Gators mercy ruled in series finale against No. 11 Tennessee

Florida still won the series, but the Gators are leaving Knoxville with a bitter taste in their mouth after falling, 14-2, in eight innings against Tennessee on Saturday.

Florida hasn’t swept the Tennessee Volunteers since 2011, and the Gators will have to wait at least another year before breaking that streak after dropping the 2023 series finale, 14-2, on Saturday in eight innings.

Unlike the first two games of the series, Florida struggled to get UT’s starter, Drew Beam. He lasted seven innings for the Volunteers, giving up just two runs on a seventh-inning home run from Florida catcher [autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag].

Beam nearly had a shortened complete game as Tennessee threatened a mercy-rule win with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, but the Gators held on to play eight. The duo of Kirby Connell and Aaron Combs got the Vols through the eighth.

Things started off badly on the mound for Florida. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] didn’t make it out of the first inning, allowing three runs to score on six walks and no hits. Caglianone has struggled over recent weeks with his fastball command, but he’s at least made it to the fourth inning in his last two starts.

After this one, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cags get a weekend off, but Georgia might be the perfect get-right opponent for him. It will be interesting to see how Kevin O’Sullivan approaches the situation. Yes, location is a problem, but Caglianone is in his head and that problem doesn’t typically disappear on its own.

[autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] pitched the next three innings for Florida, giving up five runs overall but only two earned. An error from [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] in the third inning led to all three unearned runs and served as a turning point in the game.

Griffin Merritt smashed a two-run shot off Nesbitt in the fourth, bringing the lead to eight, and Florida turned to [autotag]Nick Ficarotta[/autotag] to get through the fourth and fifth. Fic had the only scoreless [autotag]Chris Arroyo[/autotag] came in to pitch the sixth and walked both batters he faced. Sully quickly replaced him with [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag], who allowed three runs to score. It hasn’t been a good year for Jameson.

Blake Purnell walked three but got through the seventh without giving up a run. Unfortunately, he gave up a go-homer (a walk-off home run that delivers a mercy-rule victory, as defined by D1Baseball.com’s Stephen Schoch), and the Gators walked off the field looking like a completely different team than they were over the first two games of the series.

There’s no doubt that rain played a role in this game, but that score can’t be blamed on Mother Nature entirely. A bad pitching day killed any momentum Florida had early and the Gators seemed fine with losing.

It’s a disappointing finish to an otherwise great series win for UF, and the mercy rule might keep the Gators from taking over the No. 1 spot in the country.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1369]

[mm-video type=video id=01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb playlist_id=01eqbz250mdknqvm5z player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb/01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb-b15d3c6ba4832f51fd07f639374ba454.jpg]

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.