Cade Fisher reacts to escaping a jam in an unexpected appearance in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday night against Oral Roberts. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
A Stress-Filled, Nail-Biting Win Has Gators on Cusp of CWS Championship Series
Monday, June 19, 2023 | Baseball, Scott Carter
Share:
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
OMAHA, Neb. — The Gators were cruising when fans at a subdued Charles Schwab Field rose to their feet for the seventh-inning stretch Sunday night.
Florida owned a four-run lead against Oral Roberts in its second game of the College World Series behind another strong outing from starter Hurston Waldrep and three home runs, a two-run shot by Ty Evans in the second, and a solo homer by Josh Rivera and two-run blast by Luke Heyman in the fourth.
And then the Golden Eagles seemed to hop on the magic carpet ride that has been their NCAA Tournament, trimming the Gators' lead in half in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run inside-the-park home run from cleanup hitter Matt Hogan.
"We knew Oral Roberts was going to be really difficult to deal with," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "They've got an older lineup."
At that point, O'Sullivan went to the mound to make a pitching change, replacing reliever Ryan Slater with Brandon Neely. O'Sullivan wanted his closer in the game to fend off another late comeback by Oral Roberts, which three times in the NCAA Tournament has rallied from deficits of three or more runs to win. Neely got the job done, closing the seventh by inducing a ground ball to second off the bat of Mac McCroskey for the final out of the inning.
That's when Florida's 5-4 victory began to give fans watching on TV heart palpitations and keep the crowd of 24,841 hanging on every pitch. After Neely retired the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth, an error by shortstop Rivera kept the inning alive. Next, Oral Roberts' ninth-hole hitter Blaze Brothers singled to put runners on first and second. Neely walked the next batter on a close 3-2 pitch to load the bases, prompting O'Sullivan to pop from the dugout for a routine visit to cool down Neely.
Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan speaks with the umpires in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
But before he could reach the mound, plate umpire Travis Reininger and crew chief Billy Van Raaphorst converged to check on something with O'Sullivan. The conference was a mystery to nearly everyone in the stadium, but you knew it was not good for the Gators based on O'Sullivan's facial expression.
Following an extended conversation between O'Sullivan and the umpires, they informed Neely that his night was finished. Freshman left-hander Cade Fisher was summoned from the bullpen without time to properly warm up until he reached the mound and received additional pitches before the game resumed.
Neely asked the question on everyone's mind: "What happened?"
Rule 6, Section 5(f) states: "Each team shall be allowed three offensive and six defensive conferences per game, no more of three which may include a coach." That was technically the Gators' seventh defensive conference when O'Sullivan came out to chat with Neely and the infield.
The umpires ruled that after they confirmed the Gators' challenge of a safe call at first base earlier in the inning, catcher BT Riopelle used the team's sixth defensive conference when he went to the mound. Hence, when O'Sullivan walked out to visit Neely, it was Florida's seventh defensive conference, and he was required to change pitchers.
"I talked to the umpire before I went out there before the inning started, obviously misinterpreted him," O'Sullivan said on his postgame radio show. "We keep that on our chart. That totally falls on my shoulders. That's a mistake I have never made in my career. I'm just happy the guys came through, obviously with the mistake I made."
"But at the same time, it's like a player that has a bad game or gives up a run there in the ninth or something, you've got to move from it,'' O'Sullivan elaborated in his postgame press conference. "I apologized to them at the end of the game. They just said they had my back."
While O'Sullivan churned in the dugout, Fisher got Golden Eagles outfielder Justin Quinn to line out to left field to strand the three runners on base. After the Gators went quietly in the top of the ninth, Oral Roberts tested Fisher again in the bottom of the frame.
Oral Roberts loaded the bases with a double, single and walk. Fisher retired Drew Stahl on a fielder's choice to second base for the second out of the inning, a play that scored Hogan from third to make it a 5-4 game. With the tying run at third and the potential winning run at first, Jacob Godman lifted Fisher's 0-1 pitch to deep left-center, where defensive replacement Michael Robertson in center field squeezed the fly ball for the final out.
The Gators won their second straight nail-biter in Omaha and advanced to face the winner of Tuesday's Oral Roberts-TCU elimination game on Wednesday afternoon with an opportunity to advance to the best-of-three championship series with a victory.
But first, everyone needed to exhale.
"It was a very intense game,'' Rivera said. "We had complete faith in Cade Fisher. We knew he was coming in there to do his job."
"Good baseball game," Oral Roberts coach Ryan Folmar said. "I think people here in Omaha are getting their money's worth."
Florida right-hander Hurston Waldrep improved to 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in the NCAA Tournament in Sunday's victory over Oral Roberts in the College World Series. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
Waldrep did his part for the paying customers.
In his third start of the NCAA Tournament, the right-hander limited Oral Roberts to one run over six innings. Waldrep allowed seven hits, walked three, and struck out 12 to improve to 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in his three tournament outings. He threw 103 pitches and was replaced by Slater in the bottom of the seventh.
"He was outstanding," O'Sullivan said.
Waldrep said he didn't have the best command of his fastball, which forced him to rely more on his off-speed pitches to neutralize Oral Roberts' potent offense.
"Overall, the end result was good," he said. "And that's all that matters. But took me a little bit to settle in. It's a big stage. A lot of adrenaline and emotions that come with this game."
Those who watched the last two innings Sunday can relate. The Gators became the first team at the CWS since Stanford in 1987 to win a game with five or fewer hits while allowing 10 or more. Three of the Gators' five hits were home runs. Meanwhile, Oral Roberts had 11 hits but stranded 13 runners on base, including five over the final two innings with Fisher on the mound.
At the team hotel an hour later, Fisher carried a boxed dinner up the elevator to unwind.
When a visitor told him it was a fun game to attend, Fisher offered a perfect strike down the middle.
