The Florida Gators fell one win short of a national championship to cap off a fantastic 2023 season on Monday with a 18-4 loss to the LSU Tigers.
Kevin O’Sullivan turned to sophomore two-way star Jac Caglianone on the mound, but a meltdown in the second put Florida behind by four and forced the bullpen to come out early. Freshman lefty Cade Fisher was the first relief arm of the night for Florida, but Florida trailed 6-2 going into the bottom of the second.
Wyatt Langford delivered two early runs for the Gators, but the offense was held scoreless until the seventh. Meanwhile, LSU added four more runs in the fourth, effectively putting the game on ice with Thatcher Hurd dealing. Hurd’s curveball was on, and Florida simply couldn’t handle the moment
Ty Evans and Cade Kurland homered in the seventh and eighth, respectively, but LSU scored eight more runs over the final three innings to win by a dozen runs.
Overall, Florida used six pitchers: Caglianone, Fisher, Ryan Slater, Tyler Nesbitt, Blake Purnell and Fisher Jameson. No one was particularly sharp, except Slater before he took a ball off the shin that clearly affected his delivery.
After setting the run record at the College World Series in Game 2, losing in a blowout is about as bad as it gets, but the season can only be looked at as an undeniable success for the Gators.
We’ll always wonder about what could have been had Josh Pearson not made the catch of his lifetime in extra innings on Saturday, but that’s baseball.
This team showed national championship stuff from Day 1, and they nearly won it all. Nothing to be ashamed of. Langford, BT Riopelle, Josh Rivera, Brandon Sproat and the rest of the departing players will never be forgotten in Gainesville.
Until next season, folks.
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