Gators-Kentucky rained out, giving Brandon Neely an extra day of rest

In the last month Brandon Neely is all but unhittable with a 1.43 ERA as UF's closer (UAA Photo)

If the Florida Gators advance to the semifinal round against Texas A&M tonight, they might want to acknowledge a helping hand they got from Mother Nature. The evening of rest provided by thunderstorms that rolled through Omaha not only postponed Tuesday night’s elimination game with No. 2 Kentucky but gave Brandon Neely extra hours of rest. If the Gators (35-29) are to knock off the Wildcats (46-15) at 11 a.m. today, Neely figures to have a prominent role.

In his two games in Omaha, Florida’s closer has thrown five innings – two against Texas A&M, three against North Carolina State – allowing just two singles and one walk while striking out nine. He has thrown 68 pitches in the two outings. Combined with the 131 he threw on consecutive days at the Clemson Super Regional, the extra rest can only help.

Neely has faced Kentucky twice this season. When Kentucky came to Gainesville in May, the Wildcats took the series 2-1 with a pair of extra innings wins. In both games, Neely was charged with the loss. In 4-2/3 innings of combined work against the Wildcats, Neely gave up seven hits, seven earned runs, walked four and hit one batter.

That was the low point of a season that was headed nowhere for a pitcher who was a preseason third team All-American closer. In the five weeks since he was scraping the bottom of the season’s barrel, Neely has pitched 25-2/3 innings, allowing 14 hits and four earned runs while walking only six batters and striking out 38 while picking up one win and three saves. His post season ERA is 1.43. Prior to turning the season around, Neely had an ERA of 6.97 with 11 home runs allowed in 50-1/3 innings pitched.

He has been all but untouchable with a fast ball that frequently hits 96-97 miles per hour on the radar gun. Against the heart of the North Carolina State order in the ninth inning and with the Gators clinging to a 5-4 lead Monday afternoon, Neely blew fast balls past the first two hitters for strikeouts then induced Alec Makarewicz, a .380 hitter with 23 homers including a 2-run shot earlier in the game, to fly weakly to left field to preserve the win.

So, if the Gators are tied or have a lead to protect in the final innings against Kentucky today, Neely will not only want the baseball, but he will demand it, which is what great closers do. As Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in his post game remarks after the North Carolina State win Monday, “It takes a different person to close out games and they’re hard to find at this level, even at the big league level, but for whatever reason he really takes to that role … And you look at his pitch count – threw 23 pitches on Saturday but it feels like he threw 50 because he was so efficient. Tonight, I think it was 43 pitches or so in three innings. But, he’s so efficient you don’t realize how low his pitch count has been but he’s been just outstanding for us and those type pitchers are really hard to find. You have to have stuff and you have to have the mentality.”

Today’s starter is expected to be lefty Pierce Coppola. Like Neely, he has faced Kentucky this season, albeit with a bit more success. Coppola was pitching in only his fourth game since returning from a 2-year injury absence. He threw 64 pitches in 2-2/3 innings, allowing four hits and one unearned run. He walked one, hit one and struck out three. In his most recent outing against Nebraska, Coppola went a season-high 4-1/3 innings, giving up four hits and four earned runs while walking three and striking out eight.

Ideally, O’Sullivan has to be hoping to get 4-5 solid innings out of Coppola so he can turn things over to Fisher Jameson to set up Neely. Jameson saw action against Kentucky in May, when he allowed three hits and two runs over two innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Since then Jameson has been largely effective. Against the Aggies Monday night, he went three innings, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out three. He is 5-0 for the season with three saves and an excellent 74-18 strikeout to walk ratio.

All the focus today has to be on getting past Kentucky. Since it’s loser go home, the Gators have to do whatever it takes to get a win, which means all hands on deck when it comes to the pitching. If they get the win, they will have a few hours to figure out how they’re going to handle the Aggies, who will be going on two full days of rest.

Tuesday’s game

No. 8 Florida State (49-16) 9, No. 4 North Carolina (48-16) 5; North Carolina eliminated

Today’s games

11 a.m.: FLORIDA (35-29) vs. No. 2 Kentucky (46-15), elimination game

2 p.m.: No. 8 Florida State (49-16) vs. No. 1 Tennessee (57-11)

6 p.m.: Winner Florida-Kentucky vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (51-13)

Gator notes: Dating back to last season’s run to the championship series at the CWS, the Gators are 8-1 in elimination games … Jac Caglianone has been on base at least once in 50 consecutive games. He has at least one hit in 60 of Florida’s 64 games and comes into today’s game with a .413 batting average, 34 home runs and 71 RBI. Caglianone has 100 hits for the season. He’s the first Gator with 100 hits in a season since Jeff Corsaletti did it back in 2005. For his career, Caglianone is hitting .352 with 74 home runs and 188 RBI. He has struck out only 105 times in 628 at bats, only 26 times this season … Tyler Shelnut hit his 16th home run of the season against North Carolina State. He has hit safely in nine consecutive games … Since going 0-3 in the first game of the Georgia series at the end of the regular season, Michael Robertson is hitting .375 (18-48) with one homer, four doubles and 12 RBI. Robertson has raised his batting average from .222 to .267.

UF TRACK AND FIELD: Parker Valby semifinalist for Bowerman Award

With five NCAA championships during the 2023-24 academic year under her belt, Parker Valby would seem to be a shoo-in for the Bowerman Award, track and field’s version of the Heisman Trophy. During the past year, Valby won the NCAA championship in cross country, then won the 3000 and 5000 both indoors and outdoors, helping the Florida women to runner-up finishes in both championship events.

Earlier in the week, Valby was named the USTFCCCA Female Athlete of the Year. She was the cross country athlete of the year and the athlete of the year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Also, for the 14th time in his illustrious career as the head coach of the Florida track and field program, Mike Holloway was named USTFCCCA Coach of the Year. Holloway has won 14 national championships, which is more national championships than the entire coaching staffs combined at each of the other 13 Southeastern Conference schools.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: At the Nike Peach Jam in the summer of 2006, University of Florida assistant Larry Shyatt was explaining to his old buddy Rick Barnes, then the head coach at Texas (now at Tennessee) how Al Horford’s basketball IQ is other worldly.

“We’ll be in the huddle and Billy (Donovan) will be saying we need to move the ball to Corey (Brewer) on the wing and he can look for the three or dump it down to Al,” Shyatt explained. “And Al is like, ‘No, no, no Coach! This is how they’re guarding me, so have Corey hit me down low and when they sag on me, I’ll have Lee (Humphrey) in the corner or Corey (on the wing) for three. Jo (Joakim Noah) can slide down back side and Taurean (Green) should be open up top. They can’t defend all of us.”

To this day, Shyatt will tell you that Al Horford is the smartest college basketball player he’s ever been around. You won’t get any argument out of the Boston Celtics, who won the NBA championship Monday night with Horford giving the Celtics nine points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and unmatched defense on whoever the Dallas Mavericks played in the post.

Horford’s value to the Celtics this season can in no way be measured by stats – 8.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 blocked shots per game. What Al brought to the Celtics was his incredible IQ that was like having a coach on the floor and a presence like no other in the locker room. He is 38 years old and worth every penny of the $10 million a season the Celtics pay him. He has no plans to retire and the Celtics know his value. He will get a raise and a chance to earn a second championship ring next year.

Not bad for a guy who wasn’t a 5-star recruit coming out of high school in Michigan. At the Peach Jam in the summer of 2004, one prominent Southeastern Conference head coach told Donovan, “Horford’s a project. You’ll be lucky to get good backup minutes out of him by the time he’s a junior.”

We knew he wasn’t a project his freshman season when 11th-ranked Alabama came to the O-Dome. Going against Alabama’s veteran front line, Horford dominated the inside, grabbing 18 rebounds as the Gators blew the doors off the Crimson Tide, 85-54. That game was a foreshadowing of things to come in his Florida career. After a freshman season in which he and fellow freshman Corey Brewer took back seats to the big three of Anthony Roberson, David Lee and Matt Walsh, Horford became a dominanting presence the next two seasons.

Horford was an indispensable part of Florida’s back-to-back NCAA championships (2006-07). For the 109 games of his Florida career, Horford 10.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game for the 109 games he suited up for UF. In the two championship seasons his numbers were so consistent – 11.3 points, 7.6. rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 blocks per game in 2006, 13.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game in 2007.