Florida’s 5-2 win over Kentucky on Saturday not only clinched a share of the regular season title for the Gators but also delivered the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.
Heading into Saturday’s contest, Florida needed the perfect storm — a win, an Arkansas loss and an LSU loss — to finish the regular season on top of the SEC. Fortunately, all three boxes were checked by the end of the day, and the Gators will enter Hoover as the team to beat when the tournament starts on Wednesday.
Saturday’s game stayed scoreless for six full innings, but Florida finally broke through in the seventh for a four-spot. BT Riopelle struck first with a sacrifice fly, Luke Heyman followed with an RBI single and Dale Thomas blasted his first home run as a Gator, a pinch-hit, two-run shot.
Kentucky ended the shutout in the eighth with a solo shot, but Florida responded immediately with a home run of its own from Heyman. A sacrifice fly got the Wildcats one more run, but Brandon Neely closed ou the game without much trouble after that.
Jac Caglianone saved his best start for the last game of the regular season, but it’s a really positive sign moving forward for the Gators. At one point in the year, Caglianone was struggling to get through four innings. But, he’s looked like a different pitcher over the past couple of weeks.
Caglianone struck out eight Wildcats over seven innings of work. Lefty Phillip Abner worked the eight in relief before turning the ball over to Neely.
The Gators finish the regular season with a record of 42-13 (20-10 SEC).
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