Florida Claims Series Against Miami After Dominating Game Three
The Florida Gators (8-3) are heading home from Coral Gables with the series win after taking down the Miami Hurricanes (6-5) 8-4 this Sunday afternoon.
After securing game one on Friday night 7-3, the Gators left the field Saturday night feeling vengeful after a 6-10 loss.
“This was an important game for us. I know it’s early in the season, but we faced a little adversity. I kind of wanted to see how we responded today and I thought we responded in a positive way. We beat a really good pitcher today. Their starter was really good. I think the story of the game is, obviously, Jac on the mound.”
(Head Coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, Post-Game Press Conference).
Contributors to the Series Clinch
The stand-out two-way Jac Caglione started on the mound for Florida and delivered a shutout through six innings allowing 0 runs. Not only did Caglione dominate on defense, but having one homerun, 3 base hits, and one RBI secured him the win of the day.
Caglione had a career high eleven strike-outs against the Miami line-up with a changeup no batter could seem to hit and finishing at 91 pitches.
“Everybody talks about his arm strength and that type of thing. I’ll tell you what. The changeup today was as good as it has been in his career at Florida…”
(Head Coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, Post-Game Press Conference).
Totaling, the Gators managed five home runs, with shortstop Colby Shelton highlighting his performance with two home runs in the first and ninth innings this Sunday afternoon. In the fourth inning, right-fielder Ty Evans and senior shortstop Tyler Shelnut showed off with back-to-back bombs to shoot Florida’s score to 6-0 over the Hurricanes into the eighth inning.
However, pinch-hitter Dorian Gonzalez Jr. for Miami snuck in a grand slam in the eighth with two outs, closing the score on the Gators down to two.
Junior Brandon Neely came in to close the game, producing a perfect ninth inning on the mound with two strikeouts and securing the final game of the series for Florida.
Up Next
Heading home from Miami, head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is very pleased with his team’s execution after a disappointing game two loss.
“Yeah, this is important. It’s a rivalry series. More importantly, for us, it was a chance to see how we’re going to respond after a tough loss last night. Yeah, it’s early, but today was a step in the right direction.”
(O’Sullivan, Post-Game Press Conference).
Next, Florida will return home to host Florida Atlantic University this Tuesday at 6:00.