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No. 3 Florida Gators baseball (22-4, 5-1) leave Oxford with a sweep over the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels (15-9, 0-6) on Sunday, winning 7-4. This is the first series sweep of the season by the Gators in the SEC.
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Gators use the long ball to take early lead over the Rebels
Jac Caglianone got his team on the board first with a no-doubt homer in the first inning. This put the Gators up 1-0 to begin the day.
Although, Ole Miss came close to taking the lead in the second inning, some great defense stopped that. In the bottom of the second, Ty Evans made a diving catch to save a couple of runs.
💎 TY SAVES A PAIR 💎#GoGators // 📺 SEC Network pic.twitter.com/RnDtuirQBN
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 26, 2023
Ole Miss fights back in the fourth
Ole Miss came close to scoring once again in the bottom of the third after loading the bases with two outs. Fortunately for Florida, Ole Miss left with zero runs after Caglianone struck out the final batter in the inning.
Shortly after this, the Gators grabbed a second run via a homerun from Luke Heyman. This homer gave the Gators a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Then, a little bit later in the inning, Cade Kurland hit an RBI single up the middle to put the Gators lead at 3-0.
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The fourth is where the Rebels began to fight back. After two Rebels walked, Jacob Gonzalez doubled to left field that scored two runs for Ole Miss. This brought the score to 3-2 still in favor of Florida. Also, the fourth inning is where Jac Caglianone’s day ended. On the day, Caglianone only gave up one hit, but walked eight batters and struck out three in only 3 2/3 innings. Blake Purnell came out of the bullpen to replace him in the fourth for the one out that was left.
Bullpen keeps the Rebels offense quiet
For Purnell, that would be his only batter faced as Chris Arroyo got the call out of the bullpen to start the fifth. Arroyo worked a quick fifth inning for the Gators, striking out two Rebels. He replicated that in the sixth as well. In the seventh, Philip Abner made his second appearance out of the bullpen on the weekend. Abner had an easy start on the mound on Sunday by getting three quick outs against the Rebels.
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A loud eighth for the Gators, but Rebels respond
The Gators extended their lead to 7-2 in the top of the eight. With Luke Heyman leading off the inning, he smashed a pitch that hung in the zone over the left-center field wall to extend the Gators lead to 5-2. Not too long after that, Kurland hit a two-run home run to center field that put the Gators up 7-2.
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Ole Miss responded in the eighth inning with runs of their own. They scored one run on a wild pitch and the other on a double-play with no outs. This made the score 7-4 in favor of the Gators heading into the ninth inning.
Neely closes the game out
Brandon Neely did come in the eighth inning but was not responsible for either of the runs scored by Ole Miss in the inning. He then came out for the ninth and closed the game for the Gators. Ole Miss did get a single, but nothing came of it as Neely got a foul out and a strikeout to end the game.
Who is up next for the Gators?
Florida will be taking on the Florida State Seminoles in Jacksonville for the second game of the season series on Tuesday. This game is set to begin at 7 p.m.
