Florida's Jac Caglianone continues to shine in what otherwise has been a dismal season by the program's lofty standards.
The two-way star and projected top-five pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball draft tied the NCAA record when he homered for a ninth straight game in a loss at Vanderbilt on Friday. Nevada’s Tyler Bosetti in 2021 became the first player to go deep in nine straight games.
“It’s something we’ve never seen before, honestly, and we've had some really good hitters over the last 16 or 17 years,” Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. “I think that’s one of the most disappointing things as well. Jac’s having an incredible year and we’re just, like I said, we don’t have enough guys behind him.”
Caglianone’s 23 homers are second in the nation behind Charlie Condon’s 26 for Georgia. Caglianone connected 33 times last season to lead the country.
Florida made it to last year's College World Series finals, where it lost a three-game series to LSU. This year, the Gators (20-19, 8-10 Southeastern Conference) were swept in a three-game series by Florida State for the first time since 2000, and they are coming off three straight SEC series losses.
Caglianone entered this week batting .401 with an 18-game hitting streak and 25-game on-base streak. The junior left-hander also is the Sunday starting pitcher and is 5-0 with a 3.86 ERA.
“We’re not playing good, sound, fundamental baseball,” O'Sullivan said. “It’s been frustrating that we’re letting the season he’s put together kind of slip away from us.”
Texas A&M, Arkansas and Tennessee are the consensus top three teams, according to D1Baseball.com and Baseball America.
The Aggies (35-5) beat Air Force 15-5 on Tuesday in a game shortened to seven innings because of the mercy rule and won two of three at Alabama over the weekend.
Arkansas (34-6) went 5-1 last week, taking a pair of games from Texas Tech at home and winning two of three at South Carolina.
Tennessee (33-7) won two of three at Kentucky in the weekend's top matchup. The Wildcats had entered the series ranked as high as No. 3.
Tennessee's 16 home runs over four games last week raised its nation-leading total to 111 in 40 games. The Volunteers are on pace to hit the most since LSU went deep a Division I-record 188 times in 70 games in 1997.
Blake Burke hit the 10th team's grand slam in a win over Bellarmine last week, which was the Vols' 37th game. That left the team four short of Arizona State's season record of 14 slams in 68 games in 2003.
Christian Moore capped Tennessee's productive week with three homers in a 13-11 win over Kentucky on Sunday.
Arizona posted a fourth straight three-game weekend sweep for the first time since 1998 with its 7-6, 11-inning win over Washington State on Sunday.
The Wildcats (24-14, 13-5) have won a program-record 10 straight Pac-12 games and lead the conference by two games over Oregon. They've won 13 of 14 overall after a 10-13 start. Their sweeps have come against UCLA, California, Louisiana Tech and Washington State.
Cam Walty (6-1), Jackson Kent (3-1) and Clark Candiotti (4-1) head a staff that's combined for a conference-best 3.78 ERA and leads the nation with a 3.75-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 2.47 walks per nine innings. Candiotti is the son of ex-major league pitcher Tom Candiotti.
Brendan Summerhill is batting .366, and Mason White leads the team with 13 homers and 49 RBIs.
Projected first-round pick Brody Brecht picked up his first win of the season as Iowa finished a sweep of Rutgers with a 5-1 win. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder went a career-best 7 2/3 innings, allowed one hit and struck out 12. ... Stanford took two of three from Oregon, ending the Ducks' program-best streak of five straight series wins to open Pac-12 play. Malcolm Moore's two-out grand slam in the fourth inning was the big blow in the Cardinal's 10-7 win Sunday. ... Cal State Northridge swept Cal State Fullerton for the first time since 2002. ... Indiana's Jasen Oliver set the school freshman record with eight RBIs in an 18-8 win over Minnesota.
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