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Entering their Tuesday night matchup with the Jacksonville Dolphins, the Florida Gators knew something had to give. After a 1-6 start to the month, Florida needed to make a statement as they took to the diamond. Not just to their fans or their foes. But to themselves. With just over a month left in the regular season, it was now or never time for the Gators to find some signs of life at Condron Ballpark.
Safe to say, Florida woke up and smelled the coffee for its first midweek run-rule victory of the 2024 campaign. The Gators manhandled the Dolphins en route to a 12-1 win on Tuesday night.
Senior Tyler Shelnut led the charge for Florida with two home runs and five RBIs on the night. Junior Jac Caglianone chipped in with a 516-foot home run of his own in the fourth inning to keep the momentum rolling for the Gators.
UF’s bullpen also held up their end of the bargain on Tuesday night. Freshman right-hander Jake Clemente picked up the win on the mound in his first start of the 2024 campaign. Clemente pitched two innings on the evening, finishing with a line of two hits, one walk, zero runs and five strikeouts.
Tyler Shelnut Starts The Night Off With A Bang
Florida wasted no time in getting off to a hot start on Tuesday night. Caglianone and Colby Shelton led off the bottom of the first inning with a pair of singles to give Florida runners at the corners. Caglianone went on to score on a botched pick-off attempt on Shelton at first base.
With Shelton still sitting at second base, Shelnut stepped into the batter’s box ready to battle. After building up the count to 3-2, Shelnut drilled a laser into deep left field. The ball flew straight past the left foul pole, eventually landing atop the outfield berm. Before the Dolphins could even blink, the Gators had already extended their lead to 3-0.
No. 9️⃣ for SHELLY!#GoGators | @Dream_Finders pic.twitter.com/jSbo1prlvh
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 16, 2024
“Working into a 3-2 count, I knew if I got a fastball, I was going to hit it hard,” Shelnut said. “I wasn’t trying to do too much with it. Our game rewards that, when you’re just trying to get the job done… If you go out there and hit big, looking for home runs, you’ll get an 0-for-4 night and a couple punch-outs. I’ve been on both sides of that.”
Jacksonville nearly came right back with an offensive firestorm of their own in the top of the second. After the Dolphins knocked in a pair of singles to lead off the frame, freshman Conner Spelman loaded the bases via a hit-by-pitch with just one out. Clemente, however, refused to let them get any runs back.
The freshman righty kept the Dolphins off the board with a pair of swinging strikeouts to retire the side. Clemente stepped off from the mound prior to the third inning, but he had already made his mark on this ballgame. His Tuesday night outing marked the first time a Florida midweek starter finished a game with zero earned runs since Feb. 28.
Jac Caglianone Goes Yard… And Then Some
From there, the Gators kept piling on to their momentum, both at the plate and on the bump. In the bottom of the third inning. sophomore Cade Kurland hit a two-out a single right down the third base line. Sophomore Brody Donay brought him right home on the very next at-bat, drilling an RBI single down the middle to extend Florida’s lead to 4-0.
But Florida was still far from finished. Entering the bottom of the fourth, junior Ty Evans immediately belted a leadoff double down the left field line. Caglianone came right back into the batter’s box, itching to do some damage. He sent the first pitch he saw barreling into foul territory. Even as the ball landed past the right foul pole, the knock drew plenty of oohs and aahs from the crowd.
On pitch number two, however, Caglianone did not miss. His next knock was an easy no-doubter, traveling 516 feet and clearing the scoreboard before landing on Ballpark Way for his 21st home run of the season. The two-run moon shot also marked Caglianone’s record-breaking seventh game with a home run in a row this season.
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Pouring It On In The Fifth Frame
The Dolphins finally started to put up some resistance in the top of the fifth inning. After UF junior right-hander Blake Purnell hit Jacksonville sophomore Blake Edmonds with a pitch, junior Josh Steidl hit a single up the middle to drive in his squad’s first run of the night.
Not to be outdone, the Gators got the run right back (and then some) in the bottom of the frame. Donay and Kurland reached first and second base, respectively, on a pair of hit-by-pitches to lead off the side. The latter scored from second base via a costly Jacksonville throwing error on the very next play.
With two runners now in scoring position as a result of the Dolphins miscue, Evans had a golden opportunity to tighten Florida’s grip on this ballgame. After letting the first two balls he saw fly by, Evans drilled a single into the heart of center field to drive Donay and Dale Thomas home.
Following a Caglianone walk in the subsequent at-bat, Shelnut came back up to the plate with a pair of ducks on the pond. Having already gone yard earlier in the evening, Shelnut apparently was still hungry for more. He cracked a deep ball into left that soared over the Jacksonville bullpen, eventually landing on Hull Road for his second home run of the game.
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Just like that, the Gators had doubled their run tally on the night. In just one frame of action, Florida had extended its lead from 6-1 to 12-1.
Florida Cruises To The Finish Line
As the night continued to wind down, it appeared that a mercy rule was all but inbound. With the Gators sporting a double-digit lead entering the top of the seventh, UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan decided to spice things up in the final frame. The Florida skipper sent out sophomore infielder Landon Russell onto the mound to close this ballgame out.
“We probably would have used him a couple of weeks ago to get him going,” O’Sullivan said. “[But] we really haven’t been in position to let him breathe.”
Russell shut the door on the Dolphins with ease, forcing three quick outs to clinch Florida’s first midweek run-rule win of the year.
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The Gators will hit the road later this week to take on the No. 13 Vanderbilt Commodores. The two SEC foes will hit the diamond at Hawkins Field this Thursday for game one of their weekend series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF. The game was moved up because of possible inclement weather.
