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Alabama catcher Mac Guscette hits grand slam for first home run of season

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby: Grant Grubbs04/19/24grant_grubbs_
Mac Guscette
© Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK

Down 8-0 with the bases loaded, Alabama catcher Mac Guscette stepped up to the plate. He didn’t waste the opportune moment. The 6-foot senior crushed a grand slam over the left field fence to cut Texas A&M’s lead to 8-4.

The home run was Guscette’s first this season. He entered the game with a .292 batting average and 18 RBI. Guscette’s massive hit wasn’t enough to push the Crimson Tide to victory. The team ultimately fell 18-9 to the Aggies.

After losing three games in a row, Alabama has a 24-15 record and 6-11 mark in conference play, which is fourth in the SEC West.

Jac Caglianone makes NCAA history

Mac Guscette wasn’t the only SEC standout who went yard on Friday night. In Florida’s 5-2 loss against Vanderbilt on Friday evening, Gators superstar Jac Caglianone tied the NCAA record for consecutive games with a home run (9).

Caglianone’s nine-straight games with a HR tie Nevada’s Tyler Bosetti, who accomplished the feat in 2021. Duke’s Ryan Jackson and Georgia Tech’s Andy Bruce now trail the pair, both boasting eight-game home-run streaks.

Caglianone has 23 home runs and 45 RBI this season while boasting a .407 batting average. The Florida native is nearing Florida’s career record for home runs. He currently is in second place behind Matt LaPorta, who knocked out 74 home runs while spending four seasons in school.

With the extra bomb on Friday night, Caglianone has the second-most homers in the NCAA this season, only trailing Georgia’s Charlie Condon. Despite his endless accolades this season, Caglianone insists he isn’t focused on the individual statistics.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” Caglianone said. “I’d give anything to play with these guys as long as possible everybody puts hard work in and we all want to get to the same place at the end of the year and we’re all really close.”

Although Caglianone has excelled this season, Florida has not been nearly as successful. The Gators are 19-18 and have a 7-9 record in conference, second from last place in the SEC East. On Thursday, the team lost its first matchup of a three-game series against Vanderbilt.

Earlier this week, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan did not mince words about his team’s sluggish start to conference play.

“There wasn’t much urgency because we hadn’t gotten to the meat of the schedule,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know, even though you might be winning some games and some series, that you’re not playing fundamentally clean, winning baseball.”