Texas A&M lefty ace Ryan Prager was perfect heading into Friday night.
Four starts, four wins, no runs surrendered. In the SEC, the southpaw was top three in ERA, strikeouts, opponent average and WHIP.
He’s been one of the most prolific starters in all of college baseball. However, he lasted just 2 1/3 innings Friday night.
Florida crushed three home runs off the lefty and relied on a flawless night from its relievers to win game one of the weekend series.
The No. 8 Gators (11-6, 1-0 SEC) defeated the No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies (17-1, 0-1 SEC) 8-6 Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark. Florida handed Texas A&M its first loss of the season.
The Gators were 16-3 heading into SEC play last season. This year hasn’t looked quite the same due to lackluster results from Florida’s bullpen and inconsistency among its starters.
Left-handed sophomore Cade Fisher took the hill Friday night and began with a stellar 1-2-3 first inning. However, the Aggies immediately adjusted and plated five runs in the top of the second to take a 5-2 lead.
Thankfully for the lefty, he was backed by a stellar performance from his offense. The Gators scored two runs in the first off a solo home run from junior two-way player Jac Caglianone and an RBI single from junior right fielder Ty Evans.
Florida scored four more in the third to force Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle to take out Prager. Caglianone and senior outfielder Tyler Shelnut each hit home runs.
With a lead, Fisher appeared to pitch with a bit more comfort. He surrendered just one run and wrapped up the sixth inning with a 1-2-3 putdown. Finally, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan made the call to the bullpen and elected to go to All-SEC closer Brandon Neely.
Neely was electric.
He quickly retired his first three batters, then Florida added two more scores off solo home runs from sophomore middle infielders Cade Kurland and Colby Shelton.
The eighth inning appeared to get out of Neely’s hands when two runners reached base with two outs. O’Sullivan walked out to the mound to make a quick visit with his reliever.
The All-SEC closer got the crucial final out of the eighth to eliminate the threat from the Aggies’ offense and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the opening series victory.
Florida begins its SEC slate with a win and will resume play against Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Condron Family Ballpark. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
