Florida scrapes by Central Michigan, advance to regional finals against Oklahoma

It wasn’t pretty, but the Florida Gators baseball team lives to see another game in the 2022 season after taking down Central Michigan, 6-5, on Sunday. The win sets up a rematch with Oklahoma at 7 p.m. EDT that UF needs to win to force a third game in the series on Monday.

Early on, it looked like Florida was going to cruise to a victory with a 5-0 nothing and right-handed redshirt sophomore Nick Pogue on his way to a career day against the Chippewas. He finished the day with three earned runs after five innings, but the bullpen didn’t help him out too much after taking over with men on and a four-run lead in the sixth.

The Gators may have squandered a 5-0 lead, but all that matter is the final tally. Here’s how it went down.

A strong start

The Gators knocked out CMU’s starter, Logan Buczkowski after just four innings. He started off wild, throwing three-straight balls to [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] and hitting him. He then walked [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag], but dialed in and struck out [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag], [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] and [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] swinging to get out of the inning.

Florida has his number in the second, though. [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] tripled and scored on a Mac Guscette groundout to the shortstop for the first run of the game.

Langford homered twice in the game. The first came in the third inning to add to the lead, and the second came in the fourth to make it 4-0. Both were of the solo variety. He’s now in lone possession of second place on the Florida single-season home run record list behind Matt LaPorta’s 26 in 2005. Langford will have at least one more game to add to tie the record and/or break it with multiple blasts.

Florida also scored a run in between Langford’s homers. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] should’ve grounded out, but a bad throw by the shortstop forced an error and Thompson scored after taking off early on the 3-2 count. Caglianone missed a homer in the second by a couple of inches, so this might have been the baseball gods’ way of apologizing for taking one away.

Buczkowski should have been out of the inning, but instead he faced the bases loaded after losing Josh Rivera on the fifth-straight full count of the inning. [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] took a ball for a ride to deep right-center on the very first pitch he saw, but it fell just short of the wall and into the center fielder’s glove.

Gators get to the bullpen

As Pogue continued to cruise, Buczowksi came out of the game and turned the ball over to junior left-hander Ryan Palmblad for the fifth. That was a bad decision. Jud Fabian led the inning off with a single and was quickly sent back to the bench after Caglianone grounded into a double play. But Florida strung together a few more hits to score another insurance run for Pogue.

Rivera singled and went first to third on a Guscette single to give the Gators new life in the inning. Both runners took off on a double steal on the left-hander and it worked to perfection. Palmblad turned to second initially before realizing Rivera was headed home and had no chance at a play at the plate. That’s the kind of baserunning that comes from a team that is playing its best ball of the year. 5-0, Gators.

Pogue did stumble briefly in the fifth inning, surrendering a run on a mammoth shot to right field from center fielder Robby Morgan. He celebrated with a stomp on home plate as his teammates placed a football helmet on his head on their way back to the dugout. The scoreboard still read 5-1. Pogue worked out of the inning and got the next three batters to go down in order after talking to Sully and seeing a couple of arms head to the bullpen.

Florida's bullpen implodes

Pogue came back out for the sixth but walked Justin Simpson to lead off the inning and then gave up a single to put men on the corners with no one out. Kevin O’Sullivan called in [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag], but Florida’s most reliable reliever to live up to the moniker. Danny Wuestenfeld singled in a run and Aidan Shepardson walked to load the bases.

Sully changed arms again to [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag], who threw 32 pitches against Oklahoma on Saturday. He walked in a run and in came the third relief pitcher of the inning, [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag], who threw 22 against the Sooners.

And things were going so well…

Morgan singled through the left side to score a run and the Gators’ 5-0 lead was suddenly down to just one run. Donahue broke tied things back up on a fielder’s choice that required a review at third base. Colby Halter dropped the ball on the transfer but was awarded the out after video confirmed that the ball was secured as he touched the bag. Nesbitt got out of the inning without giving up the lead and was replaced by Ryan Slater in the seventh following a leadoff walk.

A season-saving, ninth-inning rally

Slater got the Gators into the ninth but the offense couldn’t come up with much until Langford drew a leadoff walk from Garrett Navarra, who came in during the seventh for Palmblad. Thompson also took Navarra to a full count and drew a walk to put two on.

Both men moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Riopelle. Evans flew out to right field but it was deep enough to score Langford and give the Gators the lead back. Jud Fabian grounded out on a bunt that was an intended squeeze. Sully wanted that insurance run after seeing his bullpen collapse earlier.

Slater came back out close things out and promptly gave up a leadoff single to Adam Proctor. Zach Lechnir came in to pinch run for Proctor. Mario Camiletti lined out to third base for the first out, Simpson struck out swinging for the second, but Slater couldn’t get Marsee out to end it. A single to left field extended the inning and Wuestenfeld loaded the bases after drawing a walk.

Fortunately, Shepardson fouled out to end the Chippewas’ season and give Florida another chance to play some ball. Oklahoma won’t be an easy out, and Florida has to best the Sooners twice to advance to the Super Regional round.

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