The Florida Gators took two of three games from the Wildcats inside Kentucky Proud Park in the final weekend series of the 2023 regular season.
Gator Country provides three key takeaways from Florida’s successful weekend trip to Lexington.
MAKING HISTORY
Florida claimed their 16th SEC Championship in program history including their sixth under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan following 2/3 wins against Kentucky and some help around the league.
The Gators’ win total spiked to 42, the second most regular season wins in program history. This is the 10th time Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad has surpassed the 40-win mark in a season.
Florida also snagged the No.1 seed in the SEC Tournament, where the Gators will compete for their 8th SEC Tournament championship.
CAGS ON THE BUMP
Caglianone worked a career high seven innings in shutout fashion against one of the top hitting teams in the conference on Saturday afternoon.
The left hander allowed zero runs on four hits and three walks in his 100 pitches. Kentucky leads the SEC in batting average with a .282 mark in conference play, but Caglianone held the Wildcats to a .190 batting average in his seven innings pitched.
In previous starts this season, Caglianone has struggled on the mound when things weren’t going his way; that was not the case in a tough environment on the road last weekend. Caglianone allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in three innings but managed to work around his mistakes. The Tampa, Florida native struck out eight batters in the contest, the second most in his career.
In his last two starts, Caglianone has tossed a combined 13.2 innings, allowing five hits, one run, and four walks while striking out 17.
Cagliaone is the only Gators’ weekend starter to finish with a sub-four ERA (3.96).
You have to give a lot of credit to pitching coach David Kopp and Kevin O’Sullivan for working through Caglianone’s struggles this year. The recent adjustments made to his delivery and velocity appear to be working. Caglianone is getting hot at the right time for the Gators.
ESTABLISHED CONTENDERS
Florida has been towards the top of every national poll all season long, but this team has a different vibe heading into postseason play.
The Gators moved up two spots to the No.2 in D1Baseball’s last poll of the regular season, passing Standford and Arkansas in the process.
For the first half of the season, the Gators’ bullpen was the main issue as Kevin O’Sullivan searched for quality arms to bridge the gap between the starters and the backend of the bullpen.
However, Florida’s relief pitching has come on strong in the last half of SEC play and could be seen as the strength of the team right now.
Over the last two weekend series, Cade Fisher, Philip Abner, Brandon Neely, and Ryan Slater (only relievers to make appearances during that span) have combined for 19.1 innings of relief while allowing just four runs, equating to an ERA of 1.88 over the last six games.
Dating back to the Texas A&M series, those same four relivers allowed just two runs in eight innings pitched across two games.
Florida continues to find success in all three phases of the game, making them one of the top contenders entering the NCAA Tournament.