The Gators rush to mob Luke Heyman after his game-winning sac fly in a walk-off win over Virginia at the College World Series. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
Gators Hopped on a Thrill Ride at College World Series
Thursday, June 22, 2023 | Baseball, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
OMAHA, Neb. — The depth of Florida's pitching staff is a strength of Kevin O'Sullivan's team and crucial to why the Gators will face LSU in the College World Series best-of-three championship starting Saturday night.
So when O'Sullivan pulled starter Jac Caglianone after 4 1/3 innings in Wednesday's 3-2 victory over TCU, he trusted his bullpen could finish the job. Still, perhaps not as confident as a reporter who quizzed O'Sullivan afterward about feeling "not overly stressed" about relying on the bullpen for the final 14 outs.
"I don't know if you could say 'not overly stressed,' " O'Sullivan responded. "It's a one-run game."
The story of Florida's stay in Omaha has been stress-filled, one-run games that have kept Gators fans on edge. Ultimately, the Gators have won all three and advanced to the CWS championship series for the fourth time in program history.
Caglianone has helped at the plate, where he has hit 31 home runs, and on the mound. He is a two-way standout on a team loaded with players rising to the occasion at the right time.
He had faith in the bullpen on Wednesday.
"That's the way this team has played,'' he said. "Everybody has each other's backs. That's how we have gotten to this point."
Here are key moments that spiked the blood pressure of O'Sullivan and anyone rooting for the Gators to win their first national championship since 2017:
GAME 1 (Florida 6, Virginia 5)
The Gators showed their comeback ability in Friday's win over Virginia. (Photo: Scott Bruhn/UAA Communications)
—The Gators led 1-0 in the top of the seventh when Virginia's Anthony Stephan hit a ground ball to third, scoring Ethan Anderson to tie the game. By the end of the inning, the Cavaliers led 4-1, and Florida's chances against lefty Jake Berry appeared slim.
—The Gators scored a run in the bottom of the eighth on a BT Riopelle solo homer, and Virginia responded with a run in the top of the ninth for a 5-2 lead, setting the stage for one of the Gators' most memorable innings in Omaha.
—Reserve outfielder Ty Evans, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run to make it a one-run game. Two batters later, Wyatt Langford crushed Berry's 1-0 pitch 456 feet to tie the game. Berry served up three home runs over a span of seven batters after allowing just three all season in 48 2/3 innings.
—With Berry still on the mound, the Gators loaded the bases with a single from Jac Caglianone, a walk to Josh Rivera, and Riopelle getting hit by a pitch. Virginia coach Brian O'Connor turned to right-hander Jay Woolfork to get somebody out. He retired Luke Heyman on a deep fly ball to center, but Caglianone raced home for the winning run to lift the Gators to an improbable comeback victory.
GAME 2 (Florida 5, Oral Roberts 4)
The Gators have taken their fans in Omaha on a roller-coaster ride at the College World Series. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
—The Gators seemed on the way to a comfortable win against the upstart Golden Eagles, who gained national attention for a string of late-inning comebacks in the NCAA Tournament. Florida led 5-1 entering the bottom of the seventh thanks to a pair of two-run homers from Evans (second inning) and Heyman (fourth inning) and a solo shot by Rivera to lead off the fourth.
—O'Sullivan turned to his bullpen to start the seventh after right-hander Hurston Waldrep continued his dominance in the NCAA Tournament by striking out 12 and limiting Oral Roberts to one run over six innings. However, Oral Roberts cleanup hitter Matt Hogan hit a Ryan Slater pitch over left fielder Tyler Shelnut's head that bounced off the wall and rolled toward left-center. Langford raced and picked up the ball after whiffing on his first try, and then Rivera, taking the cutoff throw, hesitated before throwing home. The result was a two-out, two-run inside-the-park homer that trimmed the Gators' lead to 5-3. O'Sullivan replaced Slater with Brandon Neely to get the final out of the inning.
—In the bottom of the eighth, Oral Roberts loaded the bases with two outs, prompting O'Sullivan to make a mound visit to cool down Neely after a close 3-2 pitch was called a ball. However, umpires informed O'Sullivan that the Gators had used their six defensive mound visits and that he had to make a pitching change. A stunned O'Sullivan summoned freshman lefty Cade Fisher from the bullpen. Fisher retired Justin Quinn on a fly ball to left field, preserving the lead and turning the miscue into a humorous T-shirt two days later.
—The drama was not over. In the ninth, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases with one out against Fisher, who then retired Drew Stahl on an RBI fielder's choice that cut Florida's lead to 5-4. With the tying run at third and winning run at second, Fisher got Jacob Godman to fly out to left field for another nail-biting victory.
GAME 3 (Florida 3, TCU 2)
Catcher BT Riopelle exhales after another one-run win in Omaha following Wednesday's victory over Oral Roberts. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
—A two-run homer by Rivera in the top of the first gave the Gators the early lead. TCU responded with a run off Caglianone in the bottom of the inning. Caglianone needed 35 pitches to get out of a first inning that included two walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches and a passed ball. Caglianone also struck out the side to fill up his pitching line, retiring Anthony Silva swinging to strand the bases loaded.
—The score was still 2-1 Gators when O'Sullivan walked to the mound to pull Caglianone with a runner on first and one out in the bottom of the fifth. He called on Slater, who promptly loaded the bases by giving up a single to Brayden Taylor and a walk to Cole Fontenelle. However, Slater hunkered down, struck out Tre Richardson, and retired Kurtis Byrne to end the inning as the Horned Frogs left the bases loaded for the second time.
—Still nursing a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Neely replaced Fisher, who had entered the game in the seventh. Oral Roberts had one out and nobody on when Neely took over. Richardson greeted him with a single, moved to second on a ground out, and scored the tying run on Silva's two-out ground-rule double. Neely then hit Logan Maxwell with a pitch before strikeout out Austin Davis to end the inning.
—The ninth inning is one neither team will forget soon. First, Shelnut led off with a double to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Pinch-runner Michael Robertson entered the game and was still at second after pinch-hitter Dale Thomas popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt for the first out. That brought up Colby Halter, whose fly out to right field allowed the speedy Robertson to advance to third. With the go-ahead run 90 feet away, struggling second baseman Cade Kurland beat out a bouncing ball to shortstop for an RBI infield single. Neely needed three outs for the Gators to advance to the championship series. He quickly got the first two. Finally, with the Golden Eagles down to their final out, Taylor crushed a pitch to deep center field. Robertson, who took over in center field for defensive purposes, raced full-speed toward the outfield wall. He leaped on the warning track, crashed into the wall, and caught the ball for one of the most memorable endings in this year's CWS. O'Sullivan and the Gators had survived another one-run game.
