Kevin O'Sullivan reveals what it was like seeing Florida flip the switch with Game 2 victory

Kevin O’Sullivan led the Florida Gators into Game 2 of the College World Series Final with their backs against the wall after losing a nail-biter in 11 evenings. All the Gators did was flip a switch and dominate Game 2 by a score of 24-4.

After the game, O’Sullivan explained what it was like to see Florida flip that switch.

“It’s really hard to unwind, to be honest with you,” Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You lose a game like last night and it’s just really, really hard to kind of let it go. But you have to. That was the message last night.”

Those 24 runs scored were a record for a College World Series game. That previous record of 23, set by Notre Dame, had stood since 1957. As O’Sullivan admitted, he needed to take a moment to deal with the emotional swing that going to this game represented.

“And then just to flip the switch and the whole story — the whole narrative changes, it’s just — yeah, it’s emotional. You just take it in and support all the fans. They’re singing the song at the end. And it’s a really, really cool. It was a really cool deal.”

Now, Kevin O’Sullivan will need to help Florida focus on Game 3. That championship-deciding game will be played on Monday night, and a loss would quickly make fans forget about that dominant performance on Sunday.

Kevin O’Sullivan broke down Florida’s pitching in Game 3

There is only one game left in the College World Series, and with that comes some major decisions for both coaches at Florida and at LSU. Kevin O’Sullivan knows that he’s putting the talented Jac Caglianone on the mound for the deciding game.

“We’ve got one of our weekend starters going on four days’ rest,” O’Sullivan said. “And, like I said, Neely and Cade, who have been pitching an awful lot for us out here, got the day off. Ryan Slater hasn’t pitched. I think we’re in as good a shape as we possibly could be in game three of a weekend series. That’s what this is.”

Despite his talent, Caglianone has struggled at times and that’s something that O’Sullivan needs to be prepared to deal with in this final game.

“The irony of the whole thing is, obviously Jac has struggled a little bit throwing strikes in the middle part of the yeah. And just felt like if we were ever going to have an opportunity to win the last game of the year he was going to have to stay in the rotation. He’ll have that opportunity tomorrow to pitch. So it’s kind of funny how things work out.”