Florida takes series against Miami by mercy rule with walk off home run

Jac Caglianone was dominant on the mound as Florida clobbered its way to a mercy-rule victory over Miami on Sunday to claim the regular season series.

Florida claimed its third series victory to start the season on Sunday with a 14-4 win over the No. 22 Miami Hurricanes that only needed eight innings to finish.

Florida got the scoring going early, plating four runs in each of the first two frames and knocking out Miami’s starter, Alejandro Rosario, after just 1 1/3 innings. [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag], [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] and [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] hit four consecutive singles to plate the runs in the first, and Riopelle delivered again in the second with a grand slam off Hurricanes reliever Carlos Lequerica.

[autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] drove in a ninth run in the third inning, but Florida’s offense slowed down until the final inning of the ball game.

Meanwhile, [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] was once again dominant on the mound. He struck out eight over six innings, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk. Caglianone only really struggled in the fourth, giving up a run on a Zach Levenson sacrifice fly that scored Edgardo Villegas.

Caglianone sat 96 mph with his fastball and topped out at 99 mph. His slider was also working, coming in the low 80s with good horizontal movement. He now boasts a 2.08 ERA through 17 1/3 inning and has 25 strikeouts (13.0 K/9) while holding opposing batters to a .131 average.

[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] was tasked with a three-frame save in relief of Caglianone, but he only made it through 1 1/3 innings. Villegas began the scoring in the eighth with an RBI double, and Yohandy Morales delivered his third hit of the night immediately after to add another run. Levenson doubled to score Morales and advance CJ Kayfus to third, and Kevin O’Sullivan went to the bullpen once again.

Freshman left-hander [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag] got the call after pitching three perfect innings on Friday, and he got out of the jam immediately thanks to an amazing double play from shortstop [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag].

Rivera came up big in the bottom of the eighth too, hitting a solo home run to extend the lead back to eight. It was one of three big flies for Florida during the inning, as [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] hit a two-run homer earlier in the inning and Ty Evans walked it off with a two-run shot off of Sebastian Perez.

Caglianone continues to be a sensation for Florida on Sundays and led the team to a win despite not getting a hit in this one.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Caglianone said after the game. “I knew coming into this that eventually I’d end up going back to being a two-way and everything like that. Coach did a great job just letting me focus on the pitching aspect of things because it was my first outing. And then slowly easing back into everything, it’s a grind for sure but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Florida is back at it against FAU on Tuesday and Wednesday for a midweek series at Condron Family Ballpark.

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