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Florida Gators Offensive Onslaught Eliminates Kentucky, Sets Up Rematch with Aggies

The Florida Gators eliminated the Kentucky Wildcats at the College World Series

Bennett Solomon

Florida Gators first baseman Jac Caglianone (14) and second baseman Cade Kurland (4) celebrate after hitting a home run against the Kentucky Wildcats
Florida Gators first baseman Jac Caglianone (14) and second baseman Cade Kurland (4) celebrate after hitting a home run against the Kentucky Wildcats / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
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Entering the Florida Gators elimination game against Kentucky, Brody Donay was just 5-for-34 in the postseason. But he’s one of the Gators’ most lethal power threats at the plate. Despite the low average this postseason, he’s shown he can connect for the long ball. 

And in the bottom of the first inning with the Gators up 3-1 after responding to a Wildcats opening run in the top of the first, Donay stepped up with the bases loaded. 

On the first pitch he saw, he skied an offspeed pitch to right field. It made its way over the right field wall over the Kentucky bullpen for a grand slam, extending the Gators lead to 7-1.

“Going up to that at-bat in a big situation right there you've just kind of gotta go in and do something for your team, whether that's put the ball in play or draw a walk or anything there,” Donay said. “I tried to get a swing off early. And obviously a great thing happened.”

The touchdown in the first inning was all Florida needed on the way to eliminating Kentucky and winning 15-4 Wednesday. 

They’ll now play in just a couple of hours at 7 p.m. tentatively in a rematch against Texas A&M. The Gators have to beat the Aggies twice to advance to the College World Series Final. Though, O’Sullivan said there won’t be anything said differently as the Gators will face the Aggies for fifth time this season. 

“We'll be ready to play, and I know our players are excited they've got another chance to play another game,” the head coach said. “We'll go home, get off our feet for a little bit and come back and look forward to playing again.”

The offensive onslaught the Gators produced early will be hoped to be replicated in the nightcap against the Aggies. The runs kept coming after the active first inning. 

UF finished the contest with 14 hits, and eight of the nine Gators in the lineup recorded a hit. Four had multi-hit games. 

After being 0-for-8 in his first two games of the CWS, Cade Kurland got a two-run single to drop in the third to increase the lead to 9-1. 

Then in the fifth inning, production continued after Donay led off the inning with his second home run of the game. He finished the game 3-for-5 with five RBI and two home runs. 

A Tyler Shelnut single, a Luke Heyman double and a two-run single from Ashton Wilson tacked on four more runs for the Gators, pushing the lead to 14-4. 

To cap it off, history was made in the bottom of the sixth. Caglianone launched a home run into the right field bleachers, earning the program record for most home runs hit at Florida. He passed Matt LaPorta with his 75th all-time home run with UF and 35th of the season. 

“Chuck gave me a hug, congratulated me…. And all the teammates followed,” Caglianone said. “It kind of hit me there. It was really cool. In the moment I was just trying to help my team add more runs to the win."

“I didn't even realize the record that he broke today until they just started talking about it,” O’Sullivan said. “I would have gave him a hug, too.”

After getting on base all-five times against the Wildcats, Caglianone has reached base in 12 of 15 at-bats at the College World Series. He’s 5-for-8 with two home runs, two doubles and a single. He’s walked six times. 

On the mound, southpaw Pierce Coppola gave the Gators his best performance of the season. He went a season-high five innings, earning his first career win and recorded a career-high nine strikeouts. It was a performance the Gators needed from the lengthy lefty, as it allowed Florida to save its bullpen from an extended workload. 

“I mean, it means a lot,” Coppola said. “...It's been a long journey. But today my fastball felt good off the hand. I was able to go in and out with it and just be able to draw my slider in whenever I needed to. It's hard to hit when you've got a couple of pitches working. I just kept going with that.”

Jake Clemente and Alex Philpott closed it out on the mound. They each pitched two innings, striking out seven and giving up just one hit. 

Florida will look for revenge over the Aggies after falling to them 3-2 in their opening game of the CWS. Texas A&M is 2-0, forcing the Gators to have to win twice in order to advance to the Final. Liam Peterson will start on the mound, and he faced the Aggies Saturday in the opener. He threw 64 pitches and lasted just 2 ⅓ innings, surrendering three runs.

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Bennett Solomon
BENNETT SOLOMON

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