Florida celebrates with dogpile following College World Series berth

Florida became the first team to punch its ticket to the College World Series on Monday, and promptly celebrated with the traditional dogpile. After South Carolina‘s Talmadge LeCroy popped out to end the game and secure a 4-0 win for the Gators, the team rushed the field for the classic moment.

The College World Series berth is the 13th in program history for Florida as well as its first since 2018. You can view the celebration for the Gators squad below.

THE FLORIDA GATORS ARE HEADED TO OMAHA pic.twitter.com/nJBg394pjf

— 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast 🎙 (@11point7) June 11, 2023

The pitching was fantastic all day for Florida as it recorded its second shutout of NCAA Tournament play. Hurston Waldrep got the start and made it through eight innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 13 to record the win. Brandon Neely entered in the final inning of play to close out the victory.

The game was originally scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, but a rain delay pushed it back by two-and-a-half hours. Waldrep didn’t appear fazed by the slow start, however, as he recorded a quick three strikeouts over the first two innings. He also ended the game strong to strike out nine of the final 14 batters he faced.

Waldrep now has an astounding 25 strikeouts in 15 innings across his two NCAA Tournament starts and will look to keep things rolling in the CWS.

“It was the most awesome thing I could ever dream of,” Waldrep said postgame. “This crowd, this scene is just amazing. This is what you play college baseball for. This is why you come to this level. This is what you wanna do. We knew coming into this game we had the chance to make it to Omaha. We had the chance to do it right here so I was like, ‘we’ve gotta come out, bring everything we have and just do what we’ve been doing all season.’”

The Gators took a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning after a double from Colby Halter drove in a pair of runs. Florida never looked back after that as Josh Rivera hit an RBI single in the fifth to increase the lead to 3-0. Halter then fittingly had the final RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly to score the Gators’ fourth run.

Rivera led the team by going 3-of-5 at the plate on the afternoon. That was much needed as the first three hitters in the lineup combined to go 1-of-13 in their at-bats.

The College World Series is set to begin June 16 in Omaha, and now Florida will wait to find out who its opening opponent will be.