No offense, no problem: Jac Caglianone, bullpen carry Florida to regional win

Florida’s offense no-showed on Friday night, but the Gators still came away with a 3-0 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers in the opening round of the 2023 Gainesville Regional.

The last time UF hosted FAMU, the Gators got things done in seven innings, outscoring the Rattlers, 17-7. Things seemed to be headed down the same path early when Josh Rivera blasted a two-run, no-doubt home run in the bottom of the first off Caleb Granger, but the Andrew College transfer held Florida in check for the rest of the night.

Granger allowed just two more hits through the next five innings, pitching successfully to contact. His one strikeout pales compared to Jac Caglianone’s seven, but the difference between the two was just the one pitch Rivera got ahold of.

Speaking of Caglianone, Kevin O’Sullivan got the good version of his dynamic two-way star tonight. Caglianone has looked really good for about a month or so, but that last start against a blazing-hot Vanderbilt team had some worried that the four-inning starts were back for good.

Have no fear. Caglianone went six scoreless, giving up just four hits and three walks. The plan early was simple: attack Florida A&M with the fastball. In fact, Caglianone threw 10 straight to start the game, and it worked!

The flamethrowing lefty cruised through the order the first time through, rarely mixing in any breaking balls or offspeed stuff. Caglianone began mixing in the slider the second time through, which threw off his fastball command a bit.

He regrouped by turning to the changeup, which has been his best pitch over the last month. He locates it well (low and outside), and it sets up a 97-99 mph heater for a punchout much better than the slider. If Caglianone is going to stay a starter longterm (think MLB), it’s that changeup that’s going to get him there. It’s been a work in progress all season, but the results are finally starting to show.

Unfortunately, Florida’s anemic offense meant that the team had to turn to some of its top bullpen arms on Day 1 of the Regional. Ryan Slater needed just 15 pitches to get through the seventh and eighth perfectly, and Brandon Neely earned his league-leading 11th save of the season.

Neely ran into a little trouble, giving up three hits to the Rattlers, but Richie Schiekofer and Rivera bailed him out each making a play at home. Perhaps there’s something to be said about the decision to send both runners, but FAMU needed to score and hadn’t had many chances all night.

Luke Heyman added a crucial insurance run for the Gators in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single to right field that scored Wyatt Langford.

Florida advances to play Texas Tech in the winner’s bracket on Saturday at 6 p.m. EDT. The Red Raiders will be the home team. Connecticut and Florida A&M will play the first elimination game of the Regional at noon.

Florida will go with either Brandon Sproat or Hurston Waldrep on the mound. Kyle Robinson is the starter for Texas Tech.

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire