Lots of drama but resilient Gators walk off with 8-7 win over Rider in NCAA regionals
- Franz Beard
- May 30
- 5 min read
If given the opportunity, Kevin O’Sullivan would have scripted Florida’s first round NCAA win over Rider differently. There would have been no drama, just a rather ho-hum win that advanced the Gators into a Saturday winner’s bracket game. For seven innings, that’s what O’Sullivan got. Heading into the top of the eighth, the Gators were cruising along with a 4-0 lead.
Then all hell broke loose but rather than succumb to adversity, Florida responded not once, but twice. Rider touched up three of Florida’s most reliable relievers in the eighth for six runs for a 6-4 lead. The Gators responded in their half of the inning with a solo home run by Cade McDonald, a triple by Karson Bowen and a 2-run opposite field home run to right by Cade Kurland.
A 7-6 lead with Josh Whritenour on the mound to close things out would have been enough for a Florida win under most circumstances, but this wasn’t exactly a normal day. Whritenour, who gave up a 2-run homer in the eighth that propelled the Broncos to a 6-4 lead, served up a home run in the ninth, tying the score at 7-7.
An upset was brewing, but the Gators had other ideas. Leading off the bottom of the ninth, Brendan Lawson launched a 2-1 fast ball more than 400 feet to the deepest part of Condron Family Ballpark that gave the Gators an 8-7 walk-off win and an 8 p.m. date with Miami in a winner’s bracket game. Miami pounded out a 10-5 win over Troy in a rain delayed game that didn’t end until 1:53 a.m. Rider and Troy will play an elimination game at 3 p.m.
Lawson’s 17th home run of the season was a case of “the right batter up at the right time” by O’Sullivan, who got seven innings of three-hit baseball from starting pitcher Russell Sandefer and McDonald. The eighth was a nightmare, however, as Ernesto Lugo-Canchola, Jackson Barberi and Whritenour uncharacteristically struggled.
Lugo-Canchola walked a pair of batters, Barberi walked one and gave up a grand slam, and Whritenour gave up a double and a two-run homer that put the Broncos ahead 6-4. In the ninth, Whritenour gave up a solo home run.
Not exactly what O’Sullivan expected from a bullpen that has lately been dominant, but rather question his relievers, O’Sullivan credited Rider for coming from behind.
“Everybody's in this tournament for a reason,” O’Sullivan said. “Rider's here for a reason, and, like I said, they took it to three of our best arms, and they battled so I tip my cap to them."
To Florida’s credit, the six-run outburst was somewhat of a wakeup call. Trailing 6-4, McDonald homered on a full count and Bowen stayed alive with three foul balls after going down 1-2 in the count. His triple off the wall in right center just missed going out of the park buy a couple of feet. Kurland then took a 1-0 pitch to right field to put the Gators ahead, 7-6.
McDonald, Bowen and Kurland hit five, six and eight in the batting order. Landon Stripling, who hit a home run in the sixth, hits in the six hole. Hitting ninth is Hayden Yost, who had a 2-4 game. The bottom half of the batting order went a combined 7-19 with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and five RBI.
Florida staked Sandefer to a 1-0 lead on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning when Kyle Jones hammered a home run that departed the park just left of the green monster in center field. Sandefer, who left last Saturday’s Georgia game after being hit on the arm with a line drive, was rock solid, going 5-2/3 innings and allowing only two hits before giving way to McDonald in the sixth. McDonald’s got the Gators out of the sixth and through the seventh while giving up just one hit.
“I thought he (Sandefer) was really good,” O’Sullivan said. “It was really good … it was hot, probably as humid a day as we've had. So I thought he was really good. I thought he ran out of gas as we went to Caden. Then I thought he ran out of gas.”
The last three guys out of the bullpen, however, didn’t have it. Still, the Gators had the hitting to make up for a subpar eighth and ninth by the relievers. Of Florida’s 12 hits, eight went for extra bases – doubles by Yost and McDonald, the triple by Bowen and home runs by Jones, Stripling, McDonald, Kurland and Lawson. In winning 11 of their last 13 games, the Gators have outscored opponents 125-65.
O’Sullivan would have preferred less drama, but as many years as he’s been in the business, he knows that once the Gators get into NCAA play all wins are beautiful, even the ones that feature blown leads late in the game.
“At this point in the season a win's a win,” O’Sullivan said. “You want to advance, but obviously we need to pitch better at the end of the game if we want to continue and get to our ultimate goal and destination."
Regional results (SEC teams bold face)
Los Angeles
Saint Mary’s (35-25) 3, No. 1 UCLA (51-7) 2
Cal Poly (37-22) 6, Virginia Tech (30-25) 2
Atlanta
No. 2 Georgia Tech (49-9) 22, UIC (27-28-1) 5
Citadel (35-24) vs. Oklahoma (32-21), 10 a.m., today
Athens
No. 3 Georgia (46-12) 15, Long Island (30-20) 1, Suspended bottom of the sixth, weather
Liberty (42-19) 4, Boston College (36-22) 3
Auburn
Milwaukee (26-31) 13, No. 4 Auburn (38-20) 8
UCF (31-21) 9, North Carolina State (32-22) 3, Suspended top of the eitheth, weather
Chapel Hill
No. 5 North Carolina (46-11-1) 8, VCU (37-24) 0
East Carolina (37-22-1) 7, Tennessee (38-21) 3
Austin
No. 6 Texas (41-13) 19, Holy Cross (25-29) 1
Tarleton State (38-19) 11, UC-Santa Barbara (38-19) 5
Tuscaloosa
No. 7 Alabama (38-19) 21, Alabama State (34-22) 3
South Carolina Upstate (34-28) 8, Oklahoma State (37-21) 5
GAINESVILLE
No. 8 FLORIDA (40-19) 8, Rider (33-19) 7
Miami (39-18) 10, Troy (32-30) 5
Hattiesburg
Little Rock (37-26) 7, No. 9 Southern Miss 4
Jacksonville State (47-13) 15, Virginia (36-22) 7
Tallahassee
St. John’s (34-24) 6, No. 10 Florida State (38-18) 5
Northern Illinois (36-17) 12, Coastal Carolina (37-21) 10
Eugene
No. 11 Oregon (41-16) 14, Yale (30-13-1) 2
Washington State (31-26) 3, Oregon State (43-13) 2
College Station
No. 12 Texas A&M (40-14) 7, Lamar (34-26) 5
Texas State (37-24) 5, Southern Cal (43-16) 4
Lincoln
No. 13 Nebraska (43-15) 4, South Dakota State (24-32) 1
Ole Miss (37-21) 7, Arizona State (37-20) 6, 14 innings
Starkville
No. 14 Mississippi State (41-17) 10, Lipscomb (29-25) 1
Cincinnati (38-20) 12, Louisiana (39-24) 2
Lawrence
No. 15 Kansas (43-16) 6, Northeastern (38-21) 3
Arkansas (40-20) 9, Missouri State (34-20) 5
Morgantown
No. 16 West Virginia (40-14) 10, Binghamton (31-21) 1
Kentucky (32-21) 6, Wake Forest (38-20) 5
Love seeing half assed u lose
Late in this game, I feared I was going to suffer a cardiac event…!
Before taking his place in the batter’s box in the ninth Lawson allegedly told a teammate, “I’m gonna hit the ball and we’re going to win this game.” And it happened. It had a bit of the “Doering’s got a touchdown! Doering’s got a touchdown!” drama or the Chandler Parson’s 65-foot OT swisher to knock off NC State in a game Florida never led until then. There’s a whole lot of baseball yet to be won for a championship, but Lawson might have lit the torch to get there. It was everything great baseball was meant to be.