No. 4 Florida Claims Game One at Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – No. 4 Florida blasted three home runs to take game one against Miami by a score of 7-3 at Mark Light Field on Friday night.
 
Right-hander Ryan Slater was lights out in relief, tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings and retiring the final 10 batters he faced in order. At the plate, Luke Heyman (1-for-5), Cade Kurland (3-for-5) and Jac Caglianone (3-for-5) all swatted solo shots highlighted by back-to-back jacks by Kurland and Caglianone.
 
The Gators (7-2) wasted no time by plating one run on the Hurricanes (5-4) in the top of the first. Back in the lineup at designated hitter, Kurland smacked a leadoff single to left, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Heyman then barreled a ball to shortstop Antonio Jimenez, which was misplayed for an error allowing Kurland to race home for the first run of the ballgame.
 
The two teams traded zeros in the second before Miami grabbed the lead in the third. With two outs and a man on third, Jason Torres deposited a 3-0 offering over the right field wall to give the Canes a 2-1 edge.
 
Florida provided an immediate answer with two runs in the top of the fourth to regain the lead. Ty Evans singled and moved to third on a Tyler Shelnut double, then slid past catcher Carlos Perez for the tying run on a fielder’s choice to first by Armando Albert. Michael Robertson put the Gators ahead for good with a two-out, RBI single to shortstop to bring home Shelnut and make it 3-2.
 
Heyman extended Florida’s lead in the fifth with a solo home run to straightaway center. The long ball marked his third of the year.
 
The Hurricanes were gifted a run to draw within one in the bottom of the fifth. Dorian Gonzalez drew a bases-loaded walk to score Edgardo Villegas to cut the lead to 4-3.
 
Having relieved Fisher with two outs in the fifth, Slater produced a clean frame in the sixth on just nine pitches. The Gators took advantage of the speedy zero, as Kurland and Caglianone connected for back-to-back home runs to left field to create a 6-3 ballgame.
 
Slater continued to mow down hitters in the seventh, again retiring the side in order to make it seven-straight outs for the righty. He completed the seventh by striking out Blake Cyr and Daniel Cuvet consecutively.
 
With three-more outs in the eighth, Slater made it 10-straight Canes retired by inducing a flyout of Lucas Costello to end the inning. Florida again took advantage, as Colby Shelton produced a sacrifice fly to plate Kurland, bringing the score to its final tally of 7-3.
 
Closer Brandon Neely churned out a scoreless ninth to cement the victory for the Orange & Blue.
 
Slater (1-0) picked up his first victory of the year, finishing with 3 1/3 shutout innings on one walk and four strikeouts.
 
Fisher was handed a no-decision, pitching 4 2/3 frames of three-run ball on five hits. The southpaw fanned five and did not walk a batter for the second-straight start.
 
Canes starter Gage Ziehl (0-1) received the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) across six innings of work. He allowed six hits and one walk while striking out nine.

NOTABLES

• Friday night’s official attendance was a sellout crowd of 3,555 fans.
• Florida held Miami to a season-low seven hits, which tied the Hurricanes’ season low.
• Florida rose to 133-134-1 all-time vs. Miami, moving within one win of tying the series.

  • The Gators are 52-81 in the series on the road.

• The Gators improved to 40-17 vs. the Canes featuring a 17-8 away mark under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
• Florida is 21-7 against Miami across the last 28 meetings.
• Heyman and Caglianone launched their third homers of the season to tie them with Shelnut and Shelton for the team lead.

  • Kurland and Caglianone hit back-to-back home runs with one out in the seventh inning, signifying Florida’s first back-to-back homers since Wyatt Langford and Caglianone accomplished the feat at the College World Series vs. LSU on June 25, 2023.

• Across his last two starts, Fisher has struck out 15 batters while walking zero across 9 2/3 innings.
• Slater retired the final 10 batters he faced to earn his first win of the season on 3 1/3 scoreless frames.
• Florida is 35-11 in weekend series since 2023 and 44-14 across the team’s previous 20 series.
• Dating back to last season, Florida is 29-5 in regular season non-conference games and has won 20 of its last 22 such contests.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the win and getting Kurland back…
“He had a really good night at the plate. It wasn’t really a decision that we made until after batting practice, just to make sure he was alright. We don’t want to put him in the lineup if he doesn’t feel like he can go. Three hits. Jac behind him with three hits. They certainly had really good nights at the plate.”

On Caglianone’s defense and beating out an infield single…

“Yeah, I mentioned that to the team at the end of the game. He gave a really good effort down the line and obviously beat out the throw from the shortstop or the third baseman. It was really important for us to get that fourth run because if anything crazy happens the last inning, one swing would tie it and not put them ahead. That was a big run for us in the ninth.”

 

On the defense, particularly Albert’s run-saving play…

“That was a huge play to end the inning. Long is a really, really, plus-plus runner, too. Not only did he get to the ball but he had a clean exchange and made an accurate throw. It was a really good play.”

UP NEXT

Florida and Miami meet again in game two on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ACC Network.