Florida Baseball: Gators are reminded the NCAA doesn’t allow fun

Sports can be fiery, and rivalries exist for a reason. Georgia may not be the rival for Florida baseball as they are for other Gator squads, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t going to be intensity during the three-game series over the weekend.

It was a series of ups and downs for Florida, ultimately swinging the way of the good guys. It’s just a shame they weren’t able to celebrate it.

Florida Baseball: No Celebrations Allowed Again

Brandon Neely ended up being the center of attention during the series. The ghost of Florida’s bullpen woes that seemingly had been eradicated reemerged on Friday night. The Gators entered the 9th inning with a 10-6 lead, and Neely took the hill to close out the game.

Cade Kurland and Luke Heyman both had grand slams during the lead-up to the 9th, and everything was set up for a night of catharsis.

That catharsis turned into carnage as Neely gave up three straight hits, struck out a guy, and then, well, you know.

A grand slam from Georgia wasn’t the end as the Bulldogs put up three more runs for a seven-run inning and walked away with the 13-11 victory.

Georgia had a chance to take the series on Saturday, with the two squads locked up 1-1 heading into the ninth. Ryan Slater took over for Hurston Waldrep in the 8th, pitched two scoreless innings, and the Gator bats finally got in gear and Michael Robertson drove in Kurland to even up the series.

The backdrop of two highly emotional games set the stage for the rubber match on Sunday. Florida jumped out early to a 6-0 lead thanks to a Jac Caglianone three-run home run and was looking like the type of game most fans expected the series to look like.

But Georgia kept battling and clawed back to 6-4 in the 8th. With runners and second and third and two outs, Neely returned to get redemption for Friday’s meltdown.

And he succeeded with a strikeout to get Florida baseball out of the jam. Given the backdrop of everything from the series, Neely was pumped up, as he should be. He let out a routine celebration, but nothing extravagant. He didn’t follow the Georgia batter back to his dugout, telling him to check his vision and questioning whether or not he could be seen.

Yet, as Will Levenson’s video shows, the home plate umpire tossed Neely from the game. Turns out you aren’t allowed to be happy in college sports.

This makes Caglianone’s 8th-inning grand slam hilarious and sad at the same time. Fearing that he too may be ejected for being happy, Caglianone crossed home plate as stiff and emotionless as possible.

You know, feelings might get hurt, and we don’t need Sarah McLachlan having more material to work with by making the Bulldogs sad.

The end result is another series win for Florida. The Gators have yet to drop a series all season. After a mid-week tilt vs Florida A&M, the Gators will be tested against the 6th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. They are currently sitting at 30-6 and just dropped their first series of the season to 4th-ranked Vanderbilt.