Jac Caglianone breaks Florida single-season home run record

Florida pitcher/first baseman Jac Caglianone is in a class of his own. He has set the Gators’ single-season home run record.

Caglianone hit a towering home run off the scoreboard during the fifth inning of Saturday’s game against Texas A&M. It was his 27th of the year — making him the Gators’ new single-season home run king.

Caglianone entered the game with 26 home runs on the season as part of a monster year for the Gators. That put him in a tie all-time with Matt LaPorta, who set the record in 2005, and Wyatt Langford after he hit 26 homers last year.

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Cags stands alone.#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/FVtDK3RvA3 pic.twitter.com/rjUGFwL1X3

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 6, 2023

Caglianone tied the record May 2 when Florida took on rival Florida State. It almost wasn’t a home run, though. The call on the field was a triple, and Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan joked he wanted credit for the replay review he called to overturn the call after he moved into a tie atop Florida’s all-time list.

“I think we’ll probably look back in a few years from now and really, really enjoy what we’re watching. I’m still waiting for a thank you from Jac because we went to the replay,” O’Sullivan joked, via GatorsOnline’s Nick de la Torre. “He didn’t say thanks for that so I’m still waiting for the thank you.”

One of the top players in the country, Caglianone is also on the Golden Spikes Award watch list. His numbers have been impressive as he’s helped Florida become one of the top programs in the nation this season. He entered Saturday’s game with 26 home runs, 68 RBI and a .356 batting average.

LaPorta set the single-season home run record in 2005 after he beat the previous mark of 23, set by Ryan Sheely in 2022 and Brad Wilkerson twice in 1997 and 1998. Langford then hit No. 26 last year to tie LaPorta’s mark, and that 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,” 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.”