Florida A&M falls to Florida, 3-0 in Gainesville Regional

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCTV) - The plays were there to be made but unfortunately for Florida A&M not enough of them were as the Rattlers were outlasted 3-0 by the no. 2 Florida Gators in the first round of the Gainesville Regional.

UF (45-14) jumped to an early lead as Josh Rivera shot a two run homer to left to give the Gators a 2-0 surplus but from there it was Rattlers starter Caleb Granger who shined. Granger got the start with FAMU ace Hunter Viets not available after hurling 127 pitches at Sunday’s SWAC Championship game and was highly effective. The sophomore righty threw six complete innings, surrendering just four hits, four walks and Rivera’s homer while striking out one.

The Rattler offense however could not sustain success as FAMU generated seven hits on the day while stranding eight runners including being struck out by Florida ace Jac Caglianone with runners in scoring position to end the third and fourth innings.

Still the Orange and Green’s defense did what it could behind Granger’s stellar outing, defusing grave danger in the fifth as Florida had the bases loaded with one out only to have the dangerous bat of Caglianone ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

Fresh off his MVP performance at the SWAC Tournament, Zach Morea then entered the game for 1.1 frames of work, tossing a scoreless seventh and being pulled after walking two in the eighth. Grant Harrison would enter the game, giving up just one hit that allowed the Gators to go up 3-0. The run was charged to Morea

FAMU had one last chance in the ninth as Joseph Pierini got the Rattlers aboard with a one out double but trouble wasn’t far off. Will Brown would slap a ball to right for what appeared to be an RBI single however Pierini was gunned down at the plate. From there Ben Kim would drive a ball into the shallow outfield for a base hit but the result was the same as Brown was caught at home to end the contest.

Next up for the Rattlers is an elimination game against UConn. The Huskies fell earlier in the day 3-2 at the hands of Texas Tech who advances to take on host UF. First pitch between Florida A&M and Connecticut is slated for noon Saturday.

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