GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida dropped an extra-innings tilt to No. 4 Kentucky by a final score of 7-5 in the series finale at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
 
In his final regular-season home start of the season, Jac Caglianone was outstanding across 6 1/3 innings. The southpaw allowed just one earned run (three total) on two hits and three walks while striking out three. The two-way standout also went 2-for-4 at the plate to tie the program record with a 30-game hitting streak. Elsewhere across the UF lineup, Tyler Shelnut (2-for-4) and Hayden Yost (2-for-4) collected multiple knocks with the former hitting his 13th home run of the season to tie the game in the ninth and force extra innings.
 
Caglianone blanked the Wildcats (37-11, 20-7 SEC) in the top of the first inning. Kentucky broke through for three runs (two unearned) in the second, beginning with a sacrifice fly to center by Ryan Nicholson, who reached second on a fielding error. Patrick Herrera drove in the second run with an infield single to shortstop while Ryan Waldschmidt grounded out to third base to bring Nolan McCarthy home for a 3-0 lead.
 
Caglianone bounced back in the third by retiring the side in order. The Gators (26-25, 11-16 SEC) then loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half, as Kentucky intentionally walked Caglianone with two men on to juice the bags. UK starter Mason Moore picked up an inning-ending strikeout to hold the tally at 3-0 through three frames.
 
In the fourth, Yost made two tremendous catches to aid a zero, highlighted by a home run robbery over the right-field wall to end the inning. Caglianone then worked a scoreless fifth, including a 4-6-3 double play and recording the final out of the inning by nabbing Herrera on an attempted steal of home. The southpaw produced a fourth-straight zero in the sixth while registering his second strikeout of the day.
 
After recording a strikeout to open the seventh, Caglianone was lifted in favor of Jake Clemente to a resounding, standing ovation from the home crowd. Clemente proceeded to record a strikeout and groundout to short to hold the score.
 
Florida came alive in the bottom of the seventh, with Shelnut reaching via a one-out single up the middle. Yost then drew a walk, bringing pinch-hitter Ashton Wilson to the plate with two on and two out. On a full count, Wilson laced a double down the right-field line to plate both runners and cutting the deficit to 3-2.
 
Following a one-out double by Nick Lopez in the eighth, closer Brandon Neely entered for the Gators. The right-hander induced a quick groundout to second base and after an intentional walk of Nicholson, fanned McCarthy to keep Florida within one.
 
Neely blanked the Wildcats again in the ninth, bringing the Gators to the plate in search of one run to extend the matchup. With one out, Shelnut unloaded on the first pitch he saw for a game-tying, solo home run to left field. From there, the Gators loaded the bases but were unable to cash in as the contest went into extra innings at 3-3.
 
In the top of the tenth, Kentucky jumped back in front to take a 7-3 advantage. McCarthy reached on an RBI infield single to score Devin Burkes, followed by a three-run double to left field from Herrera.
 
Florida did not go quietly, loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the tenth. Yost brought the Gators within two, doubling down the left-field line with two outs to plate a pair of runs. UK reliever Ben Cleaver secured the save with the tying run on second base, utilizing a strikeout to end the game at 7-5.
 
Wildcats reliever Ryan Hagenow (1-0) picked up the victory, pitching two-thirds of an inning and giving up two earned runs on one hit and one walk. He fanned one batter.
 
Neely (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing four earned runs over 2 1/3 relief frames on four hits and three walks. He struck out three batters.
 
Caglianone received a no-decision despite allowing just three runs (one earned) across 6 1/3 innings.
 
UK starter Mason Moore also did not factor into the decision, going 6 2/3 frames with two earned runs allowed. He finished with three hits allowed, four walks and six strikeouts.

NOTABLES

• Sunday's official attendance was 6,083.
• Seven student-athletes were honored as part of Sunday's pregame Senior Day festivities: infielder Armando Albert, catcher Tanner Garrison, outfielder Jaylen Guy, right-handed pitcher Blake Purnell, Shelnut, right-hander Ryan Slater and Thomas.
• Florida's scoring streak of 131-consecutive games is the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
• Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 37 games and hitting streak to 30 in a row, tying Jacob Young's program record set in 2021.
  • Caglianone is tied for the seventh-longest, single-season SEC hitting streak in league history and owns the longest hitting streak in the SEC since 2016.
  • Caglianone has hit safely in 49 of 51 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
  • Jacob Young (2019-21) holds Florida's hit streak record at 30 games.
• In what could be his final home start, Caglianone allowed just one earned run (three total) over 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits and three walks against three strikeouts.
• Wilson came through with a pinch-hit, RBI knock for the second-straight game with his two-run double in the seventh.
• Shelnut hit his 13th home run of the season to tie the game in the ninth inning.
• The Gators are 55-20 at home since the start of last season despite an 19-13 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
• Across the team's last 80 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 48-32.
  • That includes a 40-29 regular-season mark.
• The Gators are 49-29 in weekend series since the start of last season and 58-30 across their last 30 series.
• Florida is now 149-74-1 all-time vs. Kentucky including an 80-32 mark in Gainesville.
  • The Gators are 28-23 against the Wildcats under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (13-11 at home).

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the game…
"Just made a couple mistakes early in the game. Fly ball to right; Hayden called for the ball and then Jaylen called it, I guess, really late and that's where the confusion came in. Obviously if Jaylen calls for it, it's his ball but I think he called it so late, I think that's where the confusion came in. And then a ground ball to third with Dale, probably had an opportunity to go home there but I don't know if the runner shielded, maybe take one more step to your left and clear the lane. But certainly, probably an opportunity to go ahead and try to make that play anyways. But Moore was good on the mound, we just couldn't really do a whole lot with him. Got his pitch count up there towards the end. Ashton came off the bench and had a huge at-bat for us, driving in two, and we felt really good once we tied it in the ninth there on Shelly's home run. Kentucky did a good job with two strikes again. We got a two-strike double down the left field line, two-strike single in the six-hole, but then we walked Daly. And now we have bases loaded. I think we got Nicholson to pop up to third which we felt good about. And then we had a big strikeout and then the nine-hole hitter, I think he has four extra-base hits on the year, so the outfield is playing fairly shallow. We've seen it, Shelnut took a couple steps in and the ball went over his head. That was the difference. But we did get a chance to get two runners in scoring position and then base hit there again, and we just didn't get it done, simple as that."

On the top of the 10th inning…
"Yeah, it was a good pitch. We're putting Luke [Heyman] in because they've been known to push bunt a ton, safety squeeze a lot. So, it was just one of those things, sitting in the wrong spot at the wrong time. It is what it is. I'm going to think about it tonight but it's like, you know McNeillie closes the inning, throws the ball really good but it's just like you don't know how they're going to react from the game from Friday. And you've seen Neely close games so many times in the past. I felt like we had all the momentum to go out there and put a zero on the board, I felt good that we could come in and score a run. And we didn't have the opportunity to do that."
 
On Caglianone's overall development…
"I think the biggest takeaway is the importance of having a changeup. He didn't have great command of his fastball, like he didn't today. He got a lot of swing-and-misses on his changeup and his slider was good today. So, for all the young pitchers, everybody wants to talk about velocity and how hard they throw, but the ability to command your secondary pitches and the changeup, obviously, for Jac this year has been a really, really, really good pitch."

UP NEXT
Florida closes out the regular season with a three-game series at No. 15 Georgia, beginning on Thursday, May 16 at 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.