The 2023 baseball season saw Florida win a program-record 54 games while advancing to the College World Series Finals. In making the team's 13th MCWS appearance including the eighth under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan, the Gators won their 16th SEC Championship, claimed their 15th NCAA Regional Title and posted 50 victories for the seventh time ever.
In doing so, the Gators set single-season program records in home runs (145), pitching strikeouts (725), strikeouts per nine innings (10.6) and offensive hit-by-pitches (90). That helped seven different Gators collect All-American honors including two Unanimous First Team selections in
Wyatt Langford and
Jac Caglianone. That came on top of Florida's league-high seven All-SEC selections. Such success was not limited to the players, as O'Sullivan was named the ABCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year.
Despite the countless records broken and plethora of personal accolades, some of the most memorable moments in team history were created through the ebbs and flows of the season; the trials and tribulations; the ups and downs. Here are FloridaGators.com's top moments of the 2023 campaign, beginning with a player's choice selection and three honorable mentions.
PLAYERS' CHOICE - Chompions
Following a series victory in the regular-season finale over Kentucky featuring heroics from
Luke Heyman and
Dale Thomas, the Gators huddled around a laptop placed on the back of a golf cart underneath the concourse at Kroger Field to watch the Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt game. They looked on as a 4-6-3 double play secured a one-run victory for the Commodores and an SEC Regular-Season Championship for the Orange and Blue.
13. Heads Up on Helton Drive! (Honorable Mention)
The 2023 season saw one of the most productive offensive seasons in school history, courtesy of two-way star Caglianone. His violent swing and monumental power left the college baseball world in awe all season long, but his most majestic blast came in Knoxville. Caglianone turned a 95-mph heater back around at 115-mph and as the legend goes, the ball was never seen again…
12. Mikey Calls Game (Honorable Mention)
A meltdown loss in game one, chased by eight innings with just three hits for the Gators, made it seem that the Georgia Bulldogs would best Florida for a second straight year in heartbreaking fashion. However, Florida's pitching led by
Hurston Waldrep kept the Bulldogs at bay just long enough for
Michael Robertson to bring the haymaker blow in the bottom of the ninth.
11. 'U' Break It (Honorable Mention)
Following a tough loss in a rainy second game against Miami, the sun came out for game three and so did the Gator bats. Florida batted around in the first inning, setting the tone for what would become an eight-inning, run-rule victory to clinch the series. The Gators hit four home runs, featuring the finishing blow courtesy of
Ty Evans.
10. Gator-8
It did not take long for Florida's offense to start setting program records. In just the second weekend of the year, the Gators walloped the Cincinnati Bearcats for eight dingers in game three to set a new team record for home runs in a single game. Led by starting pitcher Caglianone's three long balls, the Gators connected for a whopping total of 3,278 feet of home runs.
9. Breaking the Ty
With the Gators trailing by one run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Evans goes deep off the bench to take the lead with a three-run bomb at home against Florida State.
8. On Brand
With the Crimson Tide in Gainesville to open SEC play, ace
Brandon Sproat delivered the performance of his career to start the Gators' conference schedule off right. Sproat dealt for nine innings, allowing only one hit and racking up 11 strikeouts in UF's lone complete-game shutout of the season.
7. Gone Fishing / Slater-Aid
Two standout relievers saw their roles elevated to produce season-saving starts for the Gators in NCAA Regionals.
Cade Fisher delivered seven innings of one-run ball in the Gators' first of two elimination games vs. Texas Tech. With season on the line yet again the next day against the Red Raiders,
Ryan Slater fired five shutout frames followed by zeros from
Philip Abner and
Brandon Neely to get the Gators back to Super Regionals for the first time since 2018.
Following a controversial ejection of closer
Brandon Neely over a celebration, Caglianone added to the lead over Georgia with an opposite-field grand slam and went full robot.
5. Like Mike
With Florida holding a one-run lead over TCU with two outs in the ninth, defensive replacement
Michael Robertson sent Florida to the national finals with the catch of the year.
4. Sluggin' at the Chuck
The Gators set a College World Series record with 24 runs in the game two victory against LSU.
3. BT = Big Time
BT Riopelle plastered a walk off, three-run moonshot in the 11th inning of Florida's SEC Tournament opener versus Alabama.
2. Super Size Us
With a one-game lead over South Carolina, Waldrep chucked eight masterful innings in Super Regionals to send the Gators to Omaha. Florida's official attendance of 8,439 and 8,851 in games one and two of Supers marked new program records and the largest on-campus crowds ever for collegiate baseball games in Florida.
1. Legend Cemented
Under the brightest lights, Langford delivers the most clutch home run of the season, launching a mammoth 456-foot tank, good for the longest in the history of Charles Schwab Field at the College World Series to tie game one vs. Virginia in the ninth inning. Four batters later, Heyman won the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field, paving the way for a 3-0 Gators start in Omaha.
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