Caglianone Powers Gators Over Clemson, One Game from College World Series

No team ever wins behind a solo act. Teams need a three-headed monster if they expect to advance past the Super Regionals and the Florida Gators showed that on Saturday with a 10-7 win over the Clemson Tigers.

How the Gators took Game One

Florida had their star freshman Liam Peterson start on Saturday against Clemson hoping for his recent performances to continue.

However, that just wasn’t the case. Peterson gave up 2 runs and barely closed out the first inning to start the day.

In the first inning he saw eight-total Tigers, walking four of them and giving up one single. Unfortunately for Peterson, his day ended two batters later in the second inning.

After giving up a leadoff triple that blooped in between the right fielder and second baseman, Peterson let loose a wild pitch that brought the runner in to make it 3-0.

He then followed that with a single to left field that forced Kevin O’Sullivan’s hand to bring in Fisher Jameson. Jameson settled things down and got out of the second without any more damage from the Tigers.

In the subsequent inning, the Gators put a run on the board with a sac-fly from Ashton Wilson that put the deficit at two. Though in the bottom of the inning, Clemson got the run right back with a homer to left field to restore their three-run lead.

Then, the fun began for Florida. They began their turn to tee off on the opposing pitchers.

Over the next two innings they accumulated five hits, three walks and eight runs. One of the biggest swings during this run came from Jac Caglianone and his three-run blast to left field that gave them their first lead of the day and started the scoring outburst.

CAGS supplies the LEAD! 💣#GoGators // 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/ZQTbGJrPfo
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 8, 2024

Leaving the fifth, Florida found themselves in front 9-5.

However, the lead didn’t last long at all. In the sixth inning, Clemson had two runners cross home plate via a sac-fly and a groundout to the shortstop. This put the Gators’ lead at just two runs.

The sixth inning also marked the introduction of Florida’s closer Brandon Neely. Through the final three innings, Neely did his job and kept the Tiger’s bats quiet by not allowing any runs.

Additionally, it helps Neely close his games when he gets insurance runs to bolster the lead. In the top of the ninth, Luke Heyman blasted a solo shot to LF to extend their lead to three over the Tigers.

Neely was able to close out the ninth, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the inning, to win 10-7 in Game One over Clemson.

It took a come-from-behind win on Saturday for the Gators, but it isn’t something knew for the Gators, having done it on many occasions this season.

“Yeah, just having faith in each other is the biggest thing to be honest. They're a really good team and they're not going to have any quit in them. It was present here tonight for sure. Just leaning on one another, knowing that we are going to help each other out when we need to. That is the biggest thing we’ve been riding” Caglianone told ESPN after the game.

The Stars of Game One

On the mound, the start for the Gators was not pretty. Yet, when the ball was handed to Brandon Neely in the sixth, he settled things down for Florida and locked it down.

Neely threw another scoreless outing, going four innings to close it and striking out seven along the way. If not for Neely coming in when he did, it could give out of hand Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game.

“It wasn’t ideal to bring him in the sixth. But just like last weekend against Oklahoma State, we felt like that this is the turning point of the game,” O’Sullivan said.

Now, Neely didn’t earn this win on his own. He had help from his hitters.

Providing 10 hits on the day and coupling that with eight walks, the offense did their job and provided the pitchers with 10 runs to work with.

Most of these runs came in just the fifth inning. In the fifth, the Gators pushed seven runners across home plate that saw them take a 9-5 lead heading into the sixth.

In this inning, Jac Caglianone got the bats started with a three-run blast to left field.

“He floated a slider in there first pitch, cranked one down the line for the first knock of the game for me and I knew he wasn’t going to double up. He had been throwing his heater a lot. So, I was on time and ready for it,” Caglianone said on what was going through his mind during the at-bat.

After this homer, the Gators followed it with two walks, two singles and four more runs. Cagliaone finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a homer against Clemson on Saturday.

Although, Cagliaone wasn’t the only star in the batting order. The 7-8-9 hitters in the Gators order came up big against Clemson. They gave the Gators three hits, three RBI and two walks.

Outlook for Sunday

Jac Caglianone will toe the rubber on Sunday for the Gators.

On the opposite side, Clemson will likely be throwing highly talented freshman Aidan Knaak.

Knaak is 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA. Also, he has struck out 103 batters over 79 innings of work.

Once again, this will be a difficult task for the Gators on Sunday. If they are to advance onto the College World Series, they will need another complete performance from the team.

Game Two of this series is set to begin at 2:30 pm. It will be televised on ESPN and ESPN+.