OMAHA, Neb. — Jac Caglianone's arm was exhausted, his fastball lacking its typical explosiveness and life, his offspeed pitches flatter and less effective than normal.
The junior star isn't hurt, he and his head coach, Kevin O'Sullivan, asserted, but after two seasons of serving in a two-way capacity without missing a game, the fatigue was inevitable. On Monday afternoon against North Carolina State, it all caught up to him.
After one inning of work on the mound in a College World Series elimination game, Caglianone needed to be done.
"I could just tell there was a different look in his eyes a little bit," O'Sullivan recalled. "And I didn't want to push him today."
While the decision to take Caglianone off the mound was more than understable, it also put the Gators in a bind they arguably wouldn't have been able to work themselves out of just a few months ago.
With their College World Series survival on the line, Florida was forced to go to its bullpen.
"(Florida pitching coach David) Kopp came up to me and said, 'We may need to go to you early so just be ready,'" sophom*ore lefty Cade Fisher said. "So I went down to the bullpen in the first."
Minutes later, Fisher entered. And over the course of the next eight frames he and righties Jake Clemente and Brandon Neely delivered, helping to carry their team to a 5-4 victory over the Wolfpack to keep the Gators' national title hopes alive.
"It's night and day," Shelnut said of the Gators' bullpen. "Whenever you don't have that piece in the bullpen that you aren't sure of, it's a scary feeling as a coach, it's a scary feeling as players. But when you can have faith in multiple guys in the bullpen —even when you're down in a game and you have those guys in the bullpen, you're like, 'Things are going to be OK because they're going to keep this game close and we're going to get some hits and find a way to win the game."
Florida's bullpen success has been a theme throughout its improbable run in the NCAA Tournament and Monday was no exception.
It started with Fisher, who retired the side in order in the second and went on to navigate the next three innings while allowing three runs en route to a four-inning showing, his longest outing since March 22 when he tossed five innings at LSU as the Gators' Friday night starter.
Fisher maintained the Gators' lead throughout his performance and produced a more-than-serviceable line despite running into trouble. O'Sullivan commended his effort.
"Cade helped us," he said. "We needed a performance like that. And it wasn't perfect but he gave us some innings."
After Fisher, Florida turned the ball over to redshirt freshman righty Jake Clemente, who has emerged as a regular from the Gator pen throughout the postseason.
Clemente retired the side in the sixth and didn't allow a run for the first time since May 12, a byproduct of an improved mental approach.
"I'm just confident going on the mound that my stuff can compete against anyone," Clemente said.
Clemente said his mindset mirrors those of his fellow relievers.
"We're just focused on throwing strikes and attacking hitters," Clemente said.
No Florida bullpen pitcher has embodied that as much as Neely, who on Monday recorded the final nine outs of the contest while striking out six without allowing a run to score.
The junior righty has thrown a quarter of Florida's NCAA Tournament innings, striking out 32 and allowing just three total runs in 21 frames.
His performances have been critical to the Gators' steadily increasing confidence, something they needed in order to enable their postseason magic.
"It's an awesome feeling," Shelnut said. "He's back to who he was when he was at his best and he may even be better. There's no substitute for a guy in the bullpen who you run out and you're going to get two or three innings of zero baseball. If he can keep doing that for us, we're going to have a chance to win a lot of baseball games."
Like the rest of Florida's relievers, Neely hasn't always been this effective. Not this year, at least.
Tabbed as Florida's closer for the 2024 season after earning All-American honors in the role last year, Neely offered rather steady performances throughout the first month of the campaign but struggled after a move into the team's starting rotation when he allowed 24 earned runs in 29 innings.
He hasn't blinked when it's mattered most, though.
"It's been a grind," Neely said. "We went from barely making it into making it to Omaha. I have the best defense behind me and I know if I make a mistake, my defense will pick me up or my offense will execute. It's been fun."
Neely made sure to note that he's hardly the only one who's risen to the occasion.
"It's one of the main reasons we're here," the Gator closer said. "Everyone has stepped up when they've needed to and it's made us better as a whole."
Florida will need that efficacy to continue in their second straight elimination game on Tuesday.
The Gators are set to start lefty Pierce Coppola, whose injury history has prevented him from throwing more than 4.1 innings in his seven appearances this season.
Florida will face either Texas A&M or Kentucky, two teams with potent offenses.
"The same thing is going to be said tomorrow," O'Sullivan said. "We're going to need some guys that haven't pitched go out there get three or six outs for us because we can't keep going to Brandon in the seventh inning, obviously."
Florida relievers are ready for the challenge.
"Every game is going to be competitive," Clemente said. "No matter where we've been, whether it's Regionals, Super Regionals, it's been competitive and a tough ride. It's game-by-game, pitch-by-pitch, at-bat-by-at-bat and we've been successful in every test so far."
