The Gators open the NCAA Tournament with a win in front of the largest postseason home crowd in program history.
WHAT HAPPENED: Gators shortstop Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> hit a two-run homer in the first inning and starter Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> tossed six shutout innings to lead the Gators to a 3-0 victory over Florida A&M in their NCAA Tournament opener on Friday night.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In a pitching duel between Caglianone and Rattlers right-hander Caleb Granger, Rivera delivered the game’s biggest hit when he drilled Granger’s 2-0 pitcher well over the left-field wall to give the home crowd something to cheer about early. Rivera’s two-out homer was his 16th of the season, establishing a program record for a shortstop. Rivera shared the record with Brady McConnell.
STRANGE STAT: The loss marked the fifth time this season FAMU has been shut out. What makes that strange? The Rattlers established several school records offensively in 2023, including most runs, home runs, doubles and RBI.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: UF sophomore left-hander Caglianone followed his shaky outing in the SEC Tournament semifinals to Vanderbilt with a strong performance. Caglianone pitched six shutout innings, allowing only four hits. He walked three and struck out seven in his 95-pitch outing.
KEY MOMENT: With the Rattlers threatening in the top of the ninth, UF defensive replacement Richie Schiekofer<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/richie-schiekofer/15520> delivered a strike to the plate to cut down Joseph Pierini for the second out of the inning. Schiekofer replaced right fielder Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> in the top of the ninth and made his throw home when FAMU’s Will Brown doubled to right with one out and FAMU down 3-0.
BY THE NUMBERS: 7,367 — Announced attendance at Condron Ballpark on Friday night, a program record for a postseason home game; 64 — Strikes thrown by Caglianone. That is five more total pitches than he threw in 1 2/3 innings in his start at the SEC Tournament.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the pitching …
“First, I would like to compliment Florida A&M. Jamie [Shouppe] has done an incredible job with that program. They throw strikes, they play good defense, they hold runners at second and they did not give us anything tonight. Jac [Caglianone] was outstanding tonight, he kept his pitch count down for the most part and got us through six. He made some pitches there in the middle parts of the inning with runners in scoring position. I just said this to the other coaches, but where Ryan Slater started and where he is now coming off the injury, he was outstanding. He looked comfortable, he was poised and he kept his pitch count to 15 pitches and got six outs. The pitching overall was outstanding tonight.”
On the offense…
“The bottom line is we are going to have to generate offense in a different way than we have all year. We may need to be a little more aggressive in some areas, but let’s compliment FAMU. They did a good job, but a win is a win this time of year. It is not anything to get upset about or overanalyze. It is just one of those games and hopefully our players learn from it and come out more aggressive tomorrow. As simple as that.”
On Caglianone’s outing…
“Three of his last four starts have been outstanding. People tend to focus on the negative more than the positive and everybody was focused on his start last Saturday. Trust me, if I didn’t think he was going to go out there and give us a good effort, I wouldn’t have started him. The way the score ended up in a 3-0 game, we had to pitch really well tonight. Sometimes you are going to win with your offense, sometimes you are going to win with your pitching and tonight we did just enough offensively and our pitching was outstanding.”
NOTABLES
* Florida is now 120-82 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
* The Gators are 83-50 in NCAA Regional play.
* UF is hosting its 19th NCAA Regional while making the 38th Regional appearance in program history.
* Florida has hosted 12 out of a possible 15 Regionals in the Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> era.
* Rivera blasted his 16th home run to give UF a 2-0 lead in the first, passing Brady McConnell (15 – 2018) for the most homers in a single season by a Gators shortstop.
* Caglianone turned in one of his best starts of the season, firing six shutout innings on four hits and three walks while striking out seven.
* Caglianone has allowed five earned runs across his last six starts spanning 28 innings for a 1.61 ERA.
* Neely remained perfect in save opportunities, recording his SEC-leading 11th of the season.
* Florida has struck out 602 batters in 506 innings – translating to 10.7 per nine innings, which would mark a new program record.
* The Gators have 584 hits through 59 games (9.9 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 44.9% of batted innings (215 of 479).
* Florida is now 30-1 all-time vs. Florida A&M including 2-0 in Regionals.
* The Gators are 14-1 in the series under O’Sullivan.
UP NEXT: The Gators face Texas Tech in the winners’ bracket on Saturday night. Texas Tech defeated Connecticut 3-2 in the first game of the Gainesville Regional on Friday afternoon.
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