Florida baseball broke a close game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs wide open in the ninth inning on Saturday with a six-run barrage to win a 9-3 ballgame.
After driving in six runs in the series opener on Friday, catcher BT Riopelle got things going early once again for the Gators with a sacrifice fly to left field in the first inning. The Bulldogs responded almost immediately with an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame and then things fell quiet until the fourth. MSU took a one-run lead in the fourth but lost it in the top of the fifth to a Jac Caglianone double that split the gap in left-center. Sterlin Thompson and Wyatt Langford came around giving the Gators a 3-2 lead.
On the mound, each club had decent nights from their starter that ended earlier than they would have liked. Brandon Neely lasted just four innings for Florida after working his pitch count into the upper-80s with seven strikeouts and four walks. Preston Johnson went five innings for Miss. State and also struck out seven while walking five. Florida struggled to get the Bulldogs’ bullpen until the ninth inning.
KC Hunt came in for his second inning of work and ran into trouble quickly. Thompson reached on an infield single to third base to start the inning off. The umpire gifted two strike calls to Hunt and punched out Jud Fabian before Riopelle drew a walk. Caglianone doubled again to left scoring Thompson and giving the Gators the lead. The ball should’ve been playable, but the left fielder took a horrible route and broke inward on a ball that was clearly going over his head.
That’s when the floodgates opened up.
Kendrick Calilao somehow kept a double down the right-field line fair and drove in two more. 6-3, Gators. The Bulldogs got finally got the first out of the inning at home plate on a fielder’s choice from Colby Halter. It didn’t matter much, though, as right fielder Ty Evans homered and made it 9-3.
The bottom half of the frame was a formality for Ryan Slater who…