STILLWATER REGIONAL: Gators 5, Oklahoma State 2 — Shelton Shines, Neely Saves Day – Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Florida forced a winner-take-all regional championship game by defeating No. 1 seed and host Oklahoma State on Sunday night, 5-2. The Gators used a gutsy outing from reliever Brandon Neely and a three-run homer from shortstop Colby Shelton to defeat the Cowboys in a rematch from Saturday night, a game won by Oklahoma State, 7-1. The Gators seek to knock out a second conference tournament champion in two days when they face the Big 12 Tournament champion Cowboys on Monday. In their first game Sunday, the Gators eliminated Big Ten Tournament champion Nebraska from the NCAA Tournament with a 17-11 victory.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Neely was fantastic, striking out a career-high over 11 over 5 2/3 innings of relief. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, O’Sullivan called on Neely to put the fire out with the Gators trailing 2-1. Neely struck out Carson Benge and retired Cowboys slugger Nolan Schubart on a fly ball to center to get out of the jam. Gators center fielder Michael Robertson made an excellent diving catch to save three runs and keep the Gators within a run. Neely got better from there, surrendering just one hit over his 104-pitch outing.

STAGGERING STATISTIC: Gators outfielder Ashton Wilson entered the Stillwater Regional with six hits all season. Wilson’s third-inning single on Sunday was his sixth hit of the regional. Wilson went 4-for-5 against Nebraska on Friday, and added an RBI single in Sunday’s 17-11 win that eliminated the Cornhuskers. Wilson finished 3-for-4 against the Cowboys.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Gators had done little offensively in the top of the fourth when Wilson singled, stole second, advanced to third on Luke Heyman‘s fly ball to center, and scored on Benge’s wild pitch to make it 1-1 with two outs. The sequence did more than tie the game, it seemed to wake up the Gators when they needed a dose of energy. The Gators took the lead for good two innings later with a four-run sixth inning. 

 

KEY MOMENT: After Jac Caglianone walked and Wilson singled to lead off the sixth, Shelton stepped to the plate with an opportunity to drive home the go-ahead runs with an extra-base hit. He did more than that. He crushed a 1-0 pitch from Benge into the Gators bullpen down the right-field line for a three-run homer and 4-2 Gators lead.

QUOTE OF NOTE: “A great game played by both teams. It really came down to the two guys on my right (Shelton and Neely). Long day but we have an opportunity to play tomorrow.” — Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan on winning twice Sunday to extend the season.

UP NEXT: The Gators will play Oklahoma State for the third time in the Stillwater Regional on Monday at 3 p.m. ET. The winner advances to face Clemson in the best two-of-three Clemson Super Regional.

NOTABLES

• Florida is making its 24th Regional Finals appearance.

  • Florida’s 24 Regional Finals appearances rank second in the SEC.
  • The Gators have advanced to Regional Finals in each of the last-three seasons.

• The Gators have won six of their last seven NCAA Tournament elimination games.
• Sunday night’s official attendance was 5,173.
• Florida posted its 17th come-from-behind win of the season.

  • Both of Florida’s Sunday wins came in comeback fashion.

• Making his first start since March 22 at LSU, Fisher allowed two runs (one earned) across 3 1/3 innings on give hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
• Neely struck out a career-high 11 batters across 5 2/3 shutout, one-hit innings to earn the win.
• Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 45-straight contests with a leadoff walk in the sixth.

  • Caglianone has hit safely in 55 of 59 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.

• Shelton hit his 20th home run to give Florida the lead in the sixth.

  • Shelton homered in both of Sunday’s games.

• Wilson turned in his third multi-hit performance in the last six games.

  • He also logged his second game with three-plus hits of the Stillwater Regional.
  • Wilson is 8-for-17 at the Stillwater Regional.

• Florida’s scoring streak of 138-consecutive games is the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
• The Gators are 132-86 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

  • UF wields an 89-52 record across 39 NCAA Regional appearances.

• Florida is now 3-5 all-time vs. Oklahoma State (2-3 away).
  

— Sullivan Bortner contributed to this report.