Jac Caglianone hits 15th home run, ties Brad Wilkerson in school record books

Florida slugger Jac Caglianone just keeps delivering when his team needs it the most. The Gators superstar did it again on Saturday afternoon against Missouri, giving his team the lead midway through the contest.

Unfortunately for Florida, the Gators have had a penchant for giving up early leads. It’s been a consistent thorn in the team’s side, despite the fact that the hitting — led by Caglianone’s gigantic bat — has been up to the task of rescuing the team more often than not.

On Saturday, Florida faced a 2-1 deficit to Missouri when Jac Caglianone stepped to the plate with one runner on.

He wasted little time flipping the script in the game, smoking his 15th home run of the season with a rocket that flew right off the bat. The ball was rocked to right field, coming off the bat at an estimated 118 miles per hour.

It gave Florida a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Check it out below.

Jac Jack No. 15 🚀#GoGators // 📺 SEC Network+ pic.twitter.com/HgmwYaEkrn

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 6, 2024

Jac Caglianone has been on a tear of late, hitting eight home runs in his last 11 games as his power shows up at the plate. He’s chasing quite a bit of school history, too.

His moonshot on Saturday tied him with Brad Wilkerson at 55 career home runs, good enough for a tie for fourth place in the school record books. And each of Caglianone’s next three home runs will bring a bit of history with it; he’s set to surpass some other Florida greats.

Former Gators that have more home runs than Caglianone currently include Matt LaPorta (74), Preston Tucker (57) and Jud Fabian (56). Caglianone just tied Brad Wilkerson (55) and recently passed JJ Schwarz (50), Wyatt Langford (47) and Mike Zunino (47).

The national lead for home runs going into Saturday was at 19, held by Georgia‘s Charlie Condon.

Florida, of course, will be hoping the long Jac Caglianone shot on Saturday afternoon is enough to power the team to a win over Missouri.

The Gators lost the first game of the series to the Tigers on Friday night, 2-1 in the 11th inning. Missouri managed to push across the winning run on a night when it had eight hits, giving up just two to Florida.

Florida is 17-12 on the season and 6-4 in conference play, but the Gators have yet to lose a conference series.