The UF baseball team is headed back to Omaha for the first time since 2018.
WHAT HAPPENED: Florida is headed to the College World Series for the first time since 2018. The Gators capped their sweep of Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina with a 4-0 victory in the best-of-three Gainesville Super Regional at Condron Ballpark on Saturday afternoon. Florida won Game 1 on Friday night, 5-4. In Saturday’s decisive win, third baseman Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> contributed a two-run double and starter Hurston Waldrep<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hurston-waldrep/15517> was sensational following a 2-hour, 36-minute weather delay prior to the first pitch.
PLAY OF THE GAME: In a game dominated by Waldrep, it was Halter’s two-out double that did the damage offensively. Halter’s drive down the right-field line off Gamecocks starter Jack Mahoney scored BT Riopelle<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bt-riopelle/15503> and Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522>. In the previous at-bat, Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> faced a shift left with both South Carolina shortstop Braylen Wimmer and second baseman Michael Braswell anchored on the left side of the infield. Braswell fielded what normally would have been a double-play grounder, but with no one covering second, he threw out Shelnut at first but Riopelle and Heyman advanced. That set up Halter for his biggest hit of the season.
STAGGERING STAT: Waldrep has 25 strikeouts in 15 innings in two NCAA Tournament starts. He struck out nine of the final 14 batters he faced before exiting to a standing ovation with one on, nobody out in the bottom of the ninth.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Who else? Waldrep, the junior right-hander from Thomasville, Ga.. He transferred to UF in the offseason from Southern Mississippi and was sensational Saturday. Waldrep pitched a career-high eight innings and struck out 13 Gamecocks. Waldrep allowed only three hits before closer Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/15499> came in to record the final three outs.
KEY MOMENT: As good as Waldrep was, the Gators added insurance runs in the fifth inning on Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504>’s RBI single and in the eighth on Halter’s RBI sacrifice fly. Halter finished 1-for-2 with three RBI.
HE SAID IT: “This was the most awesome thing I could ever dream of. This crowd, this team, this is amazing. This is what you play college baseball for. This is why you come to this level.” — Gators starter Hurson Waldrep following Saturday’s outing
BY THE NUMBERS: 8,851 — Announced crowd at Condron Ballpark on Saturday, the second consecutive day UF had the largest on-campus crowd in state college baseball history; 7,673 — Announced crowd on Wednesday at loanDepot Park in Miami for the Marlins-Royals game; 13 — College World Series berths for the Gators in program history.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
Opening statement…
“First off, just want to congratulate South Carolina on a great year. They put themselves in a position that we all want to be in. They’ve got a really good lineup and when [Jack] Mahoney pitched the first inning, I thought it was going to be a really low scoring game and it certainly turned out to be that way. Obviously, disappointing for them, but they had a great year. As far as getting back, I’m just kind of taking it all in right now. Honestly, I’m kind of projecting my feelings towards this staff, players, everyone that’s involved. It takes a group effort to get to this point. We’ll take a day or two to regroup. Just happy to have the opportunity to experience this. The thing is that we put ourselves in a position, getting to Omaha is goal number one, but we feel like we have a team that can potentially do some special things in Omaha. We’ll figure out who we play the first game and go from there.”
On Waldrep’s performance…
“It was awesome. It’s really hard. The last game to get to Omaha is extremely stressful because it’s right there. The goal is right in front of you. But, he was outstanding. I mean his line and the performance speaks for itself. Really pleased with Brandon [Neely] to be able to come in and get the last three outs. He’s been extremely selfless this entire year. Taken on a role after starting last year and now he’s taken to the closer role. Hurston came here for a reason and he wanted the opportunity to put is in position to go to Omaha and he certainly pitched as good as he has all year long.”
On getting to Omaha…
“There’s a lot of emotions right now. Starting behind the plate with BT [Riopelle] and Josh [Rivera] and where Wyatt [Langford] started. Brandon Sproat<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-sproat/15508> where he was and Colby Halter<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-halter/15495> coming up with a big at-bat and driving the first two runs in. I hate naming names because you start leaving people out, but everyone is deserving. I’m just happy for everyone to be honest with you. It’s a special group. We’ve been resilient the entire year. We won the regular season with Arkansas, which is not easy to do. Now, we’re in position to go to the World Series. Just a great group effort we’re excited for the opportunity.”
NOTABLES
* Saturday’s Super Regional matchup was delayed by 2 hours and 36 minutes due to weather.
* The Gators secured their 13th College World Series appearance including the program’s eighth in 16 seasons under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* Florida is now 125-83 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
* Florida is 14-6 all-time in the Super Regional round.
* The Gators have never lost a Super after winning game one.
* Florida has been victorious in eight of its nine Super Regional appearances under O’Sullivan.
* UF is hosted its ninth NCAA Super Regional since 2008, which leads the nation.
* The Gators secured their seventh 50-win season in program history including the team’s fifth in the O’Sullivan era (1991, 1996, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2023).
* Halter drove in his first run since May 2, giving the Gators an early 2-0 lead with a two-run double in the second.
* Langford committed his first-career error in his 120th game in the field in the bottom of the fourth inning.
* Rivera produced his eighth three-hit game of the season, which is tied with Langford for the team lead.
* Waldrep struck out 13 batters in Saturday’s start, moving his season total to 142.
* Waldrep’s 142 strikeouts rank third all-time in a single season at Florida behind Alex Faedo (157 in 2017) and Rob Bonanno (148 in 1994).
* The outing marked Waldrep’s sixth double-digit strikeout performance of the season.
* He has struck out 25 batters across his last two starts.
* Waldrep set a new career high with eight innings pitched, recording an out in the eighth inning for the first time in his career.
* Florida has struck out 664 batters in 559 innings – translating to 10.7 per nine innings, which would mark a new program record.
* The Gators have 628 hits through 65 games (9.7 hits/game).
* The Gators have scored in 44.0% of batted innings (233 of 530).
* Florida is 53-54 all-time against South Carolina including 31-16 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 31-22 vs. the Gamecocks under O’Sullivan including 18-5 at home.
* UF is 2-3 vs. SC in the NCAA Tournament, although this was the first meeting between the two teams in the Regional or Super Regional rounds.
UP NEXT: The Gators advance to the College World Series, where they will open against the winner of the Virginia-Duke Super Regional when they get to Omaha, Neb. The Virginia-Duke series is tied at one game apiece.
###
