No. 7 Florida’s dominant pitching does in South Florida

TAMPA, Fla. – No. 7 Florida used dominant pitching and six unanswered runs to beat South Florida 6-1 in the first installment of a two-game midweek set on Tuesday night.

The pitching tandem of Cade Fisher, Ryan Slater and Brandon Neely combined for nine quality innings on the bump, only forfeiting the lone unearned run in the first. The trio struck out 15 Bulls and walked just one batter.

Offensively, Jac Caglianone finished three shy of the cycle. Tyler Shelnut, Cade Kurland and Wyatt Langford also hit homers in the win. The Bulls (1-3) plated one run in the first to get out to an early 1-0 lead. With runners on first and second, Marcus Brodil drove in Daniel Cantu with a double to right-center field.

After allowing a lone unearned run in the first, Fisher settled into a groove. Making the start of his career, the left-hander struck out three batters in the first at-bat before striking out the side in the second to finish with six strikeouts through the first two innings.

After another zero from Fisher in the third, the Gators (4-0) broke into the scoring column. With a double, Caglianone hit the first pitch he saw in his second at-bat over the center field wall for his first homer of the year.

Fisher pitched scoreless frames in the third and fourth to hold the score, eventually handing over to Slater in the top of the fifth inning. Slater kept the momentum on the mound, firing a shutout inning to bring up the Gator bats in the top half of the sixth.

Riopelle led off the sixth with a single to third base, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. From there, freshman Kurland came through with a clutch RBI single to center to give Florida its first lead of the night.

It was all Gators from that point on.

Slater blanked the Bulls in the sixth and seventh, then Neely took over in the eighth and struck out the side to send the matchup into the final frame. Holding a slim one-run advantage, Florida tacked on four insurance runs in the ninth.

Shelnut and Kurland hit home runs, with the latter recording his first career big fly. Michael Robertson then scored on an error after swiping third base. Finally, Wyatt Langford hit his first home run of the year to make it 6-1 Florida.

Neely struck out two more batters in the bottom half to pick up his second career save and seal the win for the Orange & Blue. He closed out the final two innings with one walk and five strikeouts.

Slater (1-0) picked up the win, throwing three shutout innings of relief with one hit allowed and four strikeouts. In his first career start, Fisher allowed one unearned run over four innings of work. The left-hander gave up four hits and did not issue a walk while striking out six.

Bulls starter Jack Cebert lasted 3 2/3 frames, giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out two. USF reliever Ethan Brown was saddled with the loss, allowing one earned run in 2 1/3 innings. He coughed up three hits and one walk while striking out two.

Langford (2-for-5), Caglianone (3-for-5) and Kurland (2-for-3) registered several hits in the victory.

NOTABLES

• The Gators knocked off 15 Bulls in Tuesday’s road win. The Florida starter has struck out at least six batters in all four starts so far this season.
• The Gators have outscored their opponents, 43 to 6, to open the campaign.
• Shelnut and Kurland connected for back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning.
• Florida hits a four-run home run on Tuesday for the first time since May 19, 2022 against South Carolina. The Gators hit three homers in the ninth inning alone.
• The Gators are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2020 campaign.
• Making his collegiate debut on the mound, Fisher pitched four innings with one unearned run allowed on four hits while striking out six batters.
• The Gators improved to 64-27 all-time against the Bulls including 19-15 on the road. Florida has won 26 of its last 30 against USF. UF has won five of the last six road meetings. Under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida improved to 23-4 against South Florida.

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN

In pitching and offensive contributions… “Offensively, Jac had a big night, obviously. Cade had a big night, too. Back home, in front of the crowd. He got a two-out RBI back through the middle to give us a 2-1 lead and obviously, we had a big ninth inning there.” with quite a few home runs. But Cade Fisher, first started on the road, I thought he was just outstanding. I was the one who struck out six people in a row and did not walk anyone. Only gave up one and did not get. Ryan Slater was also outstanding. And Brandon Neely, he came in and did a great job.

“I think we had 15 strikeouts to one walk tonight. Overall, one mistake defensively, and offensively we got a lot of contributions from a lot of different people. Really, really pleased with the pitching, and obviously this is a new thing for Brandon. to finish the game, and I think he’s really good. But Cade Fisher to start the first time on the road and pitch like, keep everything together in the first, and just limit it to one run is huge.

In Fisher’s pitching debut… “I’ve been saying this all along. He’s progressed. He’s got the right attitude. His heart rate never races. He slows the game down. And I think he can handle the first inning.” On scoring runners from third with less than two outs…

“We’ve had like five chances with a runner on third and less than two outs in the first four games, and I think four out of five times we haven’t led on a runner from third… It’s early in the year, but we have to move the baseball and put it in play when the infield plays again. Anytime you have a chance to score without getting a hit, you have to cash in.”

UP NEXT

Florida hosts the Bulls on Wednesday at 6pm on SEC Network+.