No. 6 Florida Roars Back to Walk-Off No. 21 Mississippi State - Florida Gators (2024)

• Box Score

Game Recap: Baseball | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. –Trailing by four through seven innings, No. 6 Florida scored five unanswered runs to deliver a 7-6 comeback victory over No. 21 Mississippi State in front of 7,167 fans at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.

Cade Kurland (2-for-5) was the hero of the night, providing the walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to cement the win. Ty Evans (2-for-4) and Tanner Garrison (2-for-3) homered and drove in two runs apiece in the effort, with the former scoring a team-high three runs.

Florida starter Brandon Neely retired the Bulldogs (18-9, 3-4 SEC) in order in the top of the first. Evans made sure the Gators (15-10, 5-2 SEC) did not follow suit, hitting an opposite-field home run over the right-field wall with one out to give UF an early 1-0 lead.

Neely blanked Mississippi State in the second before the Bulldogs manufactured one run in the third to knot it up. David Mershon drew a two-out walk, stole second and came home on an RBI single to left-center off the bat of Dakota Jordan.

The Gators regained a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the third. Leading off the frame, Garrison deposited a 3-2 pitch onto the left-field berm for his first big fly of the year.

The Bulldogs stormed back to take a 5-2 advantage in the top of the fourth. Bryce Chance singled through the right side to score Aaron Downs, followed by a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch of Amani Larry. Mershon then produced a sacrifice fly to center while a bases-loaded walk of Hunter Hines accounted for the inning's fourth run.

After working Florida out of the fourth, Cade Fisher returned to the mound in the fifth and tossed a clean frame with two strikeouts. He navigated around a pair of baserunners in the sixth to hold the score.

Mississippi State added one run in the seventh to push the lead to 6-2. With two outs, Chance came through with a single to center to plate Connor Hujsak.

The Orange & Blue continued to battle, putting the first two runners on in the bottom of the eighth via walks to Colby Shelton and Evans. After a Jac Caglianone groundout, Tyler Shelnut brought in Shelton with an RBI groundout to third base. With two outs, Kurland came up clutch with an RBI double down the left-field line to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Freshman Luke McNeillie struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth to send the matchup into its final frame, where heroics were in order. Hayden Yost got it going with a leadoff single to left followed by a pinch-hit walk by Armando Albert.

Down to their final out, the Gators received an RBI single to left from Evans to extend the game for Shelnut, who worked a six-pitch, bases-loaded walk to tie the ballgame at 6-6. Kurland then stepped to the plate and on an 0-2 count, he ended the game with a walk-off single to center field, scoring Evans for a thrilling 7-6 UF victory.

McNeillie (2-3) earned the win after twirling a clean ninth inning. He threw one frame with three strikeouts.

Mississippi State reliever Nolan Stevens was hung with the loss, surrendering one earned run on three hits and one walk in one-third of an inning. He struck out one batter.

Neely did not factor into the decision in his first start of the season. He allowed five earned runs across 3 1/3 innings on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts.

Bulldogs starter Khal Stephens also received a no-decision, pitching six innings of two-run ball on three hits and two walks. He struck out eight.

NOTABLES

• Friday night's official attendance was 7,167, marking the 15th-largest crowd in team history.
• The Gators posted their seventh come-from-behind win of the season.
  • It also marked Florida's second walk-off victory of the campaign.
  • Florida improved to 2-10 when trailing after seven or eight innings.
• Neely made his first start since June 6, 2022.
• Evans recorded his 12th multi-hit game in the last 15 contests (10 of 12).
  • Evans has hit safely in 22 of 24 games this year.
  • Evans hit his seventh home run in the first inning.
• Garrison hit his first home run as a Gator in the third.
• Florida is 31-7 in home series and 46-13 at home overall since the start of the 2023 season.
• The Gators are 43-15 in weekend series since 2023 and 52-18 across the team's previous 24 series.
  • Florida is 42-18 in its last 60 games vs. SEC opponents including a 34-15 regular-season mark.
• Florida is now 71-52 all-time vs. Mississippi State including 33-23 at home.
  • The Gators are 24-12 against the Bulldogs under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (10-6 at home).
  • Florida has won six-straight games in the series.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On Neely's first start and overall thoughts on the game…
"I thought the first couple of innings Brandon looked really, really sharp. I mean really sharp. The fourth inning, we walked a couple guys, hit a couple guys. I think there was an intentional walk there with Jordan, too, so technically we walked three in that one inning and hit two. Really really proud of the way Cade Fisher pitched tonight. Without that performance, we probably wouldn't have won the ballgame. He was just really, really good. Then obviously, Blake came in, did his job in the eighth. Had a tough decision to make whether to bring Luke down, too, but it just felt like if we could somehow keep it a two-run game then maybe we'd have a chance. Obviously, he came in and did a great job. The at bats the last two innings were really, really good. Hayden Yost, freshman, two-strike hit the other way and then Armando comes off the bench and draws a walk after a two-strike count. We didn't get the bunt down and then the left-hander they brought in threw some really good sliders to Colby. We then just kind of strung some things together. Ty's hit obviously was huge. Cags' ball was a fortunate enough one for us. It had a weird spin to it and I thought that Shelly's at bat was really good. He didn't chase out of the zone. Then with Cade coming up, they called the first pitch a strike so he's already in the hole. 0-1 because he's not in the box. Then he just put a really good swing on it, another 0-2 count swing. That's a really good two-strike at bat there. Overall, it was a heck of a game. One that you're sitting there thinking that you've used Neely, you've used Cade Fisher and you've used Luke McNeillie for an inning. You've used all your bullets, so if it doesn't turn out the way it did, you take a loss by using three of your best arms, but for us it worked out."

OnFisher and McNeillie throwing well…
"There's a lot of things that happened throughout the game. It's easy to forget that eighth that Blake threw. He kind of kept the game right there. Luke, I think this is his fourth really good outing in a row, so obviously he's throwing the ball really good."

On Neely running into trouble in the fourth…
"We talked about it before the game. He said he felt like he could probably go 80 pitches or so and he went maybe 81 or so. There was a lot of misfortune in there, too. Mississippi State did a really good job of battling with two strikes. They got a couple hits in the four-hole that weren't necessarily hit very hard but they battled and they didn't swing and miss very much. The shortstop, Mershon, he's a pain. He battled the entire night and made a heck of a play on Cade Kurland's ball. He's just a good player, a really good player. They've got some speed. When you look at the box though, we held Dakota Jordan to one hit and Hines to one hit. They're two of the better hitters in our league. I watched Dakota run down the line, I think his last at bat, and he was flying down the line. Big, physical, very impressive player. But that one inning goes back to, again, free passes and hit by pitches."

UP NEXT
Florida and Mississippi State meet in game two on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.