GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida produced a season-high seven home runs and 16 hits to post a 13-3 victory over Stetson in seven innings at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
 
The Orange & Blue's power onslaught was led by Jac Caglianone (3-for-4) with a two-homer night and three RBI. Also going yard in the win were Ty Evans (2-for-5), Luke Heyman (2-for-3), Cade Kurland (1-for-3), Brody Donay (1-for-3) and Michael Robertson (3-for-4). On the hill, freshmen Frank Menendez and Luke McNeillie combined to blank Stetson across the final 2 1/3 frames.
 
The Gators (21-19, 8-10 SEC) received a scoreless inning from starter Cade Fisher in the top of the first, who then proceeded to blank the Hatters (26-15, 12-6 ASUN) again in the second by working around a two-out hit batter.
 
With Fisher holding the Hatters in check, Florida erupted at the plate to take a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the second. After a Tyler Shelnut single to left, Heyman uncorked a two-run homer to left field. Kurland was then hit by a pitch while Hayden Yost roped a single to center, with both players scoring on an RBI single up the middle by Robertson. The inning was capped off by back-to-back homers from Evans and Caglianone, with the former representing a two-run shot.
 
Stetson answered with a lone run in the third, prompting the Gators to turn to right-hander Ryan Slater to navigate out of the frame. With the bases loaded, the Hatters broke through on an RBI fielder's choice to shortstop off the bat of Isaiah Barkett. Stetson added another run in the third to make it 7-2, as Lorenzo Meola doubled in Logan Hughes.
 
Florida answered back with two runs of its own to push the advantage to 9-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Robertson and Caglianone swatted solo home runs, with Robertson connecting for his first of the year.
 
The right-handed Menendez calmed the Stetson offense in the middle innings. He entered with two outs in the fifth and provided 1 1/3 shutout innings to navigate the Gators through the sixth.
 
Following a leadoff Stetson single in the seventh, McNeillie took over on the bump. The freshman stranded the lone runner while striking out one batter to hold the six-run lead heading into the seventh-inning stretch.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Florida put the game on ice with a four-spot. Shelnut led off with a single and Kurland popped a two-run shot to right-center. Donay followed with a long, solo homer to left two batters later to make it 12-3. With runners at the corners, Caglianone barreled a 1-2 offering for a game-winning single down the right-field line to score Robertson as the Gators invoked the 10-run rule and a 13-3 victory.
 
Slater (3-1) earned the win after surrendering two runs (one earned) in 2 2/3 innings of relief. The righty was charged with four hits allowed and three strikeouts.
 
Stetson starter Danny Garcia (0-2) was saddled with the loss after being hung for four earned runs across 1 1/3 frames. He allowed four hits and did not walk or strike out a batter.
 
Fisher (2-2) did not factor into the decision. The southpaw gave up one earned run in two-plus frames on four hits while striking out one batter.

NOTABLES

• Tuesday night's official attendance was 5,165.
• The Gators hit seven home runs for the first time since hitting eight long balls vs. Cincinnati on Feb. 26, 2023, with the latter total representing the school record.
• Florida's seven-run second inning marked the team's second-highest scoring inning of the season behind 10 runs in the first inning vs. Columbia on Feb. 23, 2024.
• Heyman hit his ninth home run of the season.
• Evans set a new career high with 10 home runs.
• Caglianone went back-to-back with Evans for his 24th big fly of the campaign.
  • Florida has hit back-to-back homers three times this season, most recently in the second inning against South Carolina on April 14 (Evans and Caglianone).
  • Caglianone homered again in the fourth for his third multi-homer game of the season.
  • Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 26 games and hitting streak to 19 games.
• Robertson launched his first home run of the season and the second of his career.
• Donay swatted his seventh homer and Kurland connected for his eighth.
• Florida is 51-16 at home overall since the start of the 2023 season.
• Florida is now 85-36 all-time vs. Stetson including a 49-11 mark in Gainesville
  • The Gators are 11-2 against the Hatters under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (7-0 at home).

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On manufacturing runs, namely Donay's sacrifice bunt…
"We are just trying to collect wins at this point, we've been really clear about that. Felt like we had a 2-1 lead at that point we just had to move a couple guys into scoring position… It was important for us to just tack on a couple more and obviously Michael's just gotta come up behind him and put together a good at bat, which he did."

On the pitching…
"It was pretty much how you wanted to draw it up. We haven't had any of those this year, but everybody's under 40 pitches. We're didn't walk anybody. I thought Ryan coming in with bases loaded, nobody out and limited to one run was probably the turning point in the game even though it was early, but I thought he threw the ball really well had some soft contact, but the stuff looks sharp. That's the second really good outing in a row for Frankie and obviously, Luke came in and threw eight pitches and seven strikes.  To be able to play a midweek game and not anybody that overextended, and they're still fresh to go on Friday night is important and that's kind of what you hope for…"
 
On Caglianone's improvements at the plate…
"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. I think Wyatt Langford was like that, you know, Mike Zunino was like that. Preston Tucker was like that. But they're hard to come by. And I thought, after the first inning, we popped up three times in a row and I'm looking at the flag blowing in I'm like, this might not be an offensive night. And that was really the thought process behind sac'ing with Brody, too, that we could scratch on a couple more runs. You know that obviously would help us as the game went on."

UP NEXT
The Gators travel to Fayetteville, Ark. for a three-game series at No. 2 Arkansas from Friday through Sunday.