College World Series: Gators 3, TCU 2 — UF Clinches Spot in CWS Championship Series
The Gators scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth for their third consecutive one-run victory in the CWS while tying the program record for wins (53).
WHAT HAPPENED: The Gators beat TCU at Charles Schwab Field on Wednesday afternoon to advance to the best-of-three championship series for the fourth time in program history. Starter Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> pitched 4 1/3 innings before UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> went to the bullpen to finish off the Horned Frogs, who were eliminated. Shortstop Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning to give the Gators a lead they held onto until TCU tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, second baseman Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514>’s RBI infield single scored pinch-runner Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> for the game-winning run. When closer Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/15499> polished off the Horned Frogs in the bottom of the inning, Florida had its eighth consecutive victory in the NCAA Tournament.
PLAY OF THE GAME: It’s got to be Kurland’s bouncing ball toward the hole at shorstop that he beat out for a two-out infield single in the ninth that scored Robertson. After Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> led off with a double, Robertson came into the game as a pinch-runner. Pinch-hitter Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/15512> then popped up a bunt for the first out, followed by a deep drive to right by Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> for the second out that moved Robertson to third. Finally, Kurland’s bouncer scored Robertson to put the Gators back on top. If there is a No. 2 play of the game, Robertson’s catch to end the game is the winner. With two down in the bottom of the ninth, TCU’s Brayden Taylor hit a ball deep to center field that Robertson caught as he leapt and crashed into the wall. Robertson took over in center field in the bottom of the ninth for defensive purposes, as Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> shifted to left.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: In Caglianone’s first CWS starter, the sophomore left-hander was shaky but resilient. He needed 35 pitches to get out of the first inning as he allowed one run. From there, he settled in before tiring in the fifth and replaced by right-hander Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/15506>. Caglianone lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing three hits, one run and three walks. He struck out four in his 85-pitch outing and received a no-decision.
KEY MOMENT: TCU loaded the bases twice in the first five innings and could muster only one run. When Slater replaced Caglianone with one on and one out in the top of the fifth, he loaded the bases by allowing a single and walk. However, Slater regrouped to strike out Tre Richardson for the second out and retired Kurtis Byrne on a pop out to second to end the inning.
BY THE NUMBERS: 7 — Home runs hit by Gators in CWS. 10 — Home runs hit by rest of CWS field.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
Opening statement…
“First of all, want to congratulate TCU on an unbelievable season. Put a freshman out there, biggest game of his life. And catcher’s a freshman, and the big lefty they put in, Abeldt, is a freshman. They couldn’t have asked more from their young players and all of their players. To get to this point is an unbelievable accomplishment and I know they’re disappointed. But they certainly belong here and I need to congratulate them on a great year. As far as the game today, Jac was really good. He made pitches when he need to, and he’ll probably say otherwise, but at the end of the day he bent but didn’t break if that makes any sense. He made some big pitches. And I think Ryan Slater coming in and recording five outs is huge. We didn’t have to go to Cade as early as we possibly wanted to. And Brandon did his thing at the end. Excited to be moving on. Obviously, Cade’s hit in the six-hole was huge, put us ahead. Really pleased with how Brandon bounced back from the eighth. And obviously Josh’s two-run home to put us on the board was really good for the momentum. Played really good defense. And just look forward to getting started again on Saturday.”
On the contributions across the roster…
“I don’t know if you could say ‘not overly stressed.’ It’s a one-run game. But it takes – I talked earlier – it takes a collective group to get this point. Like Michael hasn’t played a lot, makes a great catch in center field. Ty has gotten hot for us down the stretch. Colby Halter was out of the lineup for some time and now he’s back in the lineup. It really does take a collective group. And we knew the pitching was a work in progress when we started things, especially the bullpen side of things. That shows you kind of where we are at with our bullpen. Slater comes in and gets five outs where the other night he didn’t have the results we wanted, but he was able to move on. And having somebody like Neely at the back end is huge. Kind of like ’17; we had the same situation where we had Michael Byrne It takes a collective group. It’s not easy to get to the World Series, number one, but number two, to play for the national championship.”
On getting back to the CWS and reaching the finals…
“You learn a lot from all of them. 2011, we played South Carolina. Had the bases loaded, nobody out in the ninth and didn’t score. Seemed like yesterday. And in ’17 we lost this game, had to come back with Alex Faedo, as you remember, in the second game to get to the final series. And we got a great performance by Brady Singer. And obviously Tyler Dyson came up huge in the second game. It’s not easy to get to this point. It’s just not. I know I overstate it and say it over and over, but we just played three one-run games and they’re all nail-biters down to the end. There’s a lot of things that have to go right. This team is different than the ’17 team in a lot of ways, but in the most important ways for me, very similar. Starting pitching in ’17 was outstanding. I feel like our starting pitching is pitching the best they have all year. We had Michael Burns at the end. Now we have Brandon Neely at the end. I don’t think we made an error in ’17 in five or six games that we played. And we’re playing really good defense right now, knock on wood. There’s some similarities, but like I said, just excited for the guys, our staff, everybody that’s involved. Like I said, it takes a whole group of people to get to this point, not just the players or coaches. There’s a lot of people behind the scenes from people on our staff to the managers. That staff is cleaning uniforms until 2:00 in the morning. So, it’s just a really good feeling for having those guys assist.”
NOTABLES
* Florida tied the program record for wins in a season (2011 – 53).
* The Gators advance to the College World Series Finals for the fourth time in team history (2005, 2011, 2017, 2023).
* Florida begins 3-0 in Omaha for the second time in program history (2011).
* All three wins have come in one-run games, improving UF’s season record to 10-3 in single-run affairs.
* The Gators are now 24-24 all-time at the CWS and 128-84 in the NCAA Tournament.
* Florida is playing in its 13th College World Series and eighth in the Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551> era: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023.
* Already with more home runs in a season than any Gator shortstop in team history, Rivera hit his 19th long ball of the campaign to put UF ahead, 2-0, in the first inning.
* Rivera finished 3-for-4 on the game, marking his team-best ninth three-hit performance of the campaign.
* Florida has now swatted a program-record 136 home runs this season.
* The Gators have launched seven of the 17 home runs at the 2023 College World Series.
* Since facing elimination in NCAA Regionals, Florida has gone 8-0 while outscoring opponents, 44-18.
* Florida has hammered 15 home runs while allowing just two.
* Florida has struck out 698 batters in 584 innings – translating to 10.8 per nine innings, which would mark a new program record.
* The Gators have 652 hits through 68 games (9.6 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 43.3% of batted innings (241 of 557).
* Florida is now 3-1 all-time vs. TCU, all of which have been played in Omaha in the O’Sullivan era.
UP NEXT: The Gators advance to the CWS best-of-three championship series for the fourth time in school history. The 2023 Gators joined the 2005, ’11 and ’17 Gators in earning a berth in the championship series. Florida won its first national title in 2017. The Gators will face the Wake Forest-LSU winner starting on Saturday night at 7 ET.
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