Florida’s big man a bigger challenge
![Florida two-way star Jac Caglianone made an impression on Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn at last year’s SEC Tournament. “He’s a good kid, friendly. But he is a big kid. And I’d say he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a full-grown man,” Van Horn said.
(AP/Gary McCullough)](https://wehco.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2024/04/25/1CCaglianone0426_t800.jpg?90232451fbcadccc64a17de7521d859a8f88077d)
University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn somehow found himself alone in an elevator with Florida two-way baseball star Jac Caglianone at last year’s SEC Tournament.
As the two rode up, the 5-11 Van Horn looked over and up at his 6-5, 250-pound traveling companion.
“I said, ‘Man, you’re a lot bigger than I realized,’ and we had a good conversation,” Van Horn said Thursday, recalling the ride. “He’s a good kid, friendly. But he is a big kid. And I’d say he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a full-grown man.
“When you see him, you’ll see how big he is.”
Fans of the No. 2 Razorbacks (35-6, 14-4 SEC) will see the full-grown man for themselves with the Florida Gators (21-19, 8-10 SEC) in town this weekend at Baum-Walker Stadium, starting Friday.
There’s a bit of unpredictability on the weather and who the left-handed Caglianone (5-0, 3.86 ERA) will face in his likely Game 3 assignment.
Arkansas left-hander Mason Molina (3-1, 3.47) rolled an ankle during drill work early in the week and is going to be held out of the series, Van Horn said. Sophomore right-hander Ben Bybee (2-0, 5.84) and freshman lefty Colin Fisher (6-1, 2.67) are the most likely pitchers to draw the Game 3 start.
Staff ace left-hander Hagen Smith (8-0, 1.53) and right-hander Brady Tygart (4-1, 2.64) are slated to throw the first two games of the series for Arkansas.
UA officials moved the Game 1 start time from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. early Thursday evening, and citing local weather reports, Van Horn said a doubleheader could be possible on Saturday due to storm forecasts for late Friday night and possibly all day Sunday.
“Sunday does not look good at all,” Van Horn said regarding the chance for rain. “It looks like it’s anywhere from 80 to 90% all day. So it looks like there’s a window on Saturday most of the day where we could probably play two. So basically looking to try to play tomorrow and then we will try to figure this out today if we’re going to move the Sunday game to Saturday. Because I know there’s a lot of fans coming.”
The Razorbacks are off to their best SEC start based on stellar pitching and defense and just enough run scoring.
Arkansas pitchers lead the nation in team earned-run average (2.91), strikeouts per nine innings (12.4), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.79) and WHIP (1.09).
Smith leads the country in both strikeouts per nine innings (16.98) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (4.08). He is scheduled to throw Game 1 against Florida sophomore left-hander Pierce Coppola (0-2, 18.00).
All the Arkansas pitchers will have to contend with Caglianone, a left-handed batter who is hitting .410 with 25 home runs and 49 RBI.
“Caglianone is unbelievable,” Van Horn said. “It’s amazing. He swings at pitches that are eye-high and he hits them over the lights.
“I think how you handle him is you get the guys out in front of him. Don’t let them get on base. … He’s going to get his. He’s going to take his swings and he’s going to make contact. The ball explodes off his bat. How do we pitch him? I don’t know. I’m sure everybody’s tried everything.”
The Gators are coming off a seven-home run outburst in a 13-3 run-rule rout of Stetson on Tuesday.
Caglianone hit two of the home runs to reach 25 on the season and put him one behind Georgia’s Charlie Condon for the Division I lead.
“When you have some experience and you’re confident with development, I can see how he’s having the year that he is having,” Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Tuesday.
“Very rarely do you have players like this, that when they come to the plate, the whole ballpark stops to watch like something great might happen. And he’s got that about him.”
Caglianone was a preseason first-team All-American and the preseason Two-Way Player of the Year by Perfect Game.
Hitting and scoring runs has not been an issue for Florida, which is fifth in the nation with 2.25 home runs per game while the Hogs are 76th with 1.37.
“They’re really dangerous and they’re very talented,” Van Horn said.
The problem for the Gators is erratic pitching performances outside of Caglianone. Their earned-run average of 6.35 is last in the SEC. Florida’s WHIP of 1.57 is 13th in the SEC as is its hits (9.36) and walks (4.73) allowed per nine innings.
“They’ve just had some young pitchers that are maybe a year away,” Van Horn said.
Junior right-hander Brandon Neely, whose 13 saves led the SEC and tied for sixth nationally last season, has struggled in his past two outings. He allowed 13 earned runs on 17 hits in a combined 11 1/3 innings in losses to South Carolina and at Vanderbilt to see his ERA rise to 6.81.
O’Sullivan has not listed him as a starter for the series, instead submitting a TBA for Game 2 against Tygart.
Florida was ranked No. 3 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll, but slipped to No.11 in the March 11 poll.
The Gators won series against Texas A&M, LSU and Mississippi State, all by 2-1 margins, to open league play before hitting their current skid. They were swept at Missouri in a trio of one-run games on April 5-7, then dropped series against South Carolina and at Vanderbilt the past two weekends.
Arkansas, which leads the series 36-35, has not hosted the Gators since 2021, when the Hogs swept the season-ending set 6-1, 4-3 and 9-3.