Florida baseball mercy ruled in SEC Tournament by Texas A&M

The Florida Gators baseball team was embarrassed in the SEC Tournament Thursday by Texas A&M. The Aggies won 10-0 thanks to a 7-run sixth inning.

Freshman Brandon Neely got the start for the Gators, but he looked far from the pitcher that went seven scoreless innings last week against South Carolina with 10 strikeouts. Getting ahead of batters was an issue all night and eventually, Neely’s lack of control led to a two-run shot from Trey Werner in the third.

During a mid-game interview, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said that he liked what he saw from Neely early on, but things would just go from bad to worse. He’d escape the fourth despite giving up a single, walk and double in the inning thanks to a double play to get the leadoff baserunner.

Offensively, Florida was at its worst. Out ahead of a pitcher who came into the game with a 6.10 ERA, the Gators struck out seven times to Aggies starter Micah Dallas. Wyatt Langford almost led things off with a leadoff dinger, but Jordan Thompson caught the ball and held onto it as he slammed into the centerfield wall. After that, Florida’s bats looked lost at the plate aside from a Jac Caglianone single in the second.

A bit of trouble came in the third after Colby Halter reached on an error from shortstop Kole Kaler and Sterlin Thompson stayed in the box to take a ball off the elbow, bringing up Jud Fabian to the plate. The junior saw nine pitches in the at-bat but ultimately hit a grounder right to Werner at third for the unassisted final out of the inning.

“(Dallas) has done a really nice job locating his breaking ball,” Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We got fortunate on the first pitch of the game that that ball stayed in the ballpark. He hurt himself with a few baserunners there, but he made a really nice pitch to Fabian. He’s a tough hitter.”

Sully met with his team before the fifth, but it didn’t change much. Dallas struck out two to close out his final inning of the day in a 1-2-3 fashion. Neely’s day also ended in the fifth, but it came in the middle of an inning after a third run scored on a Jack Moss single. In came Jameson Fisher to get the final out of the frame.

Joseph Menefee picked up right where Dallas left off in the sixth, baffling the UF hitters. Langford struck out swinging, Thompson struck out looking and Fabian went do hacking. Pain.

Then, the floodgates opened up. The Aggies put together a 7-spot in the inning they’ve done the most damage all year. According to the SEC Network broadcast, Texas A&M has outscored opponents 64-15 in the sixth inning. To the tune of three homers, TAMU went up 10-0 and put the tournament mercy rule into play. Phillip Abner and Tyler Nesbitt pitched in relief of Jameson in the inning.

The Gators went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, but the game did end in some controversy. Caglianone grounded out on a ball that he never left the box for because he thought it hit his foot. The umpires ruled it fair and the game ended with the play being non-reviewable.

That sets up a matchup with the Arkansas Razorbacks to open Friday for the Gators. Florida did take two of three against Arkansas during the regular season, but the team will be on its third pitcher coming off a blowout loss. That’s not an ideal situation to go into staring down elimination.

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