Win or go home games bring out the best in the Gators. Florida eliminated North Carolina State on Monday to stay alive in the College World Series.
The Florida Gators baseball team lives to see another day after eliminating the North Carolina State Wolfpack from the College World Series on Monday afternoon, 5-4.
What was expected to be a matchup of left-handers on the mound didn’t go quite as planned, but the end result provided just as much tension as every other game in Omaha over the past few days.
[autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] only lasted an inning before moving to the designated hitter spot in Florida’s lineup card. The broadcast showed him rubbing his elbow on his throwing arm (left) after the first, and [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag] replaced him to start the second inning.
Caglianone needed 33 pitches to get out of the first frame. He walked two, hit a batter and gave up a base hit but managed to keep NC State mostly quiet in the run column. Wolfpack shortstop Brandon Butterworth singled through the left side to plate the only run of the inning.
Fisher looked good in relief despite allowing three runs to cross. He went four innings for the first time since March 22 against LSU and didn’t deal with the command issues that have plagued him all year. Fisher walked one, hit one and gave up a two-run homer, but he also struck out three and kept the lead without wasting more arms.
Florida’s four-run second inning provided most of the run support needed for the night.
Caglianone delivered the big blow, his 34th home run of the season and 74th with the Florida Gators — both program records. An 18-degree launch angle doesn’t usually translate to a home run, but Caglianone barreled this one up and sent it off the bat at 116 mph.
[autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] and [autotag]Brody Donay[/autotag] scored on the liner that sliced through the gusting winds in Omaha over the wall in right-center field. Before that, [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] drove in Florida’s first run of the day following a pair of walks to Donay and [autotag]Dale Thomas[/autotag].
Seven runs crossed through the first three innings, but the offense slowed to a crawl after that. Both teams scored in the fifth, but it was all bullpen otherwise. [autotag]Tyler Shelnut[/autotag] hit a solo homer for Florida, and Butterworth drove in another with a double to right.
Kevin O’Sullivan stuck with Fisher through the fifth, but a leadoff walk in the sixth put the one-run lead at risk. Redshirt freshman [autotag]Jake Clement[/autotag]e took over and retired the next three batters on contact, but his leash was short, too. Sully turned to his closer, [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag], for another nine-out save.
Neely dominated. He struck out six of the 11 batters he faced and allowed just two baserunners. Neither fazed him.
There hasn’t been a better closer in baseball than Neely over the past two weeks, but the Gators will have to do it without him tomorrow against the loser of Kentucky–Texas A&M (which starts at 7 p.m. ET).
The first pitch on Tuesday will be at 7 p.m. ET as well.
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