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Florida Gators slugger trolls Georgia Bulldogs after grand slam

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•04/17/23•

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Jac-Caglianone-Florida-Gators
Photo courtesy of UAA Communications

GAINESVILLE, Fla — A grand slam in the eighth inning should be celebrated, but Florida Gators slugger Jac Caglianone was having none of that.

Caglianone was taking the mound a week after the worst start of his career. The left-hander lasted just .2 innings on the road at Tennessee last weekend. He came back against Georgia and earned his fourth win of the season. In the early innings, Caglianone struck out a Georgia batter, and — in home plate umpire Brian deBrauwere’s opinion — stared down the Georgia hitter too long. Caglianone and the Gators were warned. No fun on deBrauwere’s watch today.

Brandon Neely would feel the wrath later. Neely entered the game with two on and two outs in the top of the eighth. The Gators’ closer had given up seven runs and took the loss on Friday night. When he struck out Parks Harber, Neely was fired up. He looked at Harber and the Georgia Bulldogs dugout, shouted “C’Mon” a couple of times was ejected for it.

NCAA umpires have been instructed to crack down on celebrations this season, but this was out of line and the Florida faithful at Condron Ballpark showered him with boos.

In the top of the ninth, Caglianone came up to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a grand slam to left field. There would be no celebrating on deBrauwere’s baseball diamond, so Caglianone’s troll response was perfect.

“Off the bat, I had a hunch, I kind of knew,” Caglianone said. “Luckily enough I got enough barrel on it. The celebration was, you know, just because of (Brandon) Neely. It’s kind of weird not to be able to have fun.”

Caglianone’s home run ended up being the difference in a series-clinching 11-6 victory over Georgia.

Caglianone is the fastest to 20 home runs in Gators’ history

In 2022 Wyatt Langford tied the single-season Florida Gators home run record with 26 long balls. Langford hit his 20th home run on May 19. The sophomore Caglianone is already at 21 home runs halfway through April.

Caglianone is having the best season of his life. The Tampa product was asked if 21 home runs is a personal record for him.

“I came into the season like, I want 15 and call it a day,’ Caglianone said after the game. “15 would be good and I’ll be happy. With 20-something games left it’s really exciting to see.”

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