Caglianone Solves The Gators Pitching Woes

Photo credit UAA

For one game, at least, Kevin O’Sullivan didn’t have to worry about pitching. Those same Saint Mary’s hitters who wore out Florida pitching for 20 runs and 25 hits of which five left the yard Friday night and Saturday afternoon, couldn’t touch Jac Caglianone Sunday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark.

In perhaps the most impressive six innings of his Florida career, Caglianone no-hit the Gaels with a mixture of changeups and sliders to go with heat that sometimes reached the upper 90s to lead the Gators to a 10-0, 8-inning run-rule win that salvaged the weekend series. Building on a 6-inning performance against Miami a week ago when he gave up three hits and struck out 11, Caglianone struck out nine, walked three and allowed only two balls to reach the outfield.

“It all starts on the mound,” O’Sullivan said after the Gators (10-5) played not only their best game of the weekend, but the best game they’ve played all year. For the first time all season, the Gators looked and played like the No. 4 team in the nation.

Caglianone was the dominator for six innings using his changeup and his slider so well that he rarely had to throw the serious gas.

“When the offspeed’s kind of there, you don’t have to worry about trying to blow anything by these guys, especially when you start off two sliders or something,” Caglianone said. “You just go fast ball 93, it probably looks a lot harder.”

O’Sullivan said it’s simply a matter of Caglianone learning how to pitch. A year ago, coming off a freshman season in which he was strictly a designated hitter as he healed from Tommy John surgery, there was this tendency to overthrow. As a result there were control issues from time to time.

Sunday, Caglianone was in complete control and it was rare when he let loose with a pitch that was more than a couple of inches off the plate.

“He’s pitching now,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s fairly common with young pitchers, they tend to overthrow … he’s in a really good rhythm right now.”

Caglianone is in such a good rhythm that O’Sullivan is going to adjust his weekend rotation. Instead of starting off with sophomore lefty Cade Fisher on Friday followed by freshman Liam Peterson on Saturday and Cags wrapping up the weekend on Sunday, things will change starting next weekend when the Gators open Southeastern Conference play with Texas A&M.

“We’re thinking about maybe shuffling around the rotation, not necessarily changing the names but move things around and maybe that will be a spark plug for us,” O’Sullivan said.

Eventually, that will mean Caglianone will be the Friday night starter, but first O’Sullivan will have a conversation with his junior lefty to ensure he’s good with the change. Once that happens, it will take at least a couple of weeks to adjust the rotation.

“We’re not asking him to go Friday night, pitching on four nights rest, but maybe the situation he’ll go Saturday [against the Aggies], then on Friday [in the future],” O’Sullivan said.

When Caglianone reached his pitch limit Sunday, Ryan Slater came on to mop things up with two more shutout innings. The Gaels got both their hits off Slater, but he got a double play in the seventh and pitched out of a leadoff double in the eighth.

It didn’t take much in the way of offense the way the Gators swung the bats all weekend, but Sunday they rocked six Saint Mary’s pitcher for 14 hits including four doubles and the fifth homer of the season by Tyler Shelnut. Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit while five Gators had two including catcher Tanner Garrison, whose double down the left field line in the second inning was Florida’s first hit of the game, and whose run-scoring single to left in the bottom of the eighth gave the Gators the 10-run lead to end the game on the run-rule.

Florida scored two in the second on a walk to Thomas and back-to-back doubles by Garrison and Mikey Robertson. In the fourth, a single by Thomas, a hit by pitch of Cade Kurland, a swinging bunt by Caglianone and a single to center by Luke Heyman made it 4-0.

The Gators scored on a double play grounder in the fifth and added three more in the seventh on a single by Shelton, an RBI double by Ty Evans and Shelnut’s homer into deep right center field.

The final two runs came in the bottom of the eighth to provide the run-rule ending. Consecutive singles by Heyman and Shelton and a walk to Evans loaded the bases for Thomas who brought home Heyman with a sacrifice fly to center field. Garrison followed with his walk-off single down the left field line.

Garrison was also the defensive star of the game, nailing two Saint Mary’s runners trying to steal with laser-guided rockets to second base. With two outs in the top of the second, Saint Mary’s sent Dalton Mashore but Garrison’s throw arrived in plenty of time, which evoked a leap and a fist pump from Caglianone. In the fourth, there was a strike out, throw out double play as Garrison cut down Gavin Napier on what was intended to be a hit-and-run.

In addition, there were two other double plays by the Florida defense. The sixth inning ended on a third unassisted to first double play begun by Dale Thomas. The second was a short-to-second-to first double play that Colby Shelton started to account for the first two outs of the seventh.

 At the plate and in the field, the Gators have a team that can play with anyone in the country. The issue was and is pitching. Shuffling the rotation could bring dividends if Caglianone continues to be dominant. There is no substitute for starting a Southeastern Conference weekend with a win. Does the move to Friday for Caglianone simply move Fisher and Peterson back one night? Or will there be other changes?

In his post game remarks Friday after the Gators walked it off on a 3-run homer by Shelton in the bottom of the tenth, O’Sullivan said that all pitching options are on the table including moving closer Brandon Neely into a starting role. If that were to happen, then Slater would probably close, but who would set the table for Slater?

Undoubtedly there are more questions that Kevin O’Sullivan has answers at this point of the season, but he does believe he has a better handle on where the Gators are and what he has to do to make the appropriate corrections.

“We’ve been through 15 games,” O’Sullivan said. “It hasn’t been pretty at times, but I think we have a better feel for our team before we head into SEC play.”

The Gators have only one midweek game this week against arch-rival Florida State (14-0) Tuesday at Condron Family Ballpark. The Seminoles swept New Orleans over the weekend. Texas A&M (16-0) will be in Gainesville starting Friday for the first Southeastern Conference series of the season.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators run-rule No. 11 Alabama, 11-2

Freshman Ava Brown (9-1) pitched a 3-hitter and helped her own cause with a home run and a run-scoring single as the 13th-ranked Gators clinched the series with No. 11 Alabama with a 5-inning, 11-2 win by run-rule in Tuscaloosa. The Gators (21-3, 2-0 SEC) and Alabama (19-3, 0-2 SEC) conclude their series tonight (6 p.m.).

Brown, who walked three and struck out three, had only one difficult inning. In the bottom of the third, Alabama pushed across two runs on a walk, two bunt hits that loaded the bases and a pair of ground outs. Alabama’s only other hit came in the fourth and like the first two, the ball never left the infield.

Florida, meanwhile, pounded out 11 hits while taking advantage of sloppy play in the field by Alabama, which committed six errors. Only six of Florida’s 11 runs were earned.

Two Alabama errors, a single by Jocelyn Erickson and a wild pitch gave the Gators a 2-0 lead in the first. The Gators stretched it to 3-0 in the top of the third on a single by Kendra Falby, an Alabama error and a single up the middle by Skylar Wallace. Brown cranked a 2-2 delivery deep over the wall in left field to give the Gators a 4-2 lead in the fourth.

Then came the seventh when the bottom fell out completely for Alabama. The Gators scored seven runs to finish off their 17th run-rule win of the season. Wallace doubled and scored on an Erickson single. A walk to Korbe Otis, a wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out by Katie Kistler plated Erickson. Brown had an RBI single, Cassidy McClellan had a sacrifice fly and Wallace hit her second double of the inning to score Falby, who had singled.

The Gators have outscored opponents 221-24 this season.

UF TENNIS: Women split two matches; men fall twice

The 18th-ranked Florida women rebounded from a 4-3 loss to Georgia on Friday by taking out Tennessee 5-2 Sunday at the Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators are now 6-7 overall, 2-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The Gators will be home next weekend against Auburn on Friday and Alabama on Sunday.

The men’s team (6-6, 2-2 SEC) was on the road all weekend, falling 6-1 to Kentucky on Friday and 6-1 to Tennessee Sunday. The Gators will be at home Tuesday against Tennessee State then on the road for two SEC weekend matches, at Auburn Friday and at Alabama Sunday.  

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: In the span of five days we saw Florida’s basketball team at their best and maybe not their worst, but certainly far less than they expected. Beating Alabama in the O-Dome was special, not only because it knocked Alabama out of the Southeastern Conference regular season championship race, but because the Gators thrived off an electric atmosphere in the O-Dome. Then came Vanderbilt, a game the Gators not only should have won, but would have won if they weren’t still basking in the glow of the Alabama win. That’s about the only logical explanation and it was confirmed post game by Tyrese Samuel, who admitted the Gators didn’t come ready to play.

The regular season has ended and Florida is 21-10, 11-7 in SEC play. Going back through the 10 losses and it’s not difficult to conclude the Gators could be six games better. It is not far fetched to think the Gators could have won the SEC title. Had they finished the regular season with 25 or more wins and 13 or more in SEC play, they would be on everybody’s potential Final Four combatants list.

Now, this isn’t to take anything away from the accomplishments of the season. Considering nearly every media outlet thought the Gators would be in the NIT, getting to 21 wins is a serious accomplishment. Getting to the NCAA Tournament in year two for Todd Golden is a serious accomplishment, particularly considering how the program had stagnated under Mike White. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that Florida’s first game at the SEC Tournament on Thursday could be against Georgia, which plays Missouri on Wednesday.

Right now, Joe Lunardi has UF on a No. 6 line playing the play-in winner of Indiana State and Colorado in Brooklyn. Win it and it’s the 3-14 winner of Duke-Toledo. Over at CBS, Jerry Palm has the Gators on a No. 7 line against 10th-seed Northwestern with an imminent rematch with Baylor, whom the Gators lost to by four early in the season.

One win in Nashville should solidify the Gators either on the six or the seven line. Two wins would almost guarantee a six seed … or maybe even a five. The sky is the limit if the Gators remember to play like they did in beating Alabama. If they play like they did against Vanderbilt, they could find themselves on the dreaded 8-9 line going against a No. 1 if they win their first game.