Florida baseball endures humbling sweep at Mizzou. What's gone wrong with the Gators?

Florida baseball endured a humbling weekend in Columbia, Mo., as the Gators were swept in a three-game series by the Missouri Tigers.

Missouri completed its first three-game sweep in school history against the Florida Gators by rallying for three runs in the bottom ninth off Florida relievers Cade Fisher and Luke McNeillie to beat UF 11-10 on Sunday.

The Tigers also knocked off UF 2-1 in 11 innings on Friday night and beat UF 4-3 on Saturday as the Gators lost three straight one run games.

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"Tough weekend, there's no question about it," Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.

No. 18 Florida (17-14, 6-6 SEC) is still searching for consistency coming off its stellar 2023 season, in which the Gators won the SEC and reached the College World Series Finals before falling to LSU. The Gators struggled during the weekend with situational hitting, including moving runners up on the bases and driving runs in from third base with less than two outs.

"We're just not playing winning baseball," O'Sullivan said. "Those types of situations when they come up can make a difference in a one-run game."

Here are three takeaways from the series:

Florida baseball bats cold with the weather the first two games

Florida managed just a run on a solo homer from Luke Heyman in its extra inning loss to Missouri on Friday night and three runs on Saturday,

With temperatures ranging from the 60 degrees to 40 degrees in the first two games and the wind blowing in, Florida didn't adjust its approach, often swinging for the fences. The Gators struck out 13 times on Friday and 9 times on Saturday.

First bad start of the season for Florida baseball lefty Jac Caglianone

Florida was counting on another strong start from Caglianone to get out of Missouri with at least one win in the series. But Caglianone allowed 7 runs on 7 hits over 1.1 innings, with three walks and no strikeouts. That put Florida in an early 7-1 hole.

The Gators rallied all the way back to take a 10-8 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning allowing Caglianone (3-0, 3.67 ERA) to avoid taking his first loss of the season.

Florida baseball squanders chance to put away Sunday game in the ninth inning

With the Gators up 10-8 in the top of the ninth inning, the Gators loaded the bases with none out and had a chance to tack on more runs and put the game away. But Ty Evans, Colby Shelton and Heyman all struck out, keeping the score 10-8 and Missouri within striking distance for its late comeback.

"We made so many mistakes during the game," O'Sullivan said. "I know it looks like we lost it there in the ninth, but bottom line is we had bases loaded, nobody out and we struck out three times in a row."

Up next

Florida baseball plays Tuesday night at No.9 Florida State (7 p.m., ESPN2).