The Easter Bunny didn’t bring eggs or candy this year. It brought No. 6 Florida baseball fans a walk-off win against No. 21 Mississippi State on the partly cloudy, warm Sunday afternoon.
Florida’s two-way weapon Jac Caglianone not only delivered a solid start on the mound but propelled the Gators (16-11, 6-3 SEC) to their third straight SEC series win on a two-run home run to right field.
Florida’s first two runs came in the third and sixth innings on a wild pitch and RBI single from pinch hitter Hayden Yost, respectively.
The Gators, down by two, lucked out with the brunt of their order coming up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. After Ty Evans was hit by a pitch, the fifth Gator to be hit by a Bulldog pitcher, Caglianone ripped a fastball foul down the right field line.
He found the sweet spot on the next pitch.
“It was top spun, so I was hoping that I had enough to get out,” Caglianone said postgame. “So, I was like, please just get up.”
Almost prophetical, the whole stadium was on its feet as he drilled one into right field to win the game.
On the mound, he went five and two thirds innings with four of those hitless. He gave up the first run to the Bulldogs (19-10, 4-5 SEC) on an RBI single in the fifth before a two-run sixth inning.
In the sixth, the Bulldogs scored on another RBI single before Caglianone walked a runner in.
From there, head coach Kevin O’Sullivan called upon freshman Luke McNeillie to take over in the sixth with two outs.
“You can’t emphasize it enough, the pitches that he made,” O’Sullivan said.
McNeillie looked calm as he recorded the final out in the sixth thanks to a diving catch from right fielder Evans.
“That was the play of the game,” McNeillie said. “If he didn’t make that, we definitely would have lost that game.”
Luckily for the Gators, Evans made the play, and McNeillie thanked him with three and one third innings of shutout baseball.
McNeillie finished with no two hits, three strikeouts and his third win.
He had a rocky start to the season and had given up 16 runs in just five and two thirds innings through four appearances. Since then, the right-hander has been lights out.
He has thrown 10 straight innings of no-run baseball with 14 strikeouts against the Gators’ tough SEC opponents (and one outing against Jacksonville), all ranked in the top 25 nationally.
“I think the biggest thing is just trying to stay myself and trust myself,” he said about his performance today.
Tuesday evening, the Gators are set to host Florida A&M at 6 before heading to Columbia to take on Missouri.
ChompTalk.com 
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