SEC CHAMPS! No. 4 Gators Top No. 19 Wildcats for 2023 SEC Regular Season Crown
The 2023 Florida Gators are the SEC Regular Season Co-Champions as well as the No. 1 overall seed for the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
Lexington, Ky. – No. 4 Florida used a dominant pitching performance from starter Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> to take the series over No. 19 Kentucky and an eventual 2023 SEC Regular Season Championship with a 5-2 victory at Kentucky Proud Park on Saturday afternoon.
At the time of game’s end, the Gators trailed SEC West-leader Arkansas by a half game in the overall standings. Florida anxiously awaited the outcome of Arkansas-Vanderbilt, needing a Commodores win to secure an SEC Regular Season Co-Championship. With the Razorbacks ultimately falling, 7-6, the championship celebration was on for the Orange & Blue in addition to securing the No. 1 overall seed at the 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament.
Caglianone was masterful in game three, firing seven shutout innings on just four hits and striking out eight. The seven innings marked a new career high for Caglianone. On the offensive end, Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/15512> provided a clutch, two-run homer in the seventh inning for his first-ever blast as a Gator.
The Gators (42-13, 20-10 SEC) and Wildcats (36-17, 16-14 SEC) traded zeros through the first four innings, as Caglianone and UK starter Austin Strickland held the offenses in check. Caglianone registered six strikeouts through four, allowing just one hit and two walks.
Caglianone remained locked in during the middle innings, stranding two Wildcats in the fifth and retiring the side in order while notching his eighth strikeout to close out the sixth.
Florida broke through in the seventh, beginning with a leadoff walk and stolen base of second by Caglianone. After a sacrifice bunt from Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> moved him to third, Caglianone scored on a deep sacrifice fly to left field by BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503>. Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> then singled home Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> with two outs while Thomas blasted a two-out, two-run homer to right-center to create a 4-0 Gator lead.
Caglianone returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and worked a quick zero to hold the score. That marked the end of his day, as he ceded duties to left-hander Philip Abner<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/philip-abner/15488> in the eighth.
Kentucky and Florida exchanged solo homers in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth. Grant Smith left the yard for the Wildcats to eliminate the shutout while Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> mashed his ninth homer of the season to bring the score to 5-1.
Kentucky plated a late run in the ninth to bring the score to its final tally of 5-2, as Ryan Church drove in Devin Burkes with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Caglianone (6-2) recorded his second victory in as many weeks with a career-high seven shutout frames. The southpaw gave up four hits and three walks while striking out eight.
Strickland (3-1) was saddled with his first loss of the season after allowing three earned runs over 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed three hits and one walk while fanning seven.
NOTABLES
* The Gators claimed their 16th SEC Regular-Season Championship including the program’s sixth under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* Florida shared the 2023 SEC Regular-Season crown with Arkansas after the Razorbacks dropped their Saturday contest at Vanderbilt.
* Florida secured the No. 1 overall seed for the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
* The Gators will face the winner of the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed in Hoover on Wednesday, May 24 at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET
* Florida’s potential opponents remain undetermined. If Tennessee beats South Carolina tonight, the Gators face the winner of Kentucky and Alabama in Hoover. If South Carolina beats Tennessee, Florida would play the winner of Alabama and Tennessee.
* Florida’s 42 regular season wins are the second-most in program history.
* The record of 44 regular-season wins belongs to the 2018 Gators (41-15, 20-10 SEC).
* Caglianone worked a career-high seven shutout innings.
* Thomas hit his first homer as a Gator with a two-out, two-run shot in the seventh.
* Heyman blasted his ninth homer of the season in the eighth.
* Heyman (2-for-4) was the lone Gator to record multiple hits in the victory.
* Florida has struck out 560 batters in 468 innings – translating to 10.8 per nine innings, which would mark a new program record.
* The Gators have 549 hits through 55 games (10.0 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 45.8% of batted innings (203 of 443).
* Florida is now 148-72-1 all-time vs. Kentucky including 64-39-1 in Lexington.
* The Gators are 27-21 in the series under O’Sullivan featuring a 13-11 mark on the road.
* Florida has won six-straight series against Kentucky.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Thomas’ big home run…
“Yeah, that’s another good story. He’s a great teammate. He’s on every pitch of the game from start to finish. Once again, he’s a hard worker and once he got the opportunity, he certainly delivered.”
On the mindset with the chance to win the SEC title…
“When we got off the bus last night, my message was to them, tomorrow is going to be extremely difficult. We can’t control what the other teams are going to do as far as us having a chance to win the SEC Championship. The goal today was to come in and win a series and to get some momentum going into Hoover. We’ll watch the scores and see what happens, but I’m awfully proud of this group and what they’ve accomplished this year.”
UP NEXT
Florida heads to the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. where the Gators will receive a first-round bye as the No. 1 overall seed. The Orange & Blue will play the winner of Alabama and Tennessee/Kentucky on Wednesday morning at approximately 10:30 a.m. ET.
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