Tag: Fisher Jameson

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.

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Key takeaways from Florida’s strong start ahead of SEC play

Florida is getting ready to begin SEC play on the diamond. Here’s what we learned about the team during non-conference play.

Florida baseball is 16-3, ranked fifth overall in the country and riding a seven-game winning streak heading into conference play, but everything isn’t perfect in Gainesville after a strong start to 2023.

Those three losses all have a common denominator, an implosion from the bullpen, and it’s no secret that relief depth is Florida’s weak point. Kevin O’Sullivan has been figuring out which members of the ‘pen he can trust, and there are fewer names on the list than he would like.

Still, starting pitching and hitting are two very strong areas for the Gators, so they’ll be in most games they play in. The weekend rotation has been particularly strong for UF this year, and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] has made a seamless transition as a two-way player. In front of him are two potential first-round picks, [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag], that have only gotten better as the season’s carried on.

The injury bug did bite the Gators last week, but most of the team should be healthy for the start of SEC play on Thursday against No. 24 Alabama. Florida has played just one series against a ranked opponent this season against Miami. UF took two of three games and ended the weekend with a mercy-rule win.

Things look good for Florida with conference play set to begin, but the Gators still have to get the job done on the field. Here’s a look at what we’ve learned about the team over the first 19 games of the season.

Florida handles UNF in final game before SEC play

Florida got off to a slow start at the plate, but the bats eventually came around and the Gators won their seventh game in a row.

The Florida Gators won their seventh game in a row Tuesday night against the North Florida Ospreys, 7-2, but it took a while for UF’s bats to come around in the final game before conference play begins on Thursday.

UNF’s starter, right-hander Clayton Boroski, was perfect through the game’s first four innings, but things unraveled in the fifth after he surrendered a leadoff walk to Florida shortstop [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag]. [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] — who was playing first base today — singled, and right fielder [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] singled Rivera in.

Catcher [autotag]Rene Lastres[/autotag] tripled in the tying and go-ahead runs after a pitching change, and center fielder [autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] brought him in with a single.

That was enough for Florida to take a 4-2 lead, but Evans brought in two more in the sixth for some insurance. He later stole home after [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] baited UNF’s catcher to throw on a delayed steal. Fabian got another start in left field with [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] still on the mend. He was hit in the groin on a foul ball Friday.

Florida wouldn’t need more than seven runs to win the game, and that’s a good thing because the offense didn’t provide much else through the final three innings of the game.

Right-hander [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag], only pitched the first two innings of the game, but he gave up a run in the first, hit a batter and allowed three hits.[autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] came in for the third but ended up giving up that second run. Fortunately, he settled down and pitched two clean innings before handing the ball over to [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] for another three strong innings of relief.

[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] threw 23 pitches two days before a big series against No. 24 Alabama, but he should be fine as a former starter that’s used to throwing more pitches.

Kevin O’Sullivan was resting his arms this week with just one game between weekend series, but it will be all hands on deck against the Crimson Tide.

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Key takeaways after Florida baseball splits series with Jacksonville

Florida can’t seem to figure out the winning formula on Wednesdays, but the Gators are still off to a hot start in 2023.

Florida failed to put together a perfect week once again and split a midweek home-and-home series against the Jacksonville Dolphins on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It took Florida until the fourth inning to get things going against Jacksonville on the road Tuesday, but the Gators ended up scoring in each of the final six innings of the ball game to beat the Dolphins, 18-8.

Wednesday was a different story. Florida jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through two innings at home, but Jacksonville fought back after the Gators turned to the bullpen. A six-run sixth inning for the Dolphins proved to be enough and Florida fell, 10-8, to split the series.

Once again, pitching depth appeared to be an issue for Florida during the second midweek game of the week. Kevin O’Sullivan is still searching for the right mix of arms to last through the week without taxing any one particular pitcher too much early on.

An 8-2 start is far from a disaster, though. Florida looks like it could have a special team this season, but pitching depth could be an Achilles’ heel throughout the year.

Here’s what we learned from Florida’s series with Jacksonville.

Ninth-inning collapse leads to Florida’s first loss of season

An epic ninth-inning collapse led to Florida’s first loss of the season Wednesday night. USF splits the season series with a 10-9 win.

Florida (4-1) led for most of the game against USF Wednesday night, but a ninth-inning meltdown led to the Gators blowing a five-run lead and taking the loss, 10-9.

There was plenty to like from UF, including a decent outing from freshman right-hander [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]. in his first-career start, but the late collapse is going to overshadow any positives from the evening. For what it’s worth, every Florida starter got a base hit, and [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] was stellar out of the bullpen.

Game Recap

Tejeda got the start for Florida and lasted three innings. He had a clean first inning despite walking Bobby Boser on four pitches, but the second and third were tough for Tejeda. He got out of a jam in the second, stranding a pair of Bulls in scoring position, but wasn’t as lucky in the third.

Tejeda started what should have been a 1-6-3 double play, but shortstop [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] made an errant throw to first and allowed a run to score. The 6-foot-8-inch freshman should have been out of the inning, but he surrendered another run after giving up a walk and a single instead.

At that point, Florida’s offense hadn’t gotten going yet and only managed to score a single run through the first two innings. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] homered in the first, but it took until the second time through the lineup for Florida to add some more runs.

[autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] hit a long sac fly into foul territory to tie things up in the bottom of the third, and Rivera came through with a single to left-center that scored him and gave Florida the lead. Caglianone was intentionally walked in between the two at-bats.

Ficarrotta was strong in relief for the Gators. He lasted 3 2/3 innings, striking out seven without giving up a base on balls. Ficarrotta surrendered just one run on the evening and limited damage to get out of a fifth-inning jam that started with three-straight singles.

Florida also had a big fifth inning and scored three runs. [autotag]Dale Thomas[/autotag], who got his first start of the season at second base, started things off with a double, and [autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] moved him over to third on a bunt single.

Langford struck out looking at three pitches, but Caglianone drove in Thomas with a single to right field. Rivera followed that up with his second RBI single of the day, and [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] singled in a run as well. A double play from [autotag]Tyler Shlenut[/autotag] ended the run.

Left-handed freshman [autotag]Chris Arroyo[/autotag] got the final out of the seventh for Florida after Ficarrotta allowed a pair of baserunners. Arroyo returned for the top of the eighth but was immediately pulled after giving up a base hit to start the inning. Kevin O’Sullivan gave him a pat on the back after taking the ball from him, which probably means that he was pulled to fit the matchup against a pinch hitter rather than for poor performance.

[autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] was the third arm out of the bullpen for Florida and got out of the eighth without issue. He did walk USF’s No. 9 hitter with two out but nothing came of it.

[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] could have earned his second save of the season, but Florida added what it thought was a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.

[autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag] scored after doubling and getting knocked in by Thomas. Robertson extended the lead to five runs with an RBI single of his own, and Langford doubled on a checked swing to put men on the corners. Caglianone drew his second intentional walk of the night, but Rivera couldn’t come up big again despite entering the at-bat hitting .660 with runners in scoring position.

Purnell came back out to pitch the ninth but things went south pretty quickly. He gave up a leadoff home run to start the inning and never recorded an out after an error in right field and walking a batter. O’Sullivan turned to [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] next, which turned out to be a mistake.

Jameson struck out the Bull with the highest average on the team for out No. 1, but it was all downhill from there. USF catcher Nelson Rivera singled in a run to cut the lead to three, and then center fielder Jackson Mayo sent the ball out of the yard to tie things up.

Disaster.

[autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] replaced Jameson but gave up a two-out triple to blow the lead. To rub some salt in the wound, USF scored what wound up being the deciding run on a passed ball.

[autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] pinch hit for [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag], who entered as a defensive replacement at third base for Tyler Shelnut, and drew a one-out walk to start a ninth-inning rally. USF ignored him on the base paths, so he easily got to third while [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] pinch hit for Heyman.

Riopelle struck out, but [autotag]Matt Prevesk[/autotag] batted for Lastres and singled in Kurland to put the Gators within one of a tie game. Unfortunately, [autotag]Richie Schiekofer[/autotag] grounded into a fielder’s choice on the very first pitch he saw to end the game.

Key Takeaway

The bullpen completely melted down after Purnell struggled to start the ninth. Jameson and Ursitti can’t afford to pitch like that when Sully puts them in a tense spot, and he’s unlikely to forget what happened.

The question is whether O’Sullivan will adjust or not. There were several times throughout the 2022 season when Florida made the wrong call out of the bullpen, and there were shades of that tonight. To be delicate, the only way Florida’s bullpen is below average in 2023 is through mismanagement.

The undefeated season may no longer be feasible, but at least Florida has now faced some adversity and can prove itself over the weekend against Cincinnati.

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2023 Baseball Season Preview: Bullpen

Florida didn’t lose a ton from last year’s bullpen, so the experience should help a good group become great in 2023.

With one day left until the start of the 2023 college baseball season, Gators Wire is looking at Florida’s bullpen.

The first thing that stands out is just how much depth there is separate from [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s starting rotation. The team is returning seven contributing arms from a season ago and has added one key transfer and four freshmen to the ‘pen.

In a big game, it’s fairly clear who would pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth innings for Florida, and there are plenty of options that can go long if a starter has to leave a game early. Florida’s only losing about 20 innings out of last year’s bullpen, so fans should see a considerable amount of growth from the sophomore class.

Leading the way statistically are [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] and [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag]. Junior college transfer [autotag]Clete Hartzog[/autotag] is in line to step into the closing role, at least to begin the season, and there’s a handful of second and third-year guys ready to eat innings.

This should be an efficient group for Florida, but the top of the bullpen is a lot stronger than the middle and bottom.

What’s next for Florida baseball: A post-mortem of the 2022 season

Buckle in, Gators Wire’s 2022 Baseball Season Recap is finally here. We dive into all 35 players one by one and go over where they stand after the season.

The Florida Gators’ 2022 baseball season ended Monday with a 5-4 loss in the regional finals of the NCAA Championship Tournament against Oklahoma. The year was filled with ups and downs, but being six outs away from a Super Regional berth isn’t too shabby for a team with 16 new players on the roster.

Pitching was a bit of a disappointment early on, but a few freshmen started to stand out from the bunch. That depth allowed the Gators to make a deeper run than most expected in the playoffs and finish the year 42-24.

Conference play was a bit of a struggle. UF finished the regular season .500 against the SEC, including series losses to Georgia (sweep), LSU, Tennessee (sweep) and Vanderbilt. A 9-3 finish against the weaker members of the conference (Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina) allowed Florida to finish with a respectable record, but things didn’t really turn around until Texas A&M beat them via the mercy rule.

After that 10-0 loss, Florida played like the team it needed to be all year. It even got legendary performances from the likes of Carsten Finnvold, a freshman who hadn’t seen game action since April when he got the start against Tennessee in theSEC Tournament.

Then there’s the offense. At times, the veteran group didn’t back up the young pitching staff as it was expected to. Jud Fabian was a disappointment down the stretch, hitting just .185 against the conference and going 1-for-30. To his credit, Fabian struck out 10 times less than he did a year ago in about 40 more plate appearances. Walks were also up considerably, so his eye definitely improved despite the low average.

On the other side of things, Wyatt Langford made a complete transformation over the offseason and became one of the best leadoff guys in baseball. He led the team in most major offensive categories and tied Matt LaPorta’s 2005 school record of 26 homers in a season.

There’s a lot to celebrate about with this team, and a lot to address moving forward. Many of them have played their final games in the Orange in Blue, and others are just starting to tell their story.

What will the team look like next year? There’s only one way to properly answer that question and it’s long-winded. Feel free to jump to the sections that interest you the most as we break down the team position by position.

Florida baseball falls in regional finals to Oklahoma following 5.5-hour delay

Wyatt Langford tied the school record for home runs in a season, but Florida couldn’t pull off the ninth-inning comeback after blowing the lead late in the game.

It wouldn’t be a Gainesville Regional without a rain delay, and Mother Nature made her presence felt in a big way during the final game of the tournament on Monday. Florida and Oklahoma waited out a five-and-a-half-hour weather delay only for the Gators to blow a 2-1 ballgame and fall, 5-4.

Before the break, [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] was on pace to get through seven innings of work without a ton of trouble. Aside from a Kendall Pettis home run in the fifth, the Sooners struggled to figure him out despite knocking Neely out of Saturday’s game in 2 1/3 innings. He allowed just one run through 6 2/3 innings on four hits and no walks while striking out five. At 97 pitches on the night, and nearing 150 pitches on the weekend, Neely’s night was likely done after that batter regardless of the rain.

Designated hitter [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] got Neely the early lead in the second inning with a solo shot — home run No. 7 on the year for the freshman. Things stayed relatively quiet after that until Pettis’ bomb in the fifth prompted the Gators to get the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] reached on an error to start the inning off, and [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] drove him in three batters later.

Then, the rain came and changed everything.

Pettis struck out on the first at-bat back from the delay, but there would be plenty of scoring to come. Halter walked on four pitched to lead off the bottom of the seventh and was eventually driven home on a [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] sacrifice fly. Gators lead, 3-1.

That’s when the Sooners put up a four-spot to take total control of the game with only six outs to go. [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag], who came in for Neely in relief, gave up four straight hits, including a two-run, game-tying homer from Peyton Graham. Josh Rivera was forced to trade the go-ahead run for out No. 2 of the inning, and Jackson Nicklaus came through with an RBI single to the right side.

[autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] came in to get the final out of the eighth, but Florida’s lead and morale was long gone. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag], in what will likely be his final out as a Gator, flew out to right, Rivera grounded out to second and Guscette line out to deep right-center on a ball that had a chance.

Jameson got the Sooners down quickly in the ninth and Florida came up to the plate with three outs left in the season. Halter struck out looking, but Wyatt Langford sent home run No. 26 out of the ballpark to put things within one run and to tie Matt LaPorta’s single-season home run record at UF. Sterlin Thompson grounded out to first for an unassisted out on a 3-2 count, and up came Riopelle with everything on the line.

The transfer from Coastal Carolina did a lot for Florida in 2022, but he couldn’t extend the season once more and struck out swinging to end the Gators’ season.

Oklahoma advances to its first super regional since 2013, and Florida once again falls short of a trip to Omaha.

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Florida baseball faces elimination following regional loss to Oklahoma

Florida fell to Oklahoma Saturday, so that means the Gators need to beat Central Michigan and win a rematch against the Sooners on Sunday to stay alive.

Florida couldn’t get it done Saturday against Oklahoma, and the Gators will now have to take the difficult route to the Super Regionals following a 9-4 loss to the Sooners.

The scoring came often in this one with runners crossing the plate in every inning but the first and last. Florida threw freshman [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag], but Kevin O’Sullivan had him on a short leash and pulled him the third after giving up back-to-back home runs to surrender the early lead. Peyton Graham and Blake Robertson did the damage and erased the 2-0 lead created by [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag]’s solo shots in the second. Heading into the bottom of the third, the Sooners led, 3-1.

Tanner Tredaway scored a valuable fourth run on a wild pitch that batter Jackson Nicklaus appeared to interfere with [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] on. After discussion and a visit from O’Sullivan, the run was ruled fair and Condron Ballpark woke up. The crowd booed every time Nicklaus came to bat for the rest of the night.

Tredaway was the first batter attributed to [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] who came in relief of Neely with one out in the inning. Kendall Pettis created another run on the basepaths in the fourth. After singling to lead off the inning, Pettis stole second, forced a balk to advance to third and slid in safely to home on another wild pitch.

That brought Sully back out and the third freshman of the day came out to the mound for Florida, [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag]. He worked out of the inning and through the fifth despite giving up a homer to Crooks. [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] — freshman No. 4 of the night — was in for the sixth and pitched one of the few clean frames of the night for the Gators. Crooks got him in the seventh for a two-run shot to put OU up 8-3 heading into the stretch.

Florida tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, but only Guscette’s home run affected the scoreboard. Oklahoma added one more run in the eighth and forced [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] to come in for Ficarrotta.

LSU may have pulled off an insane 10-run comeback on Friday, but that wasn’t in the cards for the Gators Saturday night. UF went down 1-2-3 in the ninth and will play for their lives in an elimination game Sunday.

The loss means that Florida will need to beat Central Michigan again at 1 p.m. on Sunday to force a rematch against Oklahoma later on in the day. If UF wins that, a rubber match will be played Monday to decide who goes to the Super Regional.

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Florida completes unlikely run to SEC Tournament finals with win over Texas A&M

Two wins in one day have Florida baseball in the SEC Tournament championship, and everything seems to be working for the Orange and Blue.

Florida’s unlikely run to the Southeastern Conference Tournament final has had its share of ups and downs, but the Gators are playing their best baseball of the season when it matters most. A 9-0 win over the Texas A&M Aggies in the tournament semifinals has UF competing for its first conference championship since 2016.

[autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] got things going early with home run No. 22 on the year in the first inning. [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] added another in the third with a sacrifice fly to score Wyatt Langford, and that was really all that starter [autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] needed through the first few innings of the game.

“(Manning’s) getting a lot of swings and misses on his breaking ball, so I don’t know if (the Aggies) are having a tough time seeing the spin or what,” O’Sullivan said. “But that was a really nice fastball to finish off that last inning (3rd).”

Fabian walked to start the fourth, and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] — who has been red-hot since joining the lineup — reached on an error hit to second base. [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] bunted both runners into scoring position, and the small ball paid off with a [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] single that scored two. [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] moved Guscette over to second and Jim Schlossnagle decided to go to the bullpen.

Robert Hogan replaced Ryan Prager and got out of the inning on a line drive smoked by [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] right to the third baseman, but the Gators were already well in command of the game. Florida tacked on another run in the fifth on a double-play ball from [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag]. Two more runs came in the sixth from who else but  Langford and Florida went up 7-0.

Manning’s night came to an end after 90 pitches and giving up a leadoff single in the sixth. Kevin O’Sullivan turned to [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] in hopes of preserving some arms for the championship game. Jameson answered the call and got out of the inning without giving up the shutout.

Caglianone drove in run No. 8 on a sac fly, and the Gators began to threaten a mercy rule against the team that ended their night earlier just two days ago. Men were stranded on second and third to end the seventh, and Florida tacked on one more in the ninth to close out the win. Jameson finished the night with four innings of one-hit, scoreless work and four strikeouts. Evans saved him right field with a trio of incredible defensive plays.

It’s the complete opposite of what happened against Texas A&M on Friday, but Sully couldn’t ask for his team to figure it out at a better time. Either Tennessee or Kentucky looms in the championship, but this run is already a success given the way things looked 48 hours ago.

“They’re having fun,” O’Sullivan said. “I mean, it’s better than the alternative right? It beats being on a bus back to Gainesville.”

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