OMAHA, Neb. – Two-way star Jac Caglianone broke Florida's single-season home run record to give his school a one-inning lead after he struggled on the mound and was pulled, and the Gators eliminated North Carolina State from the Men's College. World Series with a 5-4 victory on Monday.
Florida (35-29) moved on to another elimination game Tuesday against the loser of Monday night's Texas A&M-Kentucky matchup.
The Gators are 4-0 in elimination games since regionals and 8-1 in win-or-go-home games in the last two NCAA tournaments.
“That's the standard here and it's our responsibility to maintain that standard, play winning baseball and get to Omaha and be the last team standing,” Florida's Tyler Shelnut said. “Anytime we're in a place where our backs are against the wall, we honestly play our best baseball, hands down.”
Caglianone, a projected top-five pick in next month's amateur draft because of his bat, worked through a 33-pitch first inning. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound left-hander hit a batter and walked two to load the bases, gave up Brandon Butterworth's RBI single and then struck out and flied out to mitigate what could have been a big inning for NC State.
His fastball averaged 89.5 mph in the inning (he had never been below 92 mph in his career, according to ESPN Stats & Information) and he was shown rubbing his elbow in the dugout after the first inning.
Coach Kevin O'Sullivan opted to sign him for Cade Fisher (4-3). He said Caglianone wasn't strong in the super regionals against Clemson, and he realized he was free on Monday.
“I definitely didn't have my best moment today,” Caglianone said. “I knew I would still have opportunities at the plate to step up for my team.”
Caglianone remained in the game as the designated hitter and atoned for what happened on the mound. NC State starter Dominic Fritton (3-7) struck out on three pitches in the first inning, but in the second Caglianone drilled his low fastball over the right-center fence for a three-run, go-ahead homer. 4-1.
The 404-footer's 34th home run, breaking his school's single-season record of 33 set last year, moved him into a tie with Matt LaPorta (2004-2007) for career home runs at Florida. with 74.
“It's a great feeling,” Caglianone said. “Mr. LaPorta has reached out a couple of times during the year. In fact, he's here now with his kids and his family. It was certainly a special moment. But at the end of the day, he was too caught up in just trying to win, staying”. here and surviving and moving forward.”
Caglianone became the first starting pitcher to hit a home run in an MCWS game since Auburn's Tim Hudson did it against Rice in 1997.
NC State coach Elliott Avent said he knew he would replace Fritton with Logan Whitaker in the third inning, but left Fritton to face Caglianone because of his success against him the last time he was up.
“We thought we'd see if Caglianone wanted to chase again,” Avent said. “That ball that hit right center, you're looking at a future major leaguer. I can tell you that.”
Whitaker replaced Fritton to start the third and allowed two hits and one run while striking out 10 in seven innings.
The Wolfpack's Alec Makarewicz and the Gators' Shelnut also homered, and NC State cut the lead to 5-4 in the fifth on Butterworth's RBI double.
NC State got its first batter on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but was unable to drive in the tying run against Brandon Neely. The Wolfpack topped the standings in ninth place. Neely caught Eli Serrano III looking at strike three, Garrett Pennington struck out when he couldn't control his swing on a pitch out of the zone, and Makarewicz lined out to left to end the game.
Neely, who earned his fifth save, allowed one hit and struck out six in three innings. He has allowed just three earned runs and struck out 32 in 21 innings in the NCAA tournament.
NC State (38-23) went 0-2 in the MCWS for the first time in four all-time appearances.
“These players took us on the trip of a lifetime,” Avent said. “This place is magical. It's very difficult to get here and very difficult to leave.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
