Jac Caglianone ties NCAA record with home run in ninth consecutive game
Jac Caglianone is on the cusp of history. In Florida’s matchup against Vanderbilt on Friday evening, the standout first baseman 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.”
Florida struggling to find rhythm in conference play
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.”
Florida has paid the price for its lack of fundamentals. From April 5-13, the Gators suffered a six-game losing streak. After the team broke the downward spiral with a triumph over South Carolina, Jac Caglianone provided words of encouragement.
“We knew that the tough times won’t last,” Caglianone told reporters. “I’m just glad that our offense stayed the course and trusted what we’ve been working on to get the results we wanted today. And hopefully, we’ll take that into this week and head to Nashville.”
Florida will close its three-game series against Vanderbilt on Saturday when the two teams square off at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.