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Florida slugger Jac Caglianone ties single-season school record for home runs

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•05/02/23
Jac Caglianone, Florida Gators slugger
Florida slugger Jac Caglianone swings during a game on April 18, 2023. (Cyndi Chambers / USA TODAY Sports)

There’s a third player tied for the single-season school record for home runs at Florida after slugger Jac Caglianone blasted his 26th of the year in a contest against rival Florida State on Tuesday night.

Caglianone will have ample time to not only set the record outright but to smash it.

Florida still has nine regular-season games remaining, plus the postseason, with the Gators a shoe-in for the NCAA Tournament and likely to earn Super Regional host status.

The record of 26 home runs in a single season was set in 2005 by former Florida slugger Matt LaPorta. The single-season school record was matched a year ago when outfielder Wyatt Langford hit 26 to match him.

Langford tying LaPorta’s mark was a feat unto itself, stunning even some of the folks closest to him.

“Think about that. He only had five or six at bats last year. Tonight he ties the school record with one of the all-time Gator greats, Matt LaPorta. He has a chance to go play with Team USA this year,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of Langford last summer. “If I’d have said that last year after the summer, that this guy has a chance to hit 20-plus home runs and that he was going to have a chance to play for the USA team, that would be crazy. What a great story.”

Interestingly enough, on the night Caglianone knocked his single-season school record record tying shot out of the park to left field, Langford also took one deep.

Langford’s home run in the top of the fifth inning directly preceded Caglianone’s shot. Langford isn’t on quite the tear he was a year ago, having hit 11 home runs this season.

Caglianone, though, has more than made up for the step back in Langford’s power at the plate. Caglianone is batting .363 on the season and entered Tuesday night’s game sporting a 1.282 OPS and a .863 slugging percentage.

He has hit 12 doubles and two triples, to go along with the 26 home runs. Caglianone has accounted for 67 RBI as of the time of this writing, with Florida leading 7-5 in the sixth inning against Florida State on Tuesday evening.