Watch: Caglianone Hits 20th HR as Gators Salvage Series Finale vs. Gamecocks
The Florida Gators beat the South Carolina Gamecocks 11-9 as Jac Caglianone shines.
Florida 11, South Carolina 9 BOX SCORE
The Florida Gators salvaged the series finale vs. the South Carolina Gamecocks 11-9 on Sunday afternoon behind the long ball.
Gators' pitcher Jac Caglianone hit his 20th home run of the season in the second inning to give Florida a 5-1 lead. With his latest-round tripper, Caglianone moves into second in the country behind Georgia's Charlie Condon (24).
Caglianone's home run followed a two-run blast from right fielder Ty Evans, his ninth of the season. Caglianone and Evans went back to back, but catcher Brody Donay had gotten the Gators started with a two-run shot of his own in the same inning.
The Gamecocks closed the Gators' lead to 6-5 in the top of the sixth on a two-run double from second baseman Parker Noland.
However, the Gators quickly answered in the bottom half of the frame with five runs of their own to push the lead to 11-6.
It got interesting again in the late innings as the Gamecocks got two runs in the eight and two in the ninth for the final margin of 11-9.
Caglianone was the star of the show. Not only did he have his 20th home run, he got the win (4-0) at pitcher with five strong innings. He had a quality start with three-earned runs in five innings. He struck out five Gamecocks and gave up four hits and four walks.
The win snapped the Gators' six-game losing streak and pushed their season record above .500 again at 18-17.
They're back in action on Tuesday against Jacksonville before heading to Nashville for an SEC showdown with the No. 13 Vanderbilt Commodores. Vanderbilt is 26-10 (8-7 in SEC) on the season and coming off three-straight losses to the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies.