The Florida Gators entered Sunday down a game in the College World Series Finals, but a 24-4 win over the LSU Tigers evened up the series and shifted all the momentum to the Orange and Blue heading into a deciding Game 3 on Monday.
Ty Evans was the early offensive hero on a day when Florida right-hander Hurston Waldrep did not look his best. Waldrep gave up three early runs, but Evans hit two home runs (a solo shot and a grand slam) to put UF out in front early.
Although the game looked like it would be a back-and-forth contest, it was all Florida from that point on. The Gators scored 23 unanswered runs in total, with home runs from Jac Caglianone, Wyatt Langford and BT Riopelle. Caglianone tied and broke the BBCOR-era home run record with his two jacks, and Langford crossed the 20-homer threshold for a second-straight season.
Langford led the pack with six runs batted in, but Caglianone and Evans were very close with five apiece. Finding the right words to praise Evans adequately is tough. He was pulled from the everyday lineup two months ago, yet Florida would not have a chance to win it all without him. A legendary performance from a struggling Gator. File that under things you love to see in this sport.
The relief performances from Blake Purnell and Nick Ficarrotta must also be recognized. Both were key pieces of the bullpen last year but didn’t see as much action as expected in 2023. They still stepped up when the team needed them most, though, preserving plenty of arms for Sunday’s deciding contest.
Ficarrotta went five innings, striking out two and giving up just one run late in the game after both teams had accepted the result. Purnell worked out of two jams while the game was still tense, inducing a pair of key double plays to keep things close.
For more on Florida’s record-setting night (most runs in a College World Series game by a single team), here’s an inning-by-inning breakdown of the game.