Starting pitcher Jac Caglianone pitched six no-hit innings and every UF starter collected a hit.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 Florida fired a combined, two-hit shutout to defeat St. Mary’s, 10-0, in eight innings for a series win at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
For the second-straight Sunday, Florida starter Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> stole the show. Dazzling across six no-hit, shutout innings, the southpaw allowed just four baserunners via walks while striking out nine batters to earn his second victory in as many starts. Contributions were provided by the entire lineup, as all nine starters picked up at least one base hit in the finale while seven different Gators scored runs.
Caglianone also went 1-for-3 with two walks at the dish, but five Gators recorded multi-hit days in Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639> (2-for-4, 2 R), Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> (2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI), Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> (2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI) and Tanner Garrison<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tanner-garrison/16622> (2-for-4, 2B).
Starting strong right out of the gate, Caglianone retired the side in order in the first and worked a clean second inning to hold the Gaels (9-6) scoreless through two. The Gators (10-5) broke through in the second, with Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> and Garrison reaching via a walk and double, allowing Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> to drive in both baserunners on a double to right field.
Caglianone stayed locked in on the hill, fanning the side in the third and striking out two more in the fourth en route to a zero. Florida tacked on two runs in the bottom half of the latter frame, as Heyman came through with a clutch, two-out single to center field to plate Thomas and Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372> for a 4-0 ballgame.
After a scoreless fifth from Caglianone, the Gators pushed the score to 5-0. Evans and Shelnut led off with a single and double, respectively, before Thomas was plunked to load up the bags. From there, Evans raced home on a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Garrison.
In the top of the sixth, Caglianone was faced with a one-out, bases-loaded situation. The southpaw induced an inning-ending, 5-3 double play of Gaels leadoff man Gavin Napier to complete six shutout frames for the second-consecutive start.
Following a leadoff fielding error at second base in the seventh, Caglianone was lifted in favor of Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/16377>. The right-hander quickly induced a 6-4-3 twin killing, although Coleman Schmidt broke up the no-hitter with a two out single through the left side one batter later. Slater retired Dalton Mashore via a flyout to center to keep the shutout intact through seven.
Shelton led off bottom-seven with a single, then came all the way around to score on double down the left-field line from Evans. Shelnut then uncorked a two-run shot into Dizney Grove in right-center to increase Florida’s lead to 8-0.
In the bottom of the eighth, Heyman and Shelton led off with back-to-back singles. A one-out walk by Shelnut juiced the bags, as Thomas gave the Gators their ninth run with a sacrifice fly to center. With runners on first and second, Garrison lined a single down the left-field line to score Shelton and end the contest at 10-0 via the run rule.
Caglianone (2-0) rose to 2-0 on the year thanks to his six scoreless innings. He allowed zero hits, four walks and struck out nine.
Saint Mary’s starter Jason Reitz was charged with the loss, allowing four runs on hive hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out five.
NOTABLES
* Florida won its 13th-straight regular-season series at Condron Family Ballpark.
* Sunday’s official attendance was 5,275.
* Every hitter in the UF lineup collected at least one hit.
* Caglianone pitched six shutout innings for the second-straight start, striking out nine batters after his 11-strikeout performance at Miami last Sunday.
* Caglianone did not allow a hit across his six innings.
* Across his last two starts, Caglianone has gone 2-0 across 12 shutout innings, allowing just three hits, six walks and striking out 20.
* Of the last 46 batters Caglianone has faced, he has struck out 22 of them while allowing just three hits.
* In Caglianone’s 15 innings this season, he has struck out at least one batter in 14 frames including 10 innings with multiple.
* In Caglianone’s last two starts on the mound, he collected four hits while allowing just three.
* Caglianone went 10-straight batters without allowing the ball to be put in play from the first inning until the fifth.
* Florida produced its second shutout of the season and first since defeating North Florida, 10-0, in seven innings back on Feb. 20
* The Gators collected their second run-rule victory of the season.
* Garrison threw out two would-be base stealers on Sunday.
* Garrison also gave the Gators their first run-rule victory of 2024 with his game-ending knock in the eighth.
* Robertson hit his team-leading sixth double of the season.
* Shelnut connected for his fifth home run.
* Heyman and Shelton moved their on-base streaks to 15-straight contests.
* Florida improved to 2-1 all-time against St. Mary’s.
* The Gators are now 4-2 all-time vs. the West Coast Conference.
* Florida rose to 43-10 at home since the start of 2023 including 28-6 in home series.
* The Gators are 38-13 in weekend series since the start of last season and 47-16 across the team’s previous 21 series at any venue.
* Dating back to last season, Florida is 32-8 in regular season non-conference games and has won 23 of its last 28 such contests.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the victory…
“We talked about it at the end of the game, everything starts on the mound. Those pitchers that post up every fifth day, they get paid a lot of money. Everything is dictated on the mound. Obviously, Jac was outstanding again for the second week in a row. Offensively, we got production up and down the lineup. Everybody had at least one hit. [Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375>] had a big double there to put us on the board first and we put back-to-back hit and runs on two-consecutive pitches. [Tanner Garrison<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tanner-garrison/16622>] hit one down the line and his last at bat was important, not just to end the ball game, but we didn’t have to run Slater back out there and save some bullets for Tuesday night.”
On the pitching in the series…
“Overall, it was a really good game for us. We beat a really good team. Two out of three at home. They’re good. They’re older. I think, in retrospect, looking at the week the way it went, we faced two older lineups and our young pitchers got a lesson this week that we just can’t pitch behind in the count and we got to be able to throw our secondary pitches for strikes. That’s what Saint Mary’s was able to do all weekend, honestly. It was amazing. On 2-0 counts, 3-1 counts, 3-2 counts they were able to spin the ball. The guy yesterday was throwing a bunch of changeups in fastball counts. It’s a valuable lesson for all of us. We’ve been through 15 games. It hasn’t been pretty at times, but I think we got a much better feel for our team before we head into SEC play. I think we think about maybe shuffling around the rotation. Not necessarily changing the names, but maybe moving some things around. Maybe that’ll be a spark plug for us.”
On Caglianone’s improvements on the hill…
“I think it’s just the command. Once again, his slider and changeup were very good today and he’s getting a lot of swings and misses. He’s got some early contact. Somebody said in any one inning there weren’t more than four guys come to the plate. Threw six innings and didn’t give up a hit. He had some walks today, but they were good misses. He was around the plate. He was good today.”
UP NEXT
Florida remains at home to host in-state rival Florida State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
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