Gators win share of SEC title, earn No. 1 seed in tourney

The Florida baseball team ended a five-year championship drought, the longest under coach Kevin O’Sullivan, behind sophomore star Jac Caglianone.

The left-hander delivered the best pitching performance of his college career, allowing 4 hits and no runs through seven innings while striking out 9 to spark the No. 3 Gators to a 5-2 win at No. 20 Kentucky. The win clinched UF (42-13, 20-10 SEC) a share of the SEC regular-season title with No. 2 Arkansas, 7-6 losers Saturday at No. 6 Vanderbilt.

Florida’s first SEC title since 2018 is O’Sullivan’s sixth since his 2008 arrival.

The Gators, who also won regular-season championships in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2017, enter the SEC Tournament at the No. 1 seed and aiming to win for the third time under O’Sullivan. UF captured the 2011 and 2015 titles.

The Gators will open tournament play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Hoover, Ala., against the winner of Tuesday’s Kentucky-Georgia game. UF closed the regular season with two of three wins in Lexington, rebounding from a 6-4 loss Friday with a 5-2 decision over the Wildcats (36-17, 16-14).

“When we got off the bus last night, my message to them was: Tomorrow is going to be extremely difficult,” O’Sullivan said. “We can’t control what the other teams are going to do as far as us having a chance to win the SEC championship. The goal today was to come in and win a series and to get some momentum going into Hoover.

“I’m awfully proud of this group and what they’ve accomplished this year.”

No Gator has accomplished more than Caglianone.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Tampa native leads the Gators with a school-record 28 home runs to go with team-leading 76 RBI. But the 20-year-old’s pitching as the No. 3 starter could be the key to his team’s postseason success.

Caglianone emerged from a funk during last Sunday’s 6-2 home win against Vanderbilt, completing a sweep of the Commodores. He tied careerhighs with 9 strikeouts and 6 ⅔ innings following three starts without making it beyond three innings.

Caglianone carried the momentum and confidence into Saturday.

Meanwhile, junior Wyatt Langford produced his second multi-homer game in three outings, hitting two homers Saturday after doing the same Sunday against Vanderbilt. He leads the team with a .399 batting average and an eye-popping .827 slugging percentage.

But Saturday’s rubber match was tied 0-0 after six innings until a 4-0 seventh highlighted by Coastal Carolina transfer Dale Thomas’ 2-run homer, his firstever blast as a Gator.

“He’s a hard worker and once he got the opportunity, he certainly delivered,” O’Sullivan said.