Caglianone leads Florida baseball to series win over Miami
A dominant performance from Florida two-way star Jac Caglianone led the Gators to an 8-4 win over the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday, also giving Florida the three-game series win.
Just like Friday night, Florida flexed its power at the power plate, belting four home runs. Naturally, Caglianone was a part of the barrage — he finished the day with three hits — but it was his stuff on the mound that impressed everyone in Coral Gables the most.
With a fastball up to 97 mph (into the seventh inning), and a slider-changeup pairing that comes in about 20 mph slower, Caglianone carved up opposing batters for most of the afternoon.
Florida’s star cruised on the mound through five. A pair of hits (just the second and third of the day) put runners in scoring position against him during the sixth, but he fanned the designated hitter, Lorenzo Carrier, to strand both men.
Colby Shelton delivered the first homer of the day. Shelton shouldn’t have even come up in the inning, never mind with a man on, but an error at shortstop set up the two-run blast in the first.
Ty Evans and Tyler Shelnut went back-to-back in the fourth. Shelnut was ejected after rounding the bases and celebrating too much. Hayden Yost replaced him in the lineup and in left field.
Caglianone hit his in the fifth, a no-doubt blast to the pull side. Every home run but Shelton’s was a no-doubter. Hurricanes starter Herick Hernandez flashed some elusive stuff, but the Gators teed off when he missed.
Brandon Olivera replaced Hernandez in the sixth, setting the Gators down in order, but the damage had already been done and Caglianone was rolling. He finished the night with 11 strikeouts
Miami thought they had something going in the seventh when Ryan Slater took over, but a spread-eagle diving play from Ty Evans in right kept the Hurricanes from getting a leadoff baserunner. A pop-up and tapper back to the pitcher kept Slater’s line clean.
The ‘Canes finally broke through in the eighth with a grand slam off Brandon Neely, who came in for Slater after the bases filled up.
Shelton delivered his second home run of the day to provide two much-needed insurance runs. Neely ended up giving up
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