Down to their last strikes, Gators rally past Mississippi State, 7-6

Photo credit UAA

This is what you call cutting it close. Down 6-5 to Mississippi State in the bottom of the ninth inning, the 6th-ranked Gators were down to their last strike. Not once, but twice, a 2-2 count to Tyler Shelnut and an 0-2 to Cade Kurland. Shelnut watched two Nolan Stevens pitches skip in the dirt for balls three and four, sending Armando Albert skipping home from third base to tie the score at 6-6. After a strike one because he wasn’t in the batters box and a swinging strike two, Kurland whistled a shot straight up the middle to bring home Ty Evans from third for a most unlikely walk-off 7-6 win.

Unlikely because for seven innings Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark, the Gators (15-10, 5-2 SEC) managed only three hits off two Mississippi State (18-9, 3-4 SEC) pitchers, and two of those were from catcher Tanner Garrison, who hit his first homer as a Gator in the third and a hard single through the third-short hole into left field in the fifth. Garrison came into the game hitting .176 but while his teammates struggled with Khal Stephen, he barreled up two pitches. Florida’s only other hit through the first seven was Evans’ seventh home run of the season on a 2-1 count in the bottom of the first.

The Gators didn’t exactly wear the cover off the ball in the eighth and ninth, but they got hits when they counted.

Down 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Colby Shelton worked a four-pitch walk off MSU reliever Tyler Davis and Evans followed with a walk on five pitches. That brought on another reliever, lefty Brooks Auger, who got Jac Caglianone to hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that moved Shelton and Evans up a base. Shelnut’s bouncer to third scored Shelton and Kurland lined a double down the third base line to drive in Evans.

At 6-2, the Gators were teetering on the verge. At 6-4, there was hope.

First there was the matter of getting to the bottom of the ninth while still down only two. Blake Purnell had delivered a scoreless eighth, but when the Gators took the field in the ninth, Kevin O’Sullivan called on freshman Luke McNellie, who seems to have found his niche as a late inning reliever. All McNellie did was strike out the side for his fourth consecutive impressive effort.

Having held the fort, it was time for the Gators to go to work in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman Hayden Yost led off going opposite field to left on a 2-2 count and after Albert fell behind 1-2 in the count, he took three straight pitches from Auger to draw a walk. After Mikey Robertson fouled off three pitches trying to bunt for the first out, Stevens came on to strike out Shelton on four pitches.

Stevens didn’t fool Evans, who lined a single to left that drove Yost home, cutting the margin to 6-5. On an 0-1 pitch, Caglianone went the opposite way, a soft one-hopper with a weird spin that Logan Kohler tried to surround without any luck. Bases loaded for Shelnut who was down to his last strike before Stevens bounced two in the dirt for a walk that scored Albert with the tying run.

Kurland, who has been playing through a fractured hand for the last few weeks, was behind 0-1 before he even had a chance to swing the bat. He wasn’t in the batters box when Stevens was ready to pitch, so home plate umpire Ronnie Teague gave him a strike, the second time that’s happened to Kurland this year. Kurland swung and missed at the next pitch, but the third went straight back up the middle to drive home the game-winner.  

It certainly wasn’t how O’Sullivan drew it up, but he wasn’t disappointed with the results.

“The at bats the last two innings were really, really good,” O’Sullivan said. “Hayden Yost, freshman, two-strike hit the other way and then Armando comes off the bench and draws a walk after a two-strike count. We didn’t get the bunt down and then the left-hander they brought in threw some really good sliders to Colby. We then just kind of strung some things together. Ty’s hit obviously was huge. Cags’ ball was a fortunate enough one for us. It had a weird spin to it and I thought that Shelly’s at bat was really good. He didn’t chase out of the zone. Then with Cade coming up, they called the first pitch a strike so he’s already in the hole 0-1 because he’s not in the box. Then he just put a really good swing on it, another 0-2 count swing. That’s a really good two-strike at bat there. Overall, it was a heck of a game.”

O’Sullivan shook up the weekend rotation when he started Brandon Neely, his All-American closer. Neely started off with a pair of scoreless innings before he gave up a single run in the third. The wheels came off in the fourth, not because the Bulldogs started hammering shots all over the field but because Neely’s control took a powder. A hit batter, two soft singles, a walk and another hit batter signaled the end of the night for Neely.

Cade Fisher, the usual Friday night starter came on in relief. He gave up a sacrifice fly, and two walks, one intentional to plate the Bulldogs final two runs of a 4-run inning. Fisher pitched through the seventh before leaving with a runner on second and two outs. Fisher Jameson promptly gave up a run-scoring single before inducing a ground out to finish things off.

Fisher went 3-1/3 innings when the Gators needed some stability.

“Without that performance, we probably wouldn’t have won the ballgame,” O’Sullivan said.

They certainly wouldn’t have won it if Purnell and McNellie hadn’t gotten the job done in the eighth and ninth. Because Purnell threw only 20 pitches and McNellie 12, they will both be available out of the bullpen the next two days as the Gators try to sweep the series.

The Gators and Bulldogs square off in game two today at 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network+).

SEC Baseball

Friday’s scores: No. 6 FLORIDA (15-10, 5-2 SEC) 7, No. 21 Mississippi State (18-9, 3-4 SEC) 6; Georgia (22-4, 4-3 SEC) 16, No. 5 Tennessee (22-5, 3-4 SEC) 2; No. 4 Texas A&M (24-3, 5-3 SEC) 12, Auburn (16-10, 1-7 SEC) 8; No. 16 Alabama (21-6, 4-4 SEC) 13, No. 18 South Carolina (20-7, 4-4 SEC) 6; No. 7 Vanderbilt (22-6, 5-3 SEC) 4, Missouri (10-17, 1-7 SEC) 0; No. 24 Kentucky (22-4, 6-1 SEC) 5, Ole Miss (18-9, 3-4 SEC) 3; No. 1 Arkansas (22-3, 7-1 SEC) 4, No. 8 LSI 20-8, 2-6 SEC) 3

UF SOFTBALL: Gators even things up at Mississippi State

Jocelyn Erickson hit two home runs while driving in five Friday afternoon, leading the 9th-ranked Gators (30-5, 6-2 SEC) to an 8-5 win over Mississippi State (25-8, 6-5 SEC), evening the weekend series at one game apiece. The two teams will meet today at 1 p.m. (SEC Network+).

Erickson hit a 3-run homer in the fourth to put the Gators ahead for good, 3-2. She hit a 2-run homer in the sixth when the Gators batted around to take an 8-2 lead into the seventh. The homers were the sixth and seventh of the season for Erickson, who has driven in 48 runs.

Mississippi State scored two in the first off starter Ava Brown (13-2, 1.83 ERA), but Brown shut down the Bulldogs for the next five innings. She ran into trouble in the seventh when Mississippi State rallied for three runs, but Keagan Rothrock came on to get the last three outs to register her second save.

Brown helped her own cause with her seventh home run, a 2-run blast in the sixth to close out Florida’s 5-run rally.

Friday’s scores: No. 9 FLORIDA (30-5, 6-2 SEC) 8, No. 17 Mississippi State (25-8, 6-5 SEC) 5; No. 4 Tennessee (27-4, 7-0 SEC) 5, Auburn (15-10, 2-8 SEC) 1; No. 7 LSU (28-4, 7-4 SEC) 5, No. 12 Texas A&M (28-6, 8-3 SEC) 1; No. 14 Alabama (26-7, 3-5 SEC) 9, Kentucky (22-12, 1-7 SEC) 4; South Carolina (24-10, 1-6 SEC) 2, Ole Miss (20-12, 3-7 SEC) 0

UF MEN’S SWIMMING: Gators third at NCAA Championships

The Gators were disqualified in the 400 free relay Friday night when the anchor leg swimmer was ruled to have left too early. Without the points, the Gators remained in third at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The highlight of the day for Florida was Josh Liendo capturing gold in the 100 butterfly.

Fourteen Florida swimmers and two divers will compete in the final events today as the Gators try to make up ground on first place Arizona State and second place California.

Top 10 teams through day three: 1. Arizona State 343; 2. California 286.5; 3. FLORIDA 273; 4. Indiana 247; 5. North Carolina State 206; 6. Texas 165; 7. Tennessee 147; 8. Stanford 144; 9. Virginia Tech 116; 10. Georgia 88

UF WOMEN’S TENNIS: Gators win sixth straight over Mississippi State

The 14th-ranked Gators continued their recent hot streak, winning their sixth straight match Friday at the Ring Tennis Center, 4-0, over Mississippi State (10-11, 0-8 SEC). The Gators improved to 11-7 overall, 7-2 in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators will be home Sunday against 30th-ranked Ole Miss (10-6, 4-4 SEC).