Not enough pitching: LSU hammers UF, 18-4, for CWS championship

Photo Courtesy UAA

Photo courtesy UAA

The question heading into Monday night’s championship game of the College World Series was who had enough pitching to get through nine innings. From the time he got past Florida’s first two hitters – Cade Kurland who singled and Wyatt Langford who hit a 401-foot homer – there was no question LSU’s Thatcher Hurd had it. By the time the third out was recorded in the LSU top half of the second inning, it was fairly obvious Florida’s pitching had hit a wall.

This was a complete reversal of roles. Sunday, the Gators (54-17) had all the answers both at the plate and on the mound. Monday night, the Tigers (54-17) had it and the result was an 18-4 win for the eighth NCAA championship in LSU history.

Following Langford’s 21st home run, his third homer of more than 400 feet in the College World Series, Hurd was all but untouchable. There were some hard shots off the sophomore righthander, but the Florida offense never got cranked up. In six innings, Hurd allowed only two hits and walked two while striking out seven. He was throwing a 96 mile per hour fast ball, but it was a hard breaking ball that the Gators couldn’t handle.

It wasn’t until Ty Evans hit an opposite field home run that barely got over the fence in right off LSU reliever Riley Cooper that the Gators had their third hit of the game and by then, the game had been long decided. Florida added an eighth inning home run by Kurland, his 17th of the season off Gavin Guidry, but that was all the offense the Gators could generate.

Midway through the second inning it was painfully obvious that this was not to be Florida’s night when it came to pitching. Jac Caglianone, who looked so capable of dominating when he struck out Tommy White and Tre Morgan back-to-back to end the first, came unglued in the top of the second.

It started with a pitch clock violation. Before he had even delivered a pitch to Gavin Dugas, the count was 1-0, an omen of bad things to come. Three pitches later Dugas was on first with a walk and Caglianone’s adventure with the strike zone was only beginning. A wild pitch moved Dugas to second and a Brayden Jobert single put runners on first and third. A single by light hitting Jordan Thompson cut Florida’s lead in half and a ground force at second tied the game.

Then came another walk and for the second time in the game, Caglianone hit Cade Beloso with a pitch, driving home Jobert from third to tie the game at 2-2. A walk to Dylan Crews put LSU ahead for good, 3-2.

That was it for Caglianone, but Cade Fisher also had his struggles when he came in from the bullpen. He gave up a run-scoring single to White, a sacrifice fly by Morgan and a run-scoring single by Dugas. There was another single by Jobert, but it only loaded the bases. When Thompson hit a fly ball to center field, the inning came to a merciful conclusion with the Tigers leading, 6-2.

Ryan Slater replaced Fisher in the third, but things fell apart for him in the fourth when he gave up four runs including a 2-run homer to Josh Pearson. Tyler Nesbit went three innings and while LSU tagged him for five hits, he gave up only one run. Blake Purnell came on but he was ineffective, giving up seven hits and five runs in 1-1/3 innings. Fisher Jameson came on to close things out in the ninth with the Gators trailing, 16-4. Jameson gave up a 2-run homer but got the Gators out of the inning without further damage.

The Gators hit 16 home runs in the College World Series, a record for Charles Schwab Park. The Gators had enough offense to win the national championship, but there wasn’t enough pitching, particularly Monday night when they needed it the most.

Florida's runner-up finish did complete a rather remarkable end to the 2022-23 sports year. Since May 1, the Gators won NCAA titles in men's golf and men's track while finishing runner-up in women's track and baseball.