O'Sullivan's Gamble Pays Off As Gators Take First SEC Series

"It's not how we drew it up." -- Kevin O'Sullivan

“Brandon's bicep had been bothering him a little bit. It's nothing serious but certainly not going to run him back out there this early in the season. He's too valuable. And then McNeillie hadn't thrown all weekend and this is what we saw from him in the fall. He didn't give up a run in the whole fall. He just got off to a tough start, but when Brandon said his bicep was hurting a little bit, I immediately went – my thought process – this is an incredible situation, because if he can get through this, it might change his whole year moving forward.”

Now there were a couple of anxious moments. There had to be at least a little bit of drama.  

“Leadoff hitter gets on and he's been a pain the whole weekend,” O’Sullivan said. “Then he goes to 3-2 with LaViolette and he's got to make a pitch. You know he walks him, he's first or second, one out and we have some problems. Then he lands a slider to Montgomery, maybe a little better feed, maybe we turn a double play there. And then now you've got Burton, senior, who hit, I don't know 12 or 15 home runs last year at Michigan. He did it. He got through it. It was awesome."

The save situation was made possible by Tyler Shelnut, who hit a 2-out, 0-2 pitch out of the yard in left field with Luke Heyman on board to break a 2-2 deadlock. Shelnut, who also had a walk and a fourth inning double, got the start at third base Sunday, part of a lineup shuffle by O’Sullivan that saw freshman Hayden Yost get the start in left field.

Jac Caglianone gave the Gators five innings for his third consecutive quality start. Caglianone gave up an unearned run in the top of the first on a two-out throwing error and a home run to Montgomery in the fifth. He allowed only four hits, walked five and struck out seven. He also had a 2-4 day at the plate, raising his batting average to .415.

The Gators came back to tie the game in the second on a Cade Kurland single up the middle that scored Shelnut. In the bottom of the fifth, the Gators knotted the score at 2-2 on Heyman’s sixth homer of the season to left field.

It was a constant battle on the mound for Caglianone, who had to pitch his way out of jams in each of the first three innings. He wasn’t as sharp as he was a week ago when he threw six no-hit innings against Saint Mary’s, but he made the pitches when they counted the most.

“He battled,” O’Sullivan said. “His fastball got better as the game went on and he reached back and got 95, 96, 97 when he needed to. His slider was really good today. Change wasn't quite as sharp as it has been in the last few starts but I mean, obviously you could see the development on where he's at and we get performances like that from him every Sunday, it puts us in a good situation."

After a four pitch walk with one out in the sixth, Slater came on to get the final two outs. Neely took over in the seventh and got the Gators through to the ninth where McNellie came on to close things out.

Florida (12-7, 2-1 SEC) will be home against Jacksonville Wednesday before traveling to 2nd-ranked LSU over the weekend.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators finish off 3-0 weekend with a run-rule

The 10th-ranked Gators (25-4) finished off a perfect weekend with a 10-0 run-rule win over Indiana at Katie Seashole Presley Stadium. Leading 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Ava Brown helped her own cause with a bases-loaded double down the third base line to give the Gators the cushion they needed for their 16th run-rule win of the season.

When she wasn’t doing damage at the plate (2-3, raising her batting average to .339), Brown threw a 3-hitter to raise her record to 11-1 while dropping her ERA to 1.28). Brown got plenty of support from Reagan Walsh, who drove in three runs with a double and her ninth homer of the season. Jocelyn Erickson drove in a pair of runs while Korbe Otis had a run-scoring single. Erickson came into the weekend tied for fourth nationally in RBIs (36) and tied for sixth in runners thrown out (8).

Following their game three loss to Alabama on Monday night, the Gators won four in a row, three by run-rule. The Gators lead the nation in scoring (8.92 runs per game), fourth in batting average (.377), third in ERA (1.11) and No. 1 in fielding (.987).

The Gators will be at Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday, home this weekend (Friday through Saturday) for their second SEC series of the season against Kentucky.

UF MEN’S TENNIS: Gators lose two weekend road matches

The Gators (8-8, 2-4 SEC) were in the road all weekend, dropping SEC matches at Auburn (4-1) on Friday and at Alabama (5-2) on Sunday. The Gators will be home next weekend with Ole Miss on Friday and Mississippi State on Sunday.

UF WOMEN’S TENNIS: Gators win two weekend matches

The Gators improved to 8-7 overall, 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference over the weekend by taking down Auburn, 4-1, on Friday, and Alabama, 4-0, on Sunday. The Gators will be on the road next week at Arkansas on Friday and at Missouri on Sunday.

UF LACROSSE: Gators have won seven straight

The 13th-ranked Gators (7-2) closed out a very productive week with a 20-7 win over Mercer Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the week the Gators stopped Princeton, 16-13.

Leading the way Saturday was Danielle Pavinelli with four goals and two assists. Josie Hahn had three goals while Maggie Hall, Emily Heller, Gianna Monaco and Ava Tighe all and two goals. The goalkeeping duo of Georgia Hoey and Elsye Finnelle combined for 12 saves while holding an opponent to fewer than 10 goals for the fifth time in the last seven games.

The Gators will be home the next three matches, facing Furman Tuesday, Old Dominion next Saturday and Liberty on March 27.

UF MEN’S GOLF: Gators win Schenkel Invitational by 4 strokes

The Gators claimed their fifth tournament win of the year at the Chris Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia, shooting a final round 5-under to take a 4-shot win over second place Notre Dame. Florida’s three-round total of 27-under par (837) is the ninth lowest three round total in school history. It was the fifth time the Gators have won the Schenkel Invitational.

Parker Bell led the Gators with a runner-up finish at 10-under par. Jack Turner, Quenten DeBove and Matthew Kress finished in a tie for 14th.

Team finish: 1. FLORIDA 837; 2. Notre Dame 841; 3. Middle Tennessee State 843; 4. Georgia Southern 847; 5. South Carolina 849; 6. (Tie) Wisconsin and Mississippi State 850; 8. West Virginia 851; 9. Florida Gulf Coast 856; 10. Kentucky 859; 11. UAB 870; 12. North Carolina State 873; 13. Campbell 880; 14. Army West Point 908

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: A new College Football Playoff deal has basically been agreed to. Details are a bit sketchy at this point but the new deal probably won’t stray too far from the reports a month ago that ESPN would be paying $1.3 billion per year for the broadcast rights. The playoff will have no fewer than 12 teams and seems likely headed for the 14-team model that has been proposed in recent weeks. That format is also being discussed but the one that will get the most attention and probably votes will have five conference champions – SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC – and nine at-large teams.

Now, $1.3 billion is a lot of money, triple what is being paid under the current format of the College Football Playoff, but is it possible that a better deal could have been struck? Is the ESPN deal the best deal or is it the one that simply gets money in the hands of the schools the fastest?

It’s weird the urgency that is being placed on getting this new deal in place for the playoff when there are still so many elements of the expansion to 12 teams that begins in the fall of this year that haven’t been decided. It’s also weird that ESPN will get the broadcast rites. Did the other networks have a chance to compete for broadcast rites?

The ESPN deal may or may not be as good as it gets but one thing about it, it does put money in more hands quickly. Hence the decision to jump on the ESPN deal. This is what the combination of the portal, NIL, the NCAA’s lack of guidance and questions about how long before players are salaried employees have done to the game. It’s all a rush job. Get paid now, solve any problems that arise after the fact instead of taking time and doing the things that make sure in advance there are few, if any, problems that need solving.