Neely holds on for second-straight save, Florida sweeps Mizzou

After being swept a week ago by South Carolina, the Florida Gators brought the brooms out and took care of Missouri.

For the second-straight night, Florida’s closer [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] closed out the game and delivered the Gators an 8-7 win over the Missouri Tigers.

Saves aren’t always notable, but they are when a closer is coming back from being ejected and suspended for four games. That’s what happened to Neely on the final day of the Georgia series, which meant he had to miss all three games Florida played against South Carolina last week. The bullpen seemed uneasy without Neely as an anchor, and the SEC saves leader showed exactly why he’s so important to this club on Sunday against Mizzou.

Neely entered the game after [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] surrendered three straight singles in relief of [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag]. A five-run lead had shrunk to just two, and Kevin O’Sullivan wasn’t risking things. Of course, Neely set the three batters he faced down in order, ending things with a looking strike out on Luke Mann. A run did score on a sacrifice fly for out No. 1, though.

Neely had little margin for error in the ninth, and it was a roller coaster of an inning. The first two outs came like clockwork, but Juju Stevens almost hit a game-tying home run that landed maybe six inches foul of the pole down the left-field line. Richie Schiekofer made an incredible effort on the ball and nearly robbed it. He’ll probably have a sore shoulder tomorrow.

The drama didn’t end there. Stevens reached on catcher’s interference after connecting with BT Riopelle’s glove on what should have been strike three. The training staff took a look at him and let him stay out there to close out the game. Riopelle will be lucky if he avoids any broken bones and was probably just running on adrenaline at the end there.

It can’t be said enough how important Riopelle is to the team, both from an on-the-field standpoint and as a leader. Losing him for any length of time would be detrimental to the team, but all Gator fans can do right now is hold their breath.

[autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] got his usual Sunday start despite not being listed at the start of the series. With [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] throwing a shortened complete game and Florida using up just two bullpen arms on Saturday, O’Sullivan figured he could give Caglianone a shot without worrying about a short afternoon.

Cags lasted through the third and looked decent through those innings, but the fourth was a different story and he got pulled after loading the bases without getting an out. Sully mentioned that batting in the bottom of an inning and pitching in the top can rush Caglianone, and he’s still learning to make that transition.

It’s worth discussing Fisher as the Sunday starter and moving Caglianone to a long-relief or close role for a bit. His power arm might be best served in short bursts, and there won’t be as much pressure to keep some left in the tank for a fourth or fifth inning as a reliever.

Still, splitting innings with Caglianone and Fisher isn’t a bad idea either, especially if the goal is to keep the former on a progression track as a starter. He only gave up one earned run and struck out five on Sunday, after all.

Fisher looked really comfortable, too. He didn’t have his best strikeout stuff today, but it’s good to see him pitch to contact a bit and work out of jams. Pro scouts will be happy to see it as well.

Offensively, [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] led the day with four hits, including home run No. 10 in the first. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] hit No. 25 in the fifth and [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] got No. 13 in the seventh. Florida entered the weekend with the fourth-most homers of any ball club in the country, and the power is only picking up as the season continues.

[autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag] and [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] also had multi-hit days with runs batted in. Tyler Shelnut finally cooled off with an 0-for-2 afternoon, but he still drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.

It was a good win to close out a strong weekend for Florida. Missouri isn’t close to the top of the division, but this is still the SEC and sweeps are hard to come by.

Florida travels to Jacksonville on Tuesday to go for the season sweep against Florida State in the neutral site game. Then, it’s off to College Station to face the Texas A&M Aggies.

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