GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida scored in each of the first three innings to post a 4-1 victory over South Florida at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
The story of the night took place on the mound for the Orange & Blue, as six UF hurlers combined to five-hit USF while allowing just one run. Cade Fisher handled the bulk of the work with 2 2/3 scoreless innings while starter Liam Peterson, Luke McNeillie, Jake Clemente and Brandon Neely also tossed zeros. At the plate, Jac Caglianone provided the big blow with his 27th home run of the year while also extending his hitting streak to 27-straight games.
The Gators (25-23) found themselves in a bases-loaded jam in the first, but Peterson induced a pair of groundouts to strand a trio of Bulls (23-25). Florida took advantage by taking a 1-0 edge in the bottom half, as Caglianone went the other way for a solo home run onto the left-field berm.
The left-handed-throwing Fisher relieved Peterson at the onset of the next inning and produced scoreless frames in the second and third. Meanwhile, the Gators extended their lead in the bottom of the second, with Brody Donay doubling, advancing to second on a bunt hit by Tyler Shelnut and scoring on a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Hayden Yost. Florida tackled on another in the third to make it 3-0, as Caglianone and Ty Evans reached on consecutive singles with the former scoring on a throwing error by shortstop Eric Snow.
fisher and righty Fisher Jameson combined for a zero in the fourth, then Jameson blanked the Bulls in the fifth before they broke through for one run in the sixth. Leading off the frame, Bobby Boser swatted a solo homer to straightaway right field for a 3-1 ballgame.
After navigating the Gators out of the sixth inning, McNeillie returned to the hill in the seventh and fired a scoreless inning highlighted by two strikeouts. Clemente took over in the eighth and went one-two-three to send the Gators to the plate for their final at bats.
Adding an insurance run in the eighth, Colby Shelton led off with a double to right and came home three batters later on a two-out, RBI two-bagger to right-center field off the bat of Shelnut.
With a 4-1 lead in hand, Florida turned to Neely in the ninth. The right-hander retired three Bulls in order to cement the win and secure his second save of the campaign.
Fisher (3-2) earned the victory, providing 2 2/3 shutout innings of relief. The left-hander was charged with one hit allowed and struck out one.
Peterson did not factor into the decision, opening with one shutout inning and allowing two hits and one walk.
USF starter Lawson Gailey (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) across three innings on six hits. I have struck out one batter.
NOTABLES
- Tuesday night’s official attendance was 4,924.
- Florida’s scoring streak of 128-consecutive games is now the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
- Caglianone hit his 27th home run of the season, which ranks second nationally.
- Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 34 games and hitting streak to 27 in a row.
- Caglianone has hit safely in 46 of 48 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
- Jacob Young (2019-21) holds Florida’s hit streak record at 30 games.
- Neely earned his second save of the season.
- Five different UF pitchers had scoreless appearances in the five-hit effort.
- The Gators are 54-18 at home since the start of last season despite an 18-11 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
- Florida is now 65-28 all-time vs. USF including a 44-12 mark in Gainesville.
- The Gators are 25-5 against the Bulls under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan (21-4 at home).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Peterson’s start…
“I was okay with Liam’s start. It was just the walk after the hit. We’ve talked about that. But the bottom line is, he made some pitches when he needed to. We tried to get him to go two innings. We got to 22 pitches and that was it because he has to pitch this weekend. Overall, like I said, he made pitches when he needed to. The walk, like I said, after the hit, is probably what caused a little anxiety at that. point.”
On manufacturing runs in key situations…
“It’s been a huge emphasis. You start looking at our lineup and the amount of strikeouts that we’ve had this year. We tried to do it a certain way for a good part of the year and then you get to a point where obviously wins are extremely important and if what we’re doing isn’t working, then you have to switch gears. And that’s part of what coaching is all about, so you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over…”
On certain arms finding their form…
“It makes it a heck of a lot easier to manage your bullpen when you’ve got your main arms, right? I think this is kind of what we envisioned it to look like. It didn’t work out with Cade as our Friday night starter, then we made some drastic changes and then tried to use Brandon [Neely] there as a starter and there were some really good moments and there were some moments that weren’t so good. So, now we’re back to the drawing board again. That’s not from a lack of trying to push each button; all we’re trying to do right now is put everyone in a position to be successful. But when we go into a game and you can go to Fisher Jameson and you can go to McNeillie and you have Neely on the backend and Cade Fisher comes in with those 2 2/3, he’s been working hard on his delivery. And he’s standing taller on his back side of him and I thought he had more angle to his stuff of him instead of east and west. I thought he had more tilt to his slider tonight. It’s certainly a step in the right direction and hopefully he can continue doing this into the weekend.”
UP NEXT
Florida welcomes No. 3 Kentucky to Gainesville from Friday through Saturday for the final home series of the season. The series opener is set for Friday night at 6:30 pm on SEC Network+. Each of the final two games will air on SEC Network at 12 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
