Florida took two of three games against No. 22 Miami over the weekend, capping things off with an eight-inning, mercy-rule victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday.
While the weekend was an overall success, the Gators’ bullpen imploded once again on Saturday and wasted a career day from starter [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag]. Early relief pitching continues to be the Achilles’ heel of the team and has cost UF each of its three losses on the year.
Florida’s offense continues to be one of the best in the nation, though. The Gators increased their hit total to 164 and home run total to 35, both of which are good for the NCAA lead. [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] is living up to his projected top-five draft pick status, and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] appears to be the second coming of Shohei Ohtani. Both could feasibly compete for the Golden Spikes Award if they continue at this pace.
Caglianone’s efforts don’t end in the batter’s box. He may be the most consistent piece of Florida’s weekend rotation so far, anchoring the staff as the Sunday starter.
Although it wasn’t a sweep, taking a series from a ranked team in dominant fashion gives the country a much better idea of how good this Gators team is compared to the Charleston Southern and Cincinnati series.
Here’s what we learned from the series win over Miami.