shelton (2-for-4), Shelnut and Donay (2-for-3) collected multiple hits in the victory.
NOTABLES
* Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> won his 700th career game (all at Florida, 700-336).
* Tuesday night’s official attendance was 4,931.
* Florida delivered its fourth run-rule victory of the campaign.
* Making his first-career start, Clemente pitched two shutout innings and struck out a career-high five batters.
* Shelnut set career highs with two home runs and five RBI.
* Shelnut logged the eighth multi-homer game from the Gators, which have come from four different players (Caglianone, Shelton, Donay, Shelnut).
* Caglianone has homered across a program-record seven games in a row.
* Caglianone’s fourth-inning blast marked his 21st of the season and went an estimated 516 feet over the right-field scoreboard.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 22 games and hitting streak to 15 games.
* Russell made his collegiate pitching debut on the mound and threw a scoreless seventh inning.
* The Gators scored at least three runs in the first inning for the eighth time this season.
* Florida is 50-16 at home overall since the start of the 2023 season.
* Florida is now 67-36 all-time vs. Jacksonville including 44-17 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 21-8 against the Dolphins under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (16-6 at home), having won 12 of the last 15 meetings.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On not trying to do too much at the plate and the win…
“Yeah, I mean this isn’t anything new. We’ve been talking about this for quite some time, it’s just showing up in the games the last two games. The only message for the game really was, we are literally at a point in our season where it’s pitch to pitch, inning to inning, game to game. Every game is extremely important. Not that at any other point the games aren’t equally as important, but in the big picture now with where we are with our record, that we’ve got to treat each game the same and I thought we did that tonight.”
On Clemente and Russell’s outings…
“I thought Jake was good. I thought his stuff was really good. He had some sinkers run off the plate against some left-handed hitters that kind of gave him a little bit of trouble there, but he got through it for sure and I thought his stuff was really good. I thought Landon was really good. Good fastball, he had small misses. Slider was outstanding I thought. We would have probably used him a couple weeks ago and try to get him going, but obviously he had the injury to his thumb to start the season and we really haven’t been in a position to kind of let him breathe. To kind of get out there and do it when there’s no pressure. But now, he’s got an inning under his belt and I certainly think he can help us down the stretch here. In what role, I don’t know yet, but he certainly competed tonight. Had a pop up to the catcher and he’s pointing it out to Brody which some other pitchers haven’t been communicating very much on wild pitches or pop-ups. And if you let him, he probably would’ve caught the last out of the game if you let him. I was really pleased with how he threw. Those two guys were encouraging.”
On the difference in the team’s approach tonight…
“I don’t know what was different. I think they’re just putting better swings on the ball. I think moving Ty to the leadoff spot obviously has given us a little bit of a spark. I think Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> has been swinging the bat really good, which is giving protection to Jac. We all know how well Jac’s swinging the bat. But, if Colby’s not doing his job, then they’ll pitch around Jac and then pitch to Colby. I think Shelton’s been having some really good at bats. I think Cade is starting to come out of where he was, he’s putting better swings on the ball. Luke had a good game I think on Saturday, and then tonight you know. He’ll figure this thing out, I’m not worried about that. Everybody else just needs to do their job. Certainly, those top four, five, six hitters, their approaches have been much better, for sure.”
UP NEXT
The Gators travel to Nashville, Tenn. for a three-game series against No. 13 Vanderbilt this weekend. Thursday night’s series opener airs on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m. ET while game two begins on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Saturday’s finale will stream on SEC Network+ at 3 p.m. ET.
###
