B.T. Riopelle says rest is 'huge' for Florida in CWS Final

Florida punched its ticket to the College World Series Final Wednesday afternoon with a thrilling victory over TCU. Right after that game ended, LSU and Wake Forest squared off — and the Tigers forced an if-necessary game, taking away an off day ahead of the championship series.

That means Florida has one more day of rest than LSU, which is something Gators catcher B.T. Riopelle said could make a difference come Saturday night when the best-of-three series gets underway.

“I think rest is huge when you’re on game 65 or 60-something in a season,” Riopelle said. “Rest is huge. People see it as if they have a day off and eight teams playing, they are going to be more ready to play. We’ve played 60-something games, so I think we know how to get our bodies ready to play every day. It’s just a matter of going out there and playing our best ball when it matters. So yeah, a rest day is huge, especially for pitching.”

Even with the time off, Florida is riding plenty of momentum into the series against LSU. The Gators have won eight straight games since losing to Texas Tech in the Regional, and they’ll try to keep it rolling for one final weekend in Omaha at the CWS.

But momentum isn’t just a game-over-game thing, though, according to Riopelle. It’s a matter of keeping it going within a game, which has been the key for Florida’s success this year.

“I think momentum can be separated into many different ways,” Riopelle said. “I think there’s momentum within an inning and a game and obviously momentum within a season. For us, it’s been momentum throughout the postseason and we’re just feeding off of it. Every guy that goes out there has all the confidence in the world in themselves and the guys around them. And without that you can’t have success.

“So I think the fact that we do have those things is the reason why we’ve had that momentum and have had that success in the last three weeks and we’re just looking to keep it going.”

LSU had to throw star pitcher Paul Skenes Thursday night against Wake Forest, and he went 8.0 innings before the Tigers came away with the 2-0 victory in the bottom of the 11th on to a Tommy White walk-off home run. Both teams had an off day Friday before they square off with a national championship on the line this weekend.

Game 1 is set for Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET, and Game 2 will be Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. If necessary, a third game will be Monday at 7 p.m. ET.