Slow is not normally a word to describe No. 4 Florida (4-1) baseball. But, the Gators’ slow start was overshadowed by a six-run eighth inning to secure the series win over the Columbia Lions (0-2). The final score was 7-3.
Pristine pitching made up for a lack of hits through the majority of the game.
Starting pitcher Liam Peterson breezed through the first three innings.
Dale Thomas hit a solo home run to put an early lead behind Peterson before he ran into trouble in the fourth. The Lions loaded the bases after a pair of walks and a single, but the right-handed freshman stayed level headed.
With back-to-back strikeouts, Peterson and the Gators went into the fifth inning having given up zero runs.
Peterson finished with six strikeouts, three walks, two hits and no runs on 74 pitches.
In his collegiate debut, Luke McNeillie tossed two and two thirds innings of shutout baseball before giving the reigns to veteran Brandon Neely in the seventh.
As the offense remained quiet, Neely made a statement to secure the final out of the seventh inning and hurled a perfect eighth.
A flip switched for the Gators when Ty Evans blasted a home run ball out of Condron Family Ballpark to score two.
Thomas hit his second RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly to score Tyler Shelnut, who had previously reached base on an error. Jac Caglianone tacked on two with an RBI single before the Lions’ pitching walked Evans with the bases loaded to put the Gators up 7-0.
Caglianone went a perfect 4-4 and tied his single-game hit record.
In the ninth, Columbia’s Cole Hage hit a three-run home run of his own to put the Lions on the board. However, pitcher Jake Clemente fended off a Columbia rally and secured a Florida win with a two-strikeout ninth inning.
The Gators and Lions will face off in the final game of the series Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville.
ChompTalk.com 
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