Thoughts of the Day: Florida Gators Baseball, Basketball & Football News

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Caglianone HR No. 21 was an absolute moon shot

Photo Credit UAA

This wasn’t one of those seen one you’ve seen them all home runs. No, the one Jac Caglianone hit with Ty Evans on second in the bottom of the fourth was special even by Caglianone standards. Caglianone’s 21sthome run of the season was an absolute moonshot, hit so high that the pitchers in the Florida bullpen put their backs against the fence so they could watch it clear the 40-foot high scoreboard in right field.

Gravity pulled the ball back down to earth 516 feet from home plate, perhaps the longest home run ever hit at Condron Family Ballpark. This was a game that Florida’s young pitchers scattered five hits and allowed only one run in seven innings. Tyler Shelnut, who had five RBI, drilled a pair of home runs and would have had a third one if he had pulled it just a little bit instead of hitting straight away. Seven of the nine starters got at least one hit as the Gators pounded out a 12-1, 7-inning run-rule win over Jacksonville University.

It was an impressive midweek win for a Florida (19-17) team that has struggled in midweek games, but all the fans could talk about leaving the stadium was the Caglianone home run.    

For reasons unknown, someone in the JU dugout was under the mistaken impression that lefty Dy Faulkner could sneak a fast ball by Caglianone. One pitch earlier, Caglianone was so far out in front of a fast ball that he yanked it on a hard line foul onto the berm down the third base line. Maybe the JU brain trust thought Caglianone would be expecting a breaking ball on the second pitch.

Bad decision. Caglianone wasn't the least bit fooled.

The pitch was a little lower than belt high and far enough over the plate that Caglianone got his arms extended. From the crack of the bat there was no doubt Caglianone had homered in his seventh consecutive game. The only question was would the ball ever come back down to earth.

As impressive as the home run was, probably Caglianone’s best piece of hitting was in the bottom of the first inning when he beat the shift by taking an outside pitch from JU lefty Dakota Stone opposite field for a single. A year ago, Caglianone would have probably tried to overpower the ball and pull it to the right side. This season, however, he isn’t afraid to go with the pitch and use the entire field.

“He’s going the other way obviously a lot differently than he did last year,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He’s hitting home runs from pole-to-pole. They put the shift on him, he’s gotten numerous hits the other way this year, some on the ground, some in the air, some on a line. He’s handling lefthanded pitching way better. That lefthander comes out of the pen, I never think this boy, this is a tough matchup for Jac. He’s staying on the ball better.”

Through Florida’s 36 games, Caglianone has more hits (43), walks (21) and home runs (21) than he does strikeouts. He is hitting an even .400, having hit safely in 15 straight games while getting on base in 22 consecutive.

Shelnut, who is in the midst of a career year himself with 10 home runs and 34 RBI, says Caglianone is so locked in this season that it’s rare to see him swing and miss.

“Where he was faulty last year was he would chase stuff down a lot, that’s how he got out,” Shelton said. “He has some of the best bat-to-ball skill I’ve ever seen. When he swings he usually hits the ball and I think that’s probably his biggest strength honestly. It doesn’t matter what pitch, doesn’t matter where the location is, when he takes a swing, he’s usually hitting the ball. That’s the biggest reason he doesn’t walk a lot.”

Besides the home runs by Caglianone and Shelnut that accounted for seven of Florida’s runs, the Gators got a single, a double and two RBI from Evans; two hits including a run-scoring single from Brody Donay and two gifts, an error on a pickoff that allowed Caglianone to score in the first and a throwing error on a Dale Thomas sacrifice bunt that brought home Cade Kurland.

Redshirt freshman Jake Clemente, who missed all of last year recovering from an injury, got the start, gave up two hits and struck out five in two innings to earn his first win as a Gator. Freshman Frank Menendez went 1-2/3 innings, relieved by Blake Purnell. Purnell went an inning and gave up a run before Ryan Slater came on to get four straight outs. Landon Russell, in his first appearance of the season, pitched a scoreless seventh.

The pitching was good, not great. O’Sullivan lamented four walks and three hit batters, but compared to some of the recent midweek outings, this was a revelation. It was the second straight win for the Gators, who had lost six straight prior to a Sunday win over South Carolina. Prior to the game, O’Sullivan made it abundantly clear to his team that the margin for error in making the NCAA field of 64 teams is very, very small.

“The only message for the game really was, we are literally at a point in our season where it's pitch to pitch, inning to inning, game to game,” O’Sullivan said. “Every game is extremely important. Not that at any other point the games aren't equally as important, but in the big picture now with where we are with our record, that we've got to treat each game the same and I thought we did that tonight."

Shelnut said the Gators played with a sense of purpose, sort of a backs against the wall mentality.

“We can’t change the games that we lost or won in the past,” Shelnut said. “We are where we are. The only thing we can do is put our head down now, and have a sense of urgency. Every game means something whether it’s JU on a Tuesday or Vandy on a weekend or out at Arkansas or wherever. Every game means something at this point. You can’t take a day off. You can’t take a pitch off.”

SEC FOOTBALL: The portal is open for business

Alabama

Outgoing: PK Reed Harradine (6-3, 185, FR)

Incoming: OT Kadyn Proctor (6-7, 360, FR) from Iowa

Arkansas

Outgoing: TE Francis Sherman (6-3, 237, SR); RB Isaiah Augustave (6-2, 208, RFR); OT Andrew Chamblee (6-6, 304, FR); QB Jacolby Criswell (6-1, 230, JR); EDGE Jashaud Stewart (6-2, 257, SR)

Auburn

Outgoing: DL Brenton Williams (6-3, 262, FR); CB J.D. Rhym (6-1, 178, SO)

FLORIDA

Outgoing: LB Mannie Nunnery (6-2, 227, RSR)

Georgia

Outgoing: RB Andrew Paul (5-11, 218, FR); OT Chad Lindberg (6-6, 325, JR) to Rice; WR Tyler Williams (6-3, 205, RFR)

Kentucky

Outgoing: RB LaVell Wright (5-11, 202, JR); WR Darius Cannon (5-9, 175, FR); WR Raymond Cottrell (6-3, 210, RFR)

LSU

Outgoing: EDGE Jaxon Howard (6-4, 240, FR)

Incoming: DL Gio Paez (6-3, 310, SR) from Wisconsin

Mississippi State

Outgoing: S Trent Singleton (6-0, 195, FR); CB Luke Evans (6-2, 180, FR)

Incoming: RB Rashad Amos (6-2, 224, SR) from South Carolina

Missouri

Outgoing: WR Dannis Jackson (5-11, 171, JR)

Incoming: QB Drew Pyne (6-0, 190, SO) from Arizona State

Oklahoma

Outgoing: QB Jacob Switzer (6-2, 192, SO); LB Shane Whitter (6-0, 226, JR)

Ole Miss

Outgoing: DL Joshua Harris (6-4, 325, SR); QB Deljay Bailey (6-1, 200, FR)

South Carolina

Outgoing: OL Jaxon Hughes (6-6, 297, SR); EDGE Terrell Dawkins (6-4, 251, SR)

Tennessee

Outgoing: LB Elijah Herring (6-3, 238, SO)

Texas

Outgoing: LB S’maje Burrell (6-0, 219, FR); EDGE Billy Walton III (6-3, 225, FR); OL Payton Kirkland (6-6, 350, FR);  

Texas A&M

Outgoing: S Sam McCall (6-1, 185, FR); LB Alex Howard (6-2, 230, SR); S Jacoby Matthews (6-2, 215, SO); EDGE Fadil Diggs (6-5, 260, JR) to Syracuse; OL Derrick Graham (6-4, 314, SO)

Incoming: EDGE Josh Celiscar (6-4, 265, SR) from UCF

Vanderbilt

Outgoing: LB Dante Kelly (6-3, 201, FR)

SEC BASKETBALL: The portal is open for business

Alabama

Outgoing: SF Kris Parker (6-8, 195, RFR); SG Rylan Griffen (6-5, 185, SO); SG Davin Cosby (6-5, 205, FR); Sam Walters (6-10, 198, FR); C Nick Pringle (6-9, 220, SR)

Incoming: PG Houston Mallette (6-5, 180, JR) from Pepperdine; SG Chris Youngblood (6-4, 212, SR) from South Florida

Arkansas

Outgoing: PG Keon Menifield (6-1, 150, SO); F Denijay Harris (6-7, 200, SR); WG Joseph Pinion (6-6, 195, SO) to Arkansas State; C Baye Fall (6-10, 200, FR); SG Tramon Mark (6-5, 180, JR) to Texas

Incoming: C Zvonimir Ivisic (7-2, 234, FR) from Kentucky

Auburn

Outgoing: CG KD Johnson (6-0, 190, SR); PG Tre Donaldson (6-2, 190, SO); PG Aden Holloway (6-1, 178, FR)

INCOMING: PG JP Pegues (6-1, 165, JR) from Furman

FLORIDA

Outgoing: SG Riley Kugel (6-5, 206, SO) to Kansas; PF Aleks Szymczyk (6-10, 250, RFR)

Incoming: Sam Alexis (6-9, 240, SO) from Chattanooga

Georgia

Outgoing: SF Matthew-Alexander Moncrief (6-7, 220, SR); PG Justin Hill (6-0, 185, SR); C Jalen Deloach (6-9, 215, JR) to Loyola; SG Mari Jordan (6-8, 185, RFR); WF Jabri Abdur-Rahim (6-7, 214, SR) to Providence

Kentucky

Outgoing: SG Adou Thiero (6-6, 200, SO); SG Joey Hart (6-5, 203, FR); C Aaron Bradshaw (7-0, 220, FR) to Ohio State; C Zvonimir Ivisic (7-2, 234, FR) to Arkansas;  PG DJ Wagner (6-3, 175, FR)

LSU

Outgoing: SF Mwani Wilkerson (6-5, 205, SO); SG Carlos Stewart (6-1, 185, JR) to Santa Clara

Incoming: PG Cam Carter (6-3, 195, JR) from Kansas State; PG Jordan Sears (5-11, 175, JR) from UT-Martin

Mississippi State

Outgoing: PG Andrew Taylor (6-3, 190, SR); SG Trey Fort III (6-4, 195, JR); PF Jaquan Scott (6-8, 230, JR); SG Shakeel Moore (6-1, 180, SR); PF Keshawn Murphy (6-10, 245, SO)

Incoming: PG Kanye Clary (5-11, 192, SO) from Penn State

Missouri

Outgoing: SG Curt Lewis (6-5, 215, JR); PF Jesus Carralero (6-8, 210, SR); SG John Tonje (6-5, 222, SR)

Incoming: PF Jacob Crews (6-8, 210, JR) from UT-Martin; SG Tony Perkins (6-4, 210, SR) from Iowa

Oklahoma

Outgoing: CG Otega Oweh (6-5, 210, SO); PF John Hugley (6-9, 240, JR) to Xavier; PG Javian McCollum (6-1, 170, JR) to Georgia Tech; PG Milos Uzan (6-4, 183, SO) to Houston

Ole Miss

Outgoing: PF Rashaud Marshall (6-9, 220, FR) to Arkansas State; C Malique Ewin (6-10, 240); Jacob Gazzo (6-8, 215, FR); PF Cameron Barnes (6-9, 195, FR)

Incoming: PF Mikeal Brown-Jones (6-8, 210, SR) from UNC-Greensboro; C Malik Dia (6-9, 240, SO) from Belmont

South Carolina

Outgoing: PG Meechie Johnson (6-2, 184, JR) to Ohio State; CG Ebrima Dibba (6-5, 214, SR)

Tennessee

Outgoing: SG Freddie Dilione (6-5, 185, FR); SG D.J. Jefferson (6-5, 2-7, FR); PF Tobe Awaka (6-8, 250, SO); C Jonas Aidoo (6-11, 230, JR)

Incoming: SG Darlinstone Dubar (6-6, 207, SR) from Hofstra

Texas

Outgoing: SF Alex Anamekwe (6-6, 200, SO); PG Chris Johnson (6-5, 180, FR); PF Dillon Mitchell (6-8, 205, SO); PG Tyrese Hunter (6-0, 170, JR)

Incoming: SG Tramon Mark (6-5, 180, JR) from Arkansas; PF Jayson Kent (6-8, 205, SR) from Indiana State; PG Julian Larry (6-3, 185, SR) from Indiana State

Vanderbilt

Outgoing: PG Paul Lewis (6-2, 170, SO); C Lee Dort (6-10, 245, SO) to California; SG Tyrin Lawrence (6-4, 200, SR); PF Colin Smith (6-8, 220); SG Jason Rivera-Torres (6-6, 180, FR); PF Carter Lang (6-9, 235, FR); SG Isaiah West (6-2, 190, FR)

Incoming: PF Jaylen Carey (6-8, 245, FR) from James Madison; SF Tyler Nickel (6-7, 200, SO) from Virginia Tech; SG MJ Collins (6-4, 190, SO) from Virginia Tech

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, hit Michigan with three years of probation and show cause for people involved in recruiting violations that took place years ago. The NCAA will still pursue Jim Harbaugh and others for the sign stealing scandal. Doesn’t matter to the NCAA that Harbaugh is in the NFL and odds are the only way he ever returns to college football is when we can stick a fork in the NCAA and declare that corrupt organization done.

Just to show you how focused the NCAA has been lately on weeding out the real problems that are overwhelming college sports these days, it was just a couple of months ago that the organization handed out this ruling: No longer can schools decorate the hotel rooms of prospective athletes when they arrive for recruiting visits. And – are you ready for this one – the school can’t leave snacks or a cake in the hotel room. Those goodies have to be given to the recruit in the hotel lobby.

Now I’m sure you understand why Florida has been losing 5-star recruits to Georgia. It’s because Georgia was putting snacks, cakes and balloons in recruits’ hotel rooms.

Aren’t you glad we got that cleared up? Aren’t you glad the NCAA is doing its part to keep college sports clean?