The best college baseball player? Is there any doubt it's Caglianone?

Jac Caglianone launches a home run against North Carolina State (UAA Photo)

“But my bags ain’t unpacked ‘cause I’ve got to go back and play; But I know we’ll both survive, stay alive, through the thick and the thin. Survive, stay alive, ‘til it all ends” – “Survive” by Jimmy Buffett

Memo to the Golden Spikes Award Committee: The best college baseball player in America hit a 3-run home run Monday afternoon to lead the Florida Gators to a 5-4 elimination game victory over North Carolina State at the College World Series in Omaha.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the second inning, Caglianone hit a rocket that left his bat at 115.9 miles per hour, traveling 404 feet against a stiff wind blowing into the right field stands at Charles Schwab Park to give the Gators a lead they never relinquished. Three innings later with the Gators clinging to a 4-3 lead over the Wolfpack, Tyler Shelton homered into the left field bullpen to provide the final margin. That was Florida’s final hit of the game and it was necessary because after Caglianone’s 34th homer of the season, NC State coach Elliot Avent ordered him intentionally walked in both the fourth and ninth innings.

So how is it the Golden Spikes people got it wrong? How can you overlook the most feared hitter in the collegiate game, the only player to ever have back-to-back seasons with more than 30 home runs? How can you overlook a player who is hitting .413 mostly against Southeastern Conference pitching? How can you overlook the fact that Caglianone is also a quality pitcher with a 5-2 record and such a gold glover in the field that Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle says, “He’s the best defensive first baseman I’ve ever seen in college baseball. It’s not close.”

Yet, for their infinite wisdom, Caglianone wasn’t one of the three finalists for the most prestigious award in college baseball. Perhaps that has put some extra juice into Caglianone’s approach at the plate in Omaha where in two games he has a single, a double and the 3-run homer in six at bats while walking three times, two intentionally.

And, because of the Monday heroics, the Gators survive elimination, which means Caglianone will play at least one more game in a Florida uniform. The Gators will face Kentucky Tuesday night (7 p.m., ESPN) in an elimination game with the winner advancing to the CWS semifinals against Texas A&M. The Aggies punched their semifinals ticket by knocking off Kentucky, 5-1, Monday night.

Caglianone was Florida’s starting pitcher Monday and it wasn’t one of his better outings but he showed tremendous grit and resilience just to make it through one inning. Despite hitting a batter, walking two and giving up a run-scoring single, Caglianone was able to get a strikeout and a fly ball out to center field to end the inning with minimal damage. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan elected to pull Caglianone after 32 pitches and one inning in favor of lefty Cade Fisher.  

"He didn't have his best stuff,” O’Sullivan said. “I could just tell there was a different look in his eye. I didn't want to push him, and we had Cade fresh, and that's what we decided to do."

When Fisher took to the mound in the bottom of the second, that 1-0 deficit was a 4-1 Florida lead. Call it Caglianone’s revenge. Walks to Dale Thomas and Brody Donay and a single to left field by Mikey Robertson loaded the bases for Cade Kurland, whose fly ball to left field scored Thomas from third to tie the game.

Caglianone, who had struck out on a pitch outside the strike zone in the first inning, took a called strike the second time around before lefty Dominic Fritton made a mistake that Caglianone hammered into the right field seats for a 4-1 Florida lead.

“We thought we’d see if Caglianone would chase again,” Avent said. “Unfortunately, Fritton got the ball down, and that ball he hit to right center, that’s as hard – I mean, you’re looking at a future big leaguer. I’ve been here and seen (Kyle) Schwarber and Bryce Harper and all these guys growing up and playing baseball, whether you’re recruiting or facing them in college. He’s [Caglianone] a big league hitter, I can tell you that.”

The home run was the 74th of Caglianone’s career, tying Matt LaPorta for the all-time Florida record and for 10th place on the NCAA all-time home run list. Caglianone’s 74 homers came in 162 games. LaPorta played 215 games.

Staked to a 3-run lead, Fisher got a 1-2-3 second inning, but he hit the leadoff batter in the third and a first pitch home run to left field by Alec Makarewicz that cut the Florida margin to 4-3. After a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, the Gators added the insurance of Shelnut’s home run in the top of the fifth but the Wolfpack got the run back in their half of the inning.

When Fisher walked leadoff hitter Luke Nixon to start the sixth, Jake Clemente got the call in the bullpen. He induced a foul out on an attempted bunt, Donay threw out Nixon trying to steal and got a ground out to end the inning.

Clemente was on a short hook. When he walked the leadoff hitter in the seventh, Brandon Neely came on to close things out. It was another brilliant performance as Neely gave up one hit and one walk while striking out six for his fifth save. Neely allowed a runner as far as third in the eighth, but a pair of strikeouts ended that threat.

Considering three previous CWS games ended in walk-off ninth innings, there had to be plenty of nerves when the Wolfpack came to bat with the game on the line, but Neely was nails with two strikeouts and a fly ball to Shelnut in left to end the game.

“It had to be in everybody's mind that there's been, what, three walk-offs out of the four games or whatever it's been,” O’Sullivan said. “So I'm sure that was probably somewhere in everybody's mind watching the game, but when he [Neely] went out there and attacked, got the lead-off hitter in the 2-hole and then quickly got 0-2 on their 3-hole hitter, who hit the home run early in the game, I think says a lot about his mentality.

“And you look at his pitch count, threw 23 pitches on Saturday but feels like he threw 50 because he was so efficient. Tonight I think it was 43 pitches or so in three innings. But he's so efficient that you don't realize how low his pitch count has been, but he's been just outstanding for us, and those types of pitchers are really hard to find. You have to have stuff and have you to have the mentality.”

So, that brings the Gators to another do-or-die situation. They’ll send Pierce Coppola to the mound tonight (7 p.m.) to face Kentucky. During the regular season, the Gators lost two of three to Kentucky in Gainesville, but both losses were in extra innings. This is a team the Gators are certainly capable of beating. Win and the Gators will play the Aggies again, needing to beat them twice to make it to the championship series.

Shelnut said this is what Florida baseball is all about.

“That’s the standard around here and it’s our responsibility to uphold that standard, to play winning baseball and get here to Omaha and be the last team standing,” Shelnut said. “Any time we’re in a spot where our backs are against the wall we honestly play our best baseball, hands down without a doubt.”

Monday’s scores

FLORIDA (35-29) 5, No. 10 North Carolina State (38-23) 4; NC State eliminated

No. 3 Texas A&M (51-13) 5, No. 2 Kentucky (46-15) 1

Tuesday’s games

2 p.m.: No. 4 North Carolina (48-15) vs. No. 8 Florida State (48-16); elimination game

7 p.m. FLORIDA (35-29) vs. No. 2 Kentucky (46-15); elimination game

UF GYMNASTICS: Gators add former UCLA All-American Selena Harris

Florida gymnastics made it official Monday with the signing of former UCLA All-American Selena Harris, the 2024 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year. Harris is a 12-time All-American who was the nation’s No. 1 recruit in 2023.

Harris has five perfect 10s in her career – four on vault, one on bars – and has a collegiate best 39.90 all-around against Clemson. One week later she had a 39.825 all-around in the Pac-12 championship finals.

Harris will join an absolutely stacked Florida roster that will include the return of Leanne Wong, Anya Pilgrim, Sloane Blakely and Riley McCusker, who missed the 2024 season nursing an injury. Wong is on the US National team along with Skye Blakely, who will be an incoming freshman in the fall, and Kayla DiCielo, a freshman All-American at UF, who took the 2024 collegiate season off to prep for the Olympics.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators hire new pitching coach

Per D1Softball, Tim Walton has hired Memphis head coach Stepanie VanBrakle Prothro as his new pitching coach, replacing Chelsea Dobbins, who is leaving coaching to concentrate on raising her two small children. To the softball aficionado, the name VanBrakle Prothro is quite familiar. An All-American pitcher at Alabama, who posted a sparking 1.53 ERA while winning 97 games and striking out 1,115 in 844 innings, Prothro was the pitching coach at Alabama for a dozen years. She is credited with the development of Bama All-American pitchers Jackie Traina and Montana Fouts.

Prothro will be working with freshman All-American Keagan Rothrock, All-SEC freshman Ava Brown, Olivia Miller and UNC-Wilmington transfer and All-CAA Kara Hammack.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Les Miles, the former LSU football coach, has filed a lawsuit against LSU, the NCAA and the National Football Foundation over 37 wins that were vacated from his record between 2012 and 2015. Minus the 37 wins, Miles has a career winning percentage less than .600 which makes him ineligible for inclusion in the College Football Hall of Fame. With the wins added to his record, Miles would be 145-73 for stints at Oklahoma State, LSU and Kansas, which would make him eligible. LSU won the national championship in 2007.

At issue is a former prominent LSU booster who embezzled money from a Baton Rouge area hospital and paid a recruit who played for LSU between 2012-16 in excess of $180,000 over a 5-year period. The booster has been banned from the LSU athletic program for 10 years as a result.

In 2021, LSU alleged that Miles had inappropriate interaction with female students during his time as head coach. The report cited incidents eight years earlier. Miles lost his job at LSU during the 2016 season, so there is a good bit of animosity here.

Miles says he wants his good name restored and the wins that will make him Hall of Fame eligible. Given that he was in no way connected to the booster that embezzled the money and paid the player, it would seem on the surface that he has a decent case, especially considering the NCAA’s record in court.

As for restoring his “good name,” that might be a longshot.