No relief in sight. Florida baseball falls in series opener to No. 5 Kentucky

A frustrating season for Florida baseball continued on Friday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark.

The Florida Gators suffered another blow to their postseason hopes, falling 12-11 in 10 innings to No. 5 Kentucky.

Trailing 12-9 in the top of the 10th, Jac Caglianone led off the inning with his 28th home run of the season. Shortstop Colby Shelton then launched a solo shot with one out in 10th, his second of the game, which cut UK's lead to 12-11,

But with the tying run on first, designated hitter Brody Donay, who homered earlier in the game, grounded into a double play to end the game.

Florida (25-24, 10-15 SEC) took an 8-6 lead into the bottom of the ninth but failed to close the game out as freshman reliever Luke McNeillie walked two straight batters with two outs in the ninth before giving up a three-run homer to Kentucky first baseman Ryan Nicholson, which put the Wildcats up 9-8.

The Gators rallied to tie the score at 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth on a two-out, RBI single by third baseman Dale Thomas. But Kentucky (36-10, 19-6 SEC) answered in the top of the 10th as designated hitter Nick Lopez cleared the bases with a bases loaded, three-RBI double off Florida lefty Cade Fisher, giving the Wildcats a 12-9 lead. Fisher (3-3) took the loss.

"This is frustrating for everybody," Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We have some work to do now, and we had some work coming into the weekend. This loss is magnified because of where we're at."

Here are three takeaways from the Florida loss:

Colby Shelton, Brody Donay slug Florida baseball to an early lead

Shelton belted a three-run homer, his 17th of the season, to put Florida up 4-1 in the third inning. Donay then added a solo shot, his 10th of the year, to lead off the fourth inning, putting UF up 5-1.

Florida baseball bullpen melts down

Florida failed to hold a 6-3 lead in the 8th, as righty Brandon Neely surrendered a two-run homer to Nicholson in the 8th and a game-tying RBI double by pinch hitter Eli Small.

Then, in the ninth, with Florida up 8-6, McNeillie walked back-to-back batters with two outs and fell behind Nicholson 2-0 before he lofted a fastball off the right field scoreboard, giving Kentucky a 9-8 lead.

Fisher then gave up the three-RBI double in the 10th, as Florida gave up nine runs over the last three innings. with seven of the runs coming with two out in the inning. Neely, McNeillie and Fisher combined to walk three batters and hit two batters in the final three innings.

"We walked too many and hit too many," O'Sullivan said. "But our offense battled; I just felt like if we could just go out there and put a zero on the board there in the tenth, we knew Jac was leading off the inning, we knew something was going to happen, and we just couldn't figure out a way to do it."

O'Sullivan also defended his decision to stick with McNiellie rather than bring in Fisher with two outs in the ninth inning to face Nicholson in a lefty-lefty matchup. Nicholson entered the game batting .455 against lefties on the season.

"At that point in the game, you're just going with the best guy," O'Sullivan said. "He's finished games. Cade has not finished games, at least not in a long time. Sometimes you've got to take the numbers and throw them out the window."

Florida baseball two-way star Jac Caglianone extends hit streak to 28 games

Caglianone laced a first inning single to center to extend his hit streak to 28 games, two shy of the school record of 30 in a row, set by Jacob Young in 2021. Caglianone also was walked three times — twice intentionally — which drew boos from the crowd before belting his 28th homer in the 10th to finish 2-for-3 with an RBI and four runs scored. Shelton made Kentucky to pay for one of the intentional walks with his three-run homer in the third inning.

Up next

Florida will host Kentucky on Saturday at noon. The game will air on the SEC Network.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida baseball falls in 10 innings in series opener with No. 5 Kentucky