Florida falls to LSU in College World Series finals opener

The Florida Gators will have to do things the hard way after falling, 4-3, against the LSU Tigers in Game 1 of the College World Series finals on Saturday night.

The deciding run came in the top of the 11th inning off the bat of LSU’s Cade Beloso. Brandon Neely, who took over for Cade Fisher in the eighth, misplaced a ball and paid the ultimate price after an otherwise stellar outing.

Fisher was also excellent until he gave up a solo shot. That one, which came off the bat of Tommy White, tied the game before Florida could get its All-American closer in.

BT Riopelle gave Florida a brief lead with a solo home run in the sixth, but Florida trailed for most of the game after LSU put Brandon Sproat through the gauntlet. The Tigers didn’t hit him that well, but they took a ton of pitches that lesser teams would have swung at.

Although it was a close game, Florida is nine innings away from elimination and is likely without its closer for the rest of the series.

Here’s a closer look at Florida’s heartbreaking Game 1 loss to LSU.

Top 1st

Sproat came out with his fastball working anywhere from 95 to 100 mph. He caught Dylan Crews with a fastball inside but bounced back to get Tommy White with a foul-tip strike three. The big guy couldn’t catch up to 99 from Sproat that time.

Tre Morgan sent a potential double-play ball to second, but Crews was in motion and got to second easily. Gavin Dugas put up a battle and won an 11-pitch at-bat to put men on first and second, and it paid off when Cade Beloso slapped a ball through the left side to score Crews. Florida might have had a chance to get anyone else running at home, but Crews has true 70-grade speed, perhaps even higher.

SCORE: LSU 1, Florida 0

Sproat struck out Brayden Jobert with a changeup to strand the other two runners on base.

Bot 1st

Cade Kurland took a 93-mph fastball to start off Florida’s offensive crusade, but he let loose on the second pitch he saw and sent it 370 feet to left center. Unfortunately, the left-center wall is 375 feet deep in Omaha and Crews hauled it in for out No. 1 of the bottom of the first.

Wyatt Langford took three straight balls to get ahead, but he ended up striking out on a fastball up in the zone. Jac Caglianone popped up to shallow left for what should have been the third out of the inning, but the shortstop couldn’t get to the ball in time and the outfield was shifted too far over.

The error left Caglianone on second base and brought up Florida’s hottest hitter, Josh Rivera. LSU starter Ty Floyd reached back and beat him with another elevated heater to end the inning.

Top 2nd

Sproat got Jordan Thompson on three pitches to start the second but lost Pearson on a 3-2 fastball that he thought he dotted. Clearly frustrated, Sproat got behind Alex Milazzo, 2-0, and BT Riopelle went out to the mound to calm him down. It didn’t work. Sproat left a fastball middle-middle, and Milazzo took it opposite field to put two on for Crews.

The umpire’s zone was tough to figure out early, and Sproat lost Crews on a 3-2 count after getting ahead 1-2 early. White lined the ball to Colby Halter at third base, and Sproat got Morgan swinging with the changeup to escape an impossible jam.

Throwing 55 pitches through two innings isn’t ideal, but Sproat getting through the second without giving up a run made it worth it.

Bot 2nd

Riopelle couldn’t lay off a high and inside heater for out No. 1, but Luke Heyman got things going with a very professional at-bat. Heyman took two balls (one was called a strike) and then roped a fastball left over the plate to the right side for a single.

Tyler Shelnut watched two balls go down the middle and walked back to the dug out in shame. Ty Evans couldn’t catch up to a 2-0 heater and struck out on a 2-seam coming in on his hands two pitches later.

Floyd is a good pitcher, but Florida being baffled by high heat was not on anyone’s bingo card.

Top 3rd

Dugas blasted a sinker into the bullpen in left field to start the third.

SCORE: LSU 2, Florida 0

Sproat gave up another single to Beloso and then struck out Jobert for a second time. He got a ground ball to second from Thompson, but Kurland opted to barehand it and couldn’t make a play; E4. A soft ground out to first put Sporat one out away from escaping another jam, and Milazzo swung at the changeup and missed to end it.

At 86 pitches through three, it became clear that Florida wasn’t going to have its ace for long.

Bot 3rd

The Gators finally got on the board in the third. Kurland walked following a Halter strikeout, and Langford doubled to the left-center wall. Kurland had a chance to score, but third base coach Taylor Black threw up a late stop sign with Caglianone coming up to bat.

Cags sent a hard ground ball off Tre Morgan’s glove at first, but Dugas was there to handle the ricochet and get the out at first. Kurland scored, but Rivera struck out to strand Langford at third.

SCORE: LSU 2, Florida 1

Caglianone tied the school record with that RBI — his 85th of the season.

Top 4th

Sproat got two quick outs on six pitches, but Morgan singled up the middle and Dugas doubled on a ball that came out of a diving Wyatt Langford’s glove. Langford got a bad jump on it but almost made the play.

O’Sullivan came out after intentionally walking Beloso to load the bases, but Sproat stayed out to get Jobert swinging for a third time.

“I think LSU’s hitters have done a really good job,” O’Sullivan said during a mid-game interview. “I think it all started with the Dugas at-bat in the first. They just made (Sproat) work.”

Bot 4th

Florida went down in order in the fourth inning. Riopelle popped up to the left side of the infield and Heyman and Shelnut both struck out on the high cheese.

Whatever Floyd is doing with his fastball made it irresistible to Florida’s offense. They couldn’t catch up to it, though, and made Floyd look like a god on the mound while whiffing at it.

Top 5th

Sproat came back out to start the fifth, despite being at 107 pitches. He walked Thompson on four pitches, bringing out Cade Fisher. It’s not the way Sproat wanted his career in the Orange and Blue to end, but at least he gave the team a chance.

Fisher struck out Pearson and got Milazzo to ground out to third for two easy outs. Then came up Dylan Crews…

But Cade Fisher is afraid of no man. He struck out the likely No. 1 overall draft pick on three pitches, sending the game to the bottom of the fifth.

Bot 5th

Fisher’s success sparked some more offense in the bottom half of the fifth. Evans doubled down the left-field line and moved over to third on a Halter bunt. Kurland missed a pair of middle-middle fastballs, but fought off several pitches until he found a ball he could put in play.

LSU’s infield was playing in, ready to throw home if Evans took off on contact, but Dugas couldn’t handle the grounder and had to settle for the out at first instead.

SCORE: Florida 2, LSU 2

Langford sent a grounder to short to end the frame, but it finally felt like Florida was back in it.

Top 6th

Fisher gave up a leadoff single to White but Caglianone made a nice play to stop him from advancing on a ground ball to the right side. The Florida lefty couldn’t make it over to first in time, but he stopped the ball from going by him, which was enough.

Dugas singled on a soft grounder to third that Halter nearly made a play on. Fisher struck out Beloso for a big second out and got out of the inning with a fielder’s choice to third base. Jared Jones pinch-hit for Jobert, who had struck out three times already.

Bot 6th

Ty Floyd was well on his way to another clean inning, striking out Caglianone and Rivera rather easily. But BT Riopelle wasn’t ready to go back out and catch just yet, so he blasted a home run to right field, giving Florida its first lead of the day.

Riopelle can be a bit too aggressive at the plate, but he’s been nothing short of clutch since the postseason began.

SCORE: Florida 3, LSU 2

Floyd struck out Heyman to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Top 7th

Fisher made quick work of LSU in the top of the seventh. The goal is always to put a zero on the board after putting up runs, but Fisher got the job done emphatically. Halter made a tough play look easy at third, firing the ball over to first and getting Thompson by a step.

Then, Fisher struck out Pearson and Milazzo swinging. He fist-pumped and hollered as he walked back to the dugout to loud cheers from the Florida fans who made the trip.

Bot 7th

There are no words to describe what Floyd was doing to the Florida lineup. He struck out the side in the seventh, moving up to 15 punchouts on the day. Good pitching and a bad approach at the plate will do that. … Somehow, Florida still had the lead.

Top 8th

Fisher got Crews to ground out to short on the first pitch he saw, but White took a hanging slider over the left-field wall to tie the game.

SCORE: Florida 3, LSU 3

Morgan single through the left side, bringing Brandon Neely in to replace Fisher. Neely was warming up in the seventh, but Sully decided to stick with Fisher a batter (or two) too long.

Neely got Dugas to pop up to center with a steady diet of sliders and struck out Beloso with a high heater.

Bot 8th

Floyd got Kurland for strikeout No. 16 of the night and induced an infield pop-out from Wyatt Langford. Caglianone struck out, giving Floyd a share of the College World Series record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game.

Sigh.

Top 9th

Neely wasn’t letting LSU have all the fun, though. He struck out Patrick Kling and Thompson for the first two outs of the ninth and handled a comebacker from Pearson to send the game into walk-off territory.

Here. We. Go.

Bot 9th

Riley Cooper … no, not that one … took over for Floyd in the ninth. He got Rivera and Riopelle to ground out but walked Heyman on five pitches. Richie Schiekofer came up to bat after taking over for Shelnut as a defensive replacement, and a passed ball moved Heyman over to second.

Now with a runner in scoring position, Sully opted to take Heyman out of the game and bring in Deric Fabian as a pinch runner. Schiekofer doesn’t have the greatest bat on the team, but all he needed was a single to etch his name in the history books at UF.

No dice. … Schiekofer struck out after fouling off a few pitches, sending the game to extra innings.

Top 10th

Nick Travinski struck out on a high fastball from Neely after entering the game as a pinch hitter for Milazzo. Neely walked Crews on five pitches but thought he should have got a strike call or two.

A wild pitch that just missed White’s head moved Crews over to second, and Sully called for an intentional walk before heading out to the mound for a meeting. Neely got Morgan to pop out to second for an infield fly, and Dugas flew out to center field to end the threat.

All of Gator Nation exhaled momentarily, but there was still baseball to play.

Bot 10th

Michael Robertson led off the 10th with a fly-out to center field. He took over for Ty Evans and moved to center in the eighth before the White home run.

Colby Halter took a ball off the wrist, putting the winning run on base, and Cade Krurland singled back to the pitcher to move him into scoring position. Wyatt Langford smashed a line drive to the left field wall, but Pearson made a leaping catch to keep LSU’s hopes alive.

Caglianone popped up to first and slammed his bat down in frustration after failing to come through.

Top 11th

With both relievers pushing four innings, it was only a matter of time until one of them broke. Neely missed his spot against Cade Beloso, and he took the ball over the right field wall to put LSU back out in front. A devastating blow.

SCORE: LSU 4, Florida 3

Neely locked back in to retire the next two batters, but he lost Pearson on a full-count walk. Travinksi got a hold of one, but the park held it in center field.

Bot 11th

Rivera went down 0-2 early but worked the count full. He took a ball to deep right field, but Kling made an easy play on it for out No. 1. Riopelle struck out swinging, and Deric Fabian struck out looking to end it. Heartbreaking.

The umpire didn’t do the Gators any favors. He was bad at his job all night and couldn’t keep a consistent strike zone. College baseball must do better

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire