Kevin O'Sullivan talks Jac Caglianone performance, windy conditions vs. NC State

NC State had no intentions of throwing Jac Caglianone a pitch in the strike zone during the College World Series on Monday. However, the one mistake where the Wolfpack did, the Florida superstar blasted.

Caglianone hammered a three-run home run in the top of the second inning to give Florida a 4-1 lead over NC State in the elimination game at the CWS.

Try Fubo for FREE today and don’t miss any of the action!

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan spoke with ESPN during the broadcast about the big blast from Jac Caglianone and how he can change a game with one swing.

“It’s very difficult to hit the ball out on that side of the field today,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously the wind seems like it’s changed three or four times since BP, but certainly both of those balls were hit really good.”

The other homer O’Sullivan was referring to was the two-run shot by NC State star Alec Makarewicz in the third inning. The wind was blowing in hard to start the game, but both defenses have had to adjust multiple times.

“We told the outfielders, they’ve gotta make sure when they go out on defense every inning to check the wind and see how it’s blowing,” O’Sullivan said.

Florida leads NC State 5-4 in the sixth inning of a game where both bullpens are being tested. In addition to hitting a huge home run, Jac Caglianone also got the start on the mound. However, he lasted only one inning before being pulled.

On the other side, NC State started Dominic Fritton pitched only 2 innings before he was also taken out of the game.

The Gators currently have Cade Fisher on the mound, and O’Sullivan is hopeful he can do a solid job across several innings.

“Yea, I mean, unfortunately we had to take Jac out after 1, so it’d be ideal for him to get another couple of innings so we can shorten the game on the back end with our pen,” O’Sullivan said.

Caglianone is now hitting .415 on the season, with 34 home runs and 71 RBIs. He is far and away the most dangerous hitter in the Florida lineup and arguably the top hitter in the country.

NC State coach Elliott Avent joined ESPN during Monday’s game and shared that NC State was not planning to pitch to Caglianone but instead made a mistake.

“We’re not going to pitch to him. We didn’t want to pitch to him then. We were trying to get the ball up,” Avent said. “He swung out of the zone the first time. We were going to try to see if we could get him to swing out of the zone again. And if not we were happy to walk him, but we got it down.”

The Wolfpack didn’t chance anything in Caglianone’s next at bat, instead choosing to intentionally walk him.