Tag: florida

Men’s College World Series: Florida overwhelms Kentucky men,s,college,world,series,florida,overwhelms,kentucky,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

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The Kentucky Wildcats booked a spot in Omaha for the first time in program history thanks to “chaos.” Kentucky found a way to manufacture runs all season long, relying on little things like bunts, stolen bases, aggressive base running, and more to beat teams. As for the Florida Gators, who Kentucky faced in an elimination game Wednesday, they were built to mash.

On Wednesday in Omaha, mashing won out.

The Gators overwhelmed Kentucky 15-4 to eliminate the Wildcats and keep their title hopes alive for at least one more game.

Kentucky scratched out a run in the top of the first inning, thanks to a walk and then a stolen base from leadoff hitter Ryan Waldschmidt, and then an RBI single from DH Nick Lopez.

Their 1-0 lead did not last long.

Florida, with a revised lineup at the top that saw Jac Caglianone leading off for the first time in Omaha, put up a crooked number in the bottom of the inning, and a big one at that. The Gators put seven runs on the board, with the big blow a grand slam off the bat of designated hitter Brody Donay:

The Florida DH was just getting started.

A Donay single in the third gave the Gators two runners on base with just one out. Kentucky recorded the second out of the inning and then walked Caglianone to get to their No. 2 hitter, 2B Cade Kurland.

The 2B responded with a single to shallow center, advancing to second using a nifty slide to avoid the tag. Two runs scored on the single, giving Florida a 9-1 lead.

Kentucky started to chip away at the Gators’ lead, scoring a run in the fourth and then two more in the fifth on a two-run blast from Emilien Pitre. But the Gators’ potent lineup had another crooked number up their sleeve, as Florida hung five more runs on the board in the fifth inning.

Some of those runs came via the long ball, as Donay went yard again down the left-field line for a solo shot to start the fifth. The blast came off the bat at over 117 miles per hour, the highest exit velocity recorded at Omaha this postseason:

But the runs kept coming, starting with Florida executing some small ball of their own. After Donay blasted his second home run of the game, Caglianone walked, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then swiped third, getting a huge jump off pitcher Jackson Nove Nove as the lefty failed to even look in his direction.

While Kurland struck out looking on the pitch, Caglianone was then 90 feet away from an insurance run for the Gators.

So they went with a little safety squeeze, with shortstop — and cleanup hitter — Colby Shelton getting the bunt down perfectly to bring Caglianone home:

The Gators plated three more runs in the inning, one coming on a double from Luke Heyman and two more from a single off the bat of Ashton Wilson. By the time the inning came to a merciful end for the Wildcats, the Gators had a ten-run lead and could start thinking about taking on Texas A&M in the nightcap.

But they were not done, because Caglianone had some history to make:

The likely top-five selection in the upcoming MLB Draft launched a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth, for his 75th career home run at Florida. That put him atop the school’s all-time leader list, topping the mark set by Matt LaPorta during his time in Gainesville, who was in attendance to tip his hat to the new school leader.

By the time the final out was recorded, the Gators had hung 15 runs on the board, for the final score of 15-4.

They’ll look to keep their title dreams alive later tonight, as they take on Texas A&M. The Aggies have yet to lose in Omaha, and defeated Florida 3-2 in the opening game for both teams on Saturday.

We’ll see if the Gators needed to save some runs for tonight’s game in just a few hours.

Men’s College World Series: Kentucky-Florida moved to Wednesday due to severe weather men,s,college,world,series,kentucky,florida,moved,to,wednesday,due,to,severe,weather,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

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Florida and Kentucky are set to square off at the Men’s College World Series, in a do-or-die game for both teams.

Now they will have another night to think about what needs to be done.

With the threat of severe weather looming over Omaha — forecasters are calling for thunderstorms and heavy rain — Tuesday night’s elimination game between the two teams has been moved to Wednesday morning.

That sets up a baseball triple-header in Omaha Wednesday, and a double-header for the team that wins the rescheduled game between Kentucky and Florida. Wednesday’s new schedule for the Men’s College World Series is as follows, with all times Eastern:

  • Game 10 Kentucky vs. Florida | 11 a.m.
  • Game 11 Tennessee vs. the winner of North Carolina/Florida State | 3 p.m.
  • Game 12 between Texas A&M vs. the winner of Kentucky/Florida | 7 p.m.

Both Florida and Kentucky are 1-1 in Omaha. The Gators are coming off a 5-4 win over NC State that kept their season alive, while the Wildcats just dropped their first game in Omaha to Texas A&M, losing by a final score of 5-1.

The SEC rivals played one series this year in early May, and the Wildcats won two of those three games in Gainesville.

Men’s College World Series: Jac Caglianone and Brandon Neely extend Florida’s season men,s,college,world,series,jac,caglianone,and,brandon,neely,extend,florida,s,season,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

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With Florida’s season on the line, Jac Caglianone took the bump for the Gators in an elimination game against NC State. However, a shaky outing saw Caglianone last just one inning for Florida.

He still found a way to help extend Florida’s season at least one more game.

Caglianone was lifted after allowing a run during a shaky first inning, which included both a walk and a hit batter. But the two-way star for the Gators came through with a massive blast in the top of the second, a three-run blast to right that was part of a four-run second inning for Florida.

Caglianone’s three-run shot came on this 91-mph pitch on the inner half of the plate, that the lefty slugger was able to turn on in a hurry:

The home run was clocked at 116 miles per hour off Caglianone’s bat. It also made the Gators two-way star the first starting pitcher to homer in the MCWS since Tim Hudson accomplished that feat for Auburn back in 1997.

Yes, that Tim Hudson, who is now the head coach at his alma mater.

Of course, Caglianone’s short outing on the bump meant the Gators needed to go deep into their bullpen to outlast the gators. Caglianone was lifted in favor of Cade Fisher, who lasted four innings and allowed three earned runs to pick up the victory. But after Jake Clemente pitched a scoreless sixth inning, Brandon Neely came on to start the seventh for the Gators.

Neely closed things out, going the distance for the rare three-inning save. The Florida right hander allowed just one hit and one walk, striking out six over three nearly-perfect innings for his fifth save of the season. The three innings of work brought Neely’s total innings pitched over the postseason to 21, meaning Neely has pitched 25% of the team’s 84 innings in the postseason.

Following the game, Neely praised the entire team, and Florida’s toughness:

Florida’s season is now extended by at least one game, as the Gators await the loser of tonight’s contest between Texas A&M and Kentucky.

Men’s College World Series: Jace LaViolette and Texas A&M deny Florida men,s,college,world,series,jace,laviolette,and,texas,a,m,deny,florida,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

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Cade Kurland thought he had done it.

After a delay of over four hours due to severe weather in the Omaha area, the final game of the opening round of the 2024 Men’s College World Series between Florida and Texas A&M finally got underway after 11:00 p.m. local time. The Aggies took a 3-2 lead into the top of the ninth inning, powered by a pair of runs in the second inning and one more in the third as they built a 3-0 lead.

But the Gators did not go quietly into the night. Florida put a pair of runs on the board in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Aggies’ advantage to just 3-2, and that was the score when the Gators came to bat in the top of the ninth inning. After Brody Donay struck out to start the ninth, center fielder Michael Robertson — a hero for Florida in the 2023 MCWS double-elimination round — got on board with a single to bring Kurland to the plate, representing the go-ahead run.

After the count got to 1-1, Kurland got a backdoor breaking ball that he drove to right, putting everything he had into the swing.

It was almost enough:

Instead of the two-run shot he thought it was off the bat, right fielder Jace LaViolette used every inch of his 6’6 frame to climb the wall in right field, and deny Kurland of the go-ahead blast.

Leaving the Florida second baseman stunned:

LaViolette might have had a quiet night at the plate, going 0-for-2 with a pair of walks, but he put up monster numbers at the dish for the Aggies this season, slashing .311/.453/.751 with 28 home runs.

And he can flash the leather when he needs to.

Christian Moore makes Men’s College World Series history in Tennessee-Florida State christian,moore,makes,men,s,college,world,series,history,in,tennessee,florida,state,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

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Friday night’s game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida State Seminoles in the Men’s College World Series has yet to go final.

But a player has already made some history.

Tennessee infielder Christian Moore hit for the cycle in the game, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Jerry Kindall hit for the cycle back in 1956.

Kindall and Moore are now the only two players in Men’s College World Series to ever hit for the cycle.

Moore’s first hit came in the bottom of the first inning, when the Tennessee second baseman tripled to lead off the inning for the Volunteers. Then in the bottom of the second Moore checked the double off his “cycle to-do list,” as he laced a line drive down the left-field line to drive in a run:

Moore came all the way around the bases on a throwing error, but the play went into the books as a double.

In the fourth inning Moore laced a single to right, improving to 3-for-3 on the night. But that still left the infielder a home run shy of the cycle.

Moore checked that box in the sixth inning:

As noted by Tennessee’s social media department, Moore’s cycle is just the sixth in program history, and the first for the school in the postseason.

Moore is considered one of the top prospects in the upcoming MLB Draft, and in our most recent mock draft we had Moore coming off the board with the No. 21 pick to the Minnesota Twins.

After tonight, that might be too low.