Jac Caglianone shines on the mound as historic HR barrage comes to an end in win over Vandy
Jac Caglianone shined for Florida in Saturday’s 6-2 win over Vanderbilt. However, his contributions were not what fans have become accustomed to in recent weeks.
Caglianone entered the day riding a historic home run streak, tying the NCAA record for consecutive games with a homer at 9 Friday night. He needed one more to set the record by himself at 10 games after tying Nevada’s Tyler Bosetti, but his pitching became the story of the game.
He limited the Commodores to just 2 runs across 5 innings while striking out 5. Cade Fisher and Fisher Jameson would follow with 4 shutout innings to stifle Vanderbilt in the 6-2 win by the Gators.
At the dish, Caglianone’s chase for solo history got off to a sluggish start with a pair of double plays to start the game. He would add a walk in the 6th inning and eventually got onto the board with a single in the 7th, putting his shot to get his coveted home run in regulation.
Remarkably, the Gators would get Caglianone back to the play in the 9th inning for his shot at history. However, the Commodores were not going to let the power hitter do any more damage, intentionally walking Caglianone.
Tyler Shelnut would make that decision hurt, driving in 2 runs to put the game out of reach and complete a 5-RBI day for himself:
5️⃣-RBI day for SHELLY ?#GoGators // ? SECN+ pic.twitter.com/8dpmagv03R
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 20, 2024
Controversial decision?
With Caglianone facing a shot at history, Vanderbilt made the unpopular decision of intentionally walking the star slugger to eliminate any possibility of that history. As a fan, it’s not the move you want to see, but it’s one that likely made sense from a competitive standpoint, even if Shelnut put things out of reach shortly after.
Either way, it’s the kind of decision that will split fans on whether or not it was the right call to make. Take a look:
PETTINESS!
Vanderbilt intentionally walks Jac Caglianone on what could be his last at-bat of the game. Caglianone is riding a 9-game HR streak and is one away from having sole possession of the record.
Gators have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out here in the 9th inning
— ESPN 98.1 / 850 WRUF (@ESPNGainesville) April 20, 2024
He had his chances.
— AuricGoldfnger (There’s no I in my fnger) (@AuricGoldfnger) April 20, 2024
You gonna let him hit so he can make history against your team and hit a home run? Hell naw
— Beamer’s Burner (@taterhater180) April 20, 2024
Good move.
— Jack Watson (@topper_fan) April 20, 2024
Like walking Barry Bonds with the bases loaded. Yes that actually happened, I was there
— Subdivisions…….. (@MyRocinante2112) April 20, 2024
Thats baseball
— Hogdaddy? (@amos_tg) April 20, 2024
Vandy is soft
— Macho Camacho (@MachoHC) April 20, 2024
Vandy is a low class bunch of baby’s
— Ron Buchanan (@RonBuch42457233) April 20, 2024
Happy UF and Jac got the win. The walk was uncool.
Walking him really went against normal baseball strategy. First and second base were occupied, so “double play” was in play PLUS he had already grounded into two earlier in the game. PLUS the guy hitting behind him already had RBI’s in the game. So the walk just didn’t make strategy sense. So what happens? They walk him, and the guy behind him gets the hit to put the game away.
Agree with you. Uncool, bad baseball decision, and it cost them.
As a casual baseball fan – I appreciate the breakdown.
On the other hand, maybe they felt Jac was due. Does he go hitless very often?
Who knows?
I finally got a reason to dislike Vandy.
I’ve always hated intentional walks, I get the strategy but it’s a candy @ssed way to get past a batter. The fact that it screwed up a potential record makes it worse, all baseball fans should flip Vandy the bird for that!
This is so stupid. The dude got four chances to hit earlier in the game. We pitched to him all series long. On Saturday, he looked pedestrian against JD Thompson, who had him expanding the zone and way out in front of change-ups. He grounded into back-to-back double-plays.
When he got the IBB, he was spewing a bunch of nasty vitriol towards the Vandy dugout. I really hope Arkansas sweeps those low-class bums and they miss the NCAA-T completely. Between guys like Cags and a first-class d-bag like Sully, couldn’t happen to a worse bunch of human beings.
If his hitting was so “pedestrian” against your awesome pitching then why intentionally walk him? It only seems “stupid” to you because it’s not a good look for your team. It was a lame move.
And as far as classless d-bags go, you must not sit near your team’s dugout. It’s a mouthy bunch.
There wasn’t anything ‘situational’ behind that decision. Just Corbin having no class.
All streaks and records must come to an end sometime so it is what it is. He was off on offense but his pitching was on point. We are spoiled in that we expect him to shine every single day, every one has an off day once in a while
In other un reported news, Todd Golden is killing it in the portal. Got 4 high quality guys in one week and he aint done yet.
Wonder how gaga feels about this since he is down on the 3 big Gator sports teams. And how is Mike White doing
247 needs to update I guess. They say three signees. Got them up to 27th ranked, which is pretty mid, wouldn’t you say?
Yep 247 is way behind. But you got wrong info anyways. White hasn’t signed 3, UGA is definitively not ranked 27th, they are unranked and no I don’t think UGA is “pretty mid”, they are lower than that
Hey, never mentioned UGA. UF was the subject. UF has signed 3. Martin, Chinyuia, and Alexis. Who is the 4th?
UF ranked 27th in transfers and 43rd overall.
43rd? That’s treading the line between mid and upper-bottom…I wonder if palley knows that the 5* White has coming in lives about an hour south of hogtown…
It’s early. They will finish higher.
And I doubt seriously if he knows.