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Florida Gators
GAINESVILLE — Josh Rivera hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Florida needed to throw out two runners at the plate in the ninth inning to preserve a 3-0 win over Florida A&M in the teams' Gainesville Regional opener on Friday.
The Gators (45-14) advance to face Texas Tech on Saturday. Florida A&M (29-29) takes on UConn in an elimination game.
Jac Caglianone fanned seven, walked three and scattered seven base hits over six innings to earn his seventh win in 10 decisions. Ryan Slater worked two perfect innings in relief. Brandon Neely took over in the ninth to earn his 11th save, but worked a rocky inning. After Slater got the first hitter to fly out to left, Josesph Pierini doubled to left, but was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a single by Will Brown. Brown attempted to score from second on an infield single to short by Ben Kim to end the game.
Starter Caleb Granger (6-5) worked six innings, allowing four hits and walking four while allowing two earned runs.
"Jac was outstanding," Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "He kept his pitch count down for the most part and got us through six. He made some pitches there in the middle part. The pitching just overall was outstanding tonight. The bottom line is we're going to have to generate offense in a different way than we may have the entire year, be a little bit more aggressive maybe in some other areas. Just compliment FAMU. They did a good job. A win is a win this time of year. It's not anything to get upset about."