Florida capped off a 3-0 run through pool play at the College World Series to advance to the Finals with a 3-2 win over the Texas Christian Horned Frogs Wednesday afternoon.
All three of Florida’s wins in Omaha have come by a one-run margin, and it was of course Brandon Neely that closed it out after blowing the save in the eighth inning on a ball to center field that was just out of reach of Wyatt Langford .
Somewhat poetically, the final out of the game came on a missile to center, but it was Michael Robertson out there instead of Langford after entering the game as a pinch-runner for Tyler Shlenut in the top of the ninth. Robertson scored the game-winning run and held onto a ball that took him straight into the center field wall to end it.
Leaving Shelnut in was questionable after the outfield failed to make the play in the eighth, but Kevin O’Sullivan is playing a chess game and knows his pieces well. Shelnut’s double and Robertson’s legs were the stories of the game, and that doesn’t even mention Cade Kurland, who drove in the deciding run, Jac Caglianone, who went 4 1/3 innings after a shaky start nor Josh Rivera, who homered in the first as part of a three-hit day.
For more detail on how it all went down, Gators Wire has put together an inning-by-inning recap of the game, including some expanded analysis.
Florida is now waiting to whether it will play LSU or Wake Forest in the College World Series Finals, which begins on Friday, June 23.
Top 1st
Florida came out swinging against Kole Klecker, who stuck to a low-90s fastball and an 80-mph slider. Cade Kurland grounded out to shortstop, and Wyatt Langford drew a bases-loaded walk to start things off.
Jac Caglianone rocketed a ball off the first baseman’s glove, but TCU still made the play at first to get him. With Langford on second, Josh Rivera hit a 417-foot home run to left field to give the Gators an early lead.
SCORE: Florida 2, TCU 0
BT Riopelle struck out swinging to end the frame.
Bot 1st
Caglianone stuck with a steady diet of mid-90s fastballs, but he started to lose command after a leadoff punchout of Elijah Nunez. He threw seven-straight balls, walking Karson Bowen and getting behind 3-0 against Brayden Taylor.
Cags battled back to a full count against Taylor but lost him on a middle-middle fastball that went right back up the middle, scoring Bowen who moved to second earlier on a wild pitch.
SCORE: Florida 2, TCU 1
Cole Fontenelle struck out swinging on a wicked two-seam, but more passed balls and wild pitches moved Taylor around to third. A walk (Tre Richardson) and hit batter (Kurtis Byrne) loaded the bases, but Caglianone got another strikeout against Anthony Silva to strand the bags full.
Thirty-five pitches in the first for Cags. Not great…
Top 2nd
Klecker needed to put up a zero on the board, and he got the job done despite a pair of base hits from Luke Heyman and Colby Halter. Heyman led the inning off with a single to right, but he never made it to second thanks to a Tyler Shelnut flyout and Ty Evans fielder’s choice.
Halter kept the inning going with a two-out base hit up the middle. He earned audible chants from the crowd before and after the connection, but Kurland sent another hard-hit ground ball right to the shortstop. Good swing, bad location.
2nd bot
ESPN interviewed Caglianone’s mother as he led off the bottom of the second by hitting a batter — have you no shame, ESPN? Austin Davis bunted Logan Maxwell over to second, but TCU couldn’t tie the game up.
Nunez grounded out and Bowen struck out swinging, stranding Maxwell on third. An 11-pitch inning was huge for Caglianone, but Sully still had Ryan Slater and Tyler Nesbitt warming up in the bullpen.
Top 3rd
Klecker found his rhythm in the third and set the heart of the Gators’ order down, 1-2-3. Langford fouled out to the right side, Caglianone grounded a ball to first and Rivera sent one to shortstop.
Bot 3rd
Caglianone walked Fontenelle with one out after getting Taylor to fly out, but Richardson grounded into a double play that was upheld after a review prompted by TCU.
Only at 60 pitches, Caglianone clearly recovered from a shaky start. Everything wasn’t working for him, but he figured out how to get outs with a wild fastball. That’s impressive on this stage.
Top 4th
All of a sudden, this game turned into a race. Klecker pitched his second-straight eight-pitch inning in the fourth. Riopelle grounded out to first, Heyman flew out to left, Shelnut hit safely on a line drive to the left side and Evans lined out to short.
Bot 4th
Maxwell delivered TCU its first base hit since the first with a man in scoring position in the fourth, but Byrne got a bad jump from second and was tagged out rather easily at home. Evans missed the relay to second but Rivera had the backup at the bag, and Riopelle made sure the Florida shortstop knew to come home with it after a similar play was botched against Oral Roberts.
The Horned Frogs should have tied the game in this inning, but the base-running gaffe proved costly. Davis flew out to left center for the third out of the frame.
Top 5th
The fifth inning was another slow one for Florida. Halter struck out and Kurland flew out to center for two quick outs. Wyatt Langford muscled a ball over the second baseman’s head into the gap in right-center and legged out a double that caught the outfield by surprise.
Caglianone couldn’t help himself out, though, grounding out to second for out No. 3.
Bot 5th
TCU forced Florida to the bullpen in the bottom of the fifth, following a one-out single from Bowen. Ryan Slater took over and promptly gave up a single through the right side to put two on and loaded the bases with a walk.
Slater locked in and struck out Richardson for out No. 2 before inducing a pop-up from Byrne to escape the jam and leave Caglianone’s line intact.
Final line on Caglianone: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; 85 pitches, 44 strikes.
Top 6th
Rivera singled to start the sixth, and TCU quickly went to Ben Abeldt out of the bullpen. Abeldt struck out Riopelle and Shelnut, but Heyman singled in between the two punchouts.
Evans made weak contact toward third for a ground out to end the inning. Florida’s disappearing act on offense continues…
Bot 6th
Slater delivered the first 1-2-3 inning of the day for Florida’s pitching staff in the sixth. He got Silva to ground out on a full count and Maxwell lined out to Langford in center.
Colby Halter flashed the leather to end the inning, stabbing a ball at third to make the play to first.
Top 7th
These half-inning recaps are really boring to write when Florida’s batters are wildly flailing at balls that don’t look that close. Halter and Kurland struck out, and Langford flew out to center on a ball that he thought he got all of.
There’s a weird energy to this game, and the longer it stays 2-1, the less confidence Florida has to have.
Bot 7th
Cade Fisher took over to face the lefty-heavy top of TCU’s order. He struck out Nunez with a low slider, induced a hard ground ball to shortstop and got Taylor to pop-up behind the plate. Riopelle almost lost the ball in the wind, but he flicked his glove back to pull it in and celebrated loudly.
Fisher has really come into his own during the College World Series. It’s going to be hard to keep him in the bullpen next year.
Top 8th
Josh Rivera doubled after Caglianone popped out for No. 1 in the eighth inning, but no one could score him as Riopelle struck out looking on a tough call and Heyman lined out on hard contact to center.
Rivera had three of Florida’s eight hits up to this point, but only his first-inning homer resulted in runs. If he doesn’t jump on that ball early, this is a completely different ball game.
Bot 8th
Fisher returned to get Fontenelle, a switch hitter, and out No. 1 of the eighth for Florida, and then Sully turned to Brand Neely for a five-out save.
Neely gave up a single through the left side to Richardson, who moved up on a soft tapper back to Neely. Silva doubled to left center, just out of reach of a stretched out Wyatt Langford in center. Tyler Shelnut was left on deck in the top of the eighth, which forced Sully to leave him in rather than bringing in Micahel Robertson as a defensive replacement in center.
It’s not worth playing the what-if game here, but it’s hard not to wonder if Robertson makes the grab.
SCORE: Florida 2, TCU 2
Top 9th
Leaving Shelnut paid off in the end as he led off the ninth with a double off the wall in right-center. Robertson pinch-ran for him but Dale Thomas couldn’t get the sacrifice bunt down to move him over to third. He popped it up to the first baseman, stalling Robertson at second.
Colby Halter took a ball for a ride to deep right-center, moving Robertson over to third instead of home. But Cade Kurland bailed out Thomas on the botched bunt attempt with an infield single that was too deep to the left side for TCU to stop. Robertson scored, giving Neely a shot at redemption.
SCORE: Florida 3, TCU 2
Bot 9th
Neely had no issues getting the first two outs in the bottom of the ninth. He struck out Nunes and got Bowen to ground out to Rivera at short. Trouble came when Brayden Taylor sent a line drive 105 mph off the abt to deep center. Robertson chased down the ball and gloved it before slamming into the wall and celebrating the win.
Florida’s offense was not good in this game, but the bats came through when the team needed them the most. I wrote in the preview that Florida finds a way to make wins happen, and this was the perfect example of that.
Now it’s onto LSU or Wake Forest.
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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire