Cade Fisher shows right demeanor to pitch with games on the line

OMAHA, Neb. — Less than 30 minutes after helping the Florida Gators hold on to a 5-4 lead to beat Oral Roberts in the College World Series, freshman left-hander Cade Fisher is worked up. It’s not about the game in which he had just entered with the bases loaded, a certain pitch or a call. He’s looking at me and Nick Ficarrotta in disbelief.

“What do you mean you don’t know what a red panda is,” Fisher exclaimed.

“He’s been talking about this thing all week,” Ficarrotta said to me.

Fisher had seen red pandas at the Chatanooga Zoo in Tennessee. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium was recently picked as the best zoo in the country. Fisher was told that they had a red panda he could see. With two days off after starting 2-0, Fisher is hoping to get a chance to check out the nation’s best zoo.

The name doesn’t do the animal justice. A red panda is slightly larger than a domestic cat with a bear-like body and thick russet fur. It’s adorable, really. Ficarrotta and I immediately pictured an actual panda, just fire engine red. Fisher was incredulous by our ignorance.

This story is less about Fisher being enamored with a cartoonishly cute mammal and more about how he’s more worked up about our lack of knowledge of the creature than he is on a mound.

Fisher takes on the College World Series

O’Sullivan has always said that Fisher has the right temperament. The 16-year veteran head coach must have been knowledgeable about the existence of red pandas.

On Friday night, O’Sullivan turned the ball over to Fisher just 48 hours after the freshman had surrendered a run and was on the hook for a loss against Virginia.

This situation was also high leverage. O’Sullivan had made a mistake by taking a mound visit after Florida had already used their six free trips to the mound. As the umpire crew informed O’Sullivan of the error, there was mass confusion on the field.

“No one down there knew what was going on,” Fisher told Gators Online after the game. “(Zach) Cronin just looked at me and told me to get hot. I just got up, put some bio freeze on my arm, and started throwing balls.” 

Fisher was only able to fire off four pitches on the bullpen mound before being summoned into a bases loaded situation with a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth.

“Before the first pitch I looked around and everyone was on their feet,” he said. “I just took a deep breath and tried to focus in on the situation.” 

Having been on the mound Friday helped. It was a familiar surface. He had felt the weight of 24,000-plus people watching his every move. While he hadn’t found success, Fisher has the right makeup for this moment.

“He’s such a level-headed dude,” Jac Caglianone said of Fisher in the clubhouse after the game. “You never see him spike up or get too in his emotions. He’s pretty much stone cold all the time.”

In the moment

Fisher’s first two offerings were strikes but he missed the zone with his next three. A full count. He doesn’t want to walk in a run, putting the tying run just 90-feet away from home. He made a pitch to a spot and got a line out to Wyatt Langford in left field.

Three more outs.

Matt Hogan lined a double with one out. Mac McCroskey singled to center to give the Golden Eagles runners on the corners and just one out. Holden Breeze worked a walk and Fisher was out there on his own. Florida couldn’t take a mound visit to calm him.

He wouldn’t need it.

Fisher got a ground ball to shortstop that could have been a game-ending double play but the play developed too slowly and a run scored. Oral Roberts trailed by just a run now with that tying run on base. Jacob Godman walked to the plate. Godman launched an 0-1 offering deep into the left-center field gap that defensive replacement Michael Roberston was able to track down for the 27th out.

Ballgame.

Fisher let his emotions run wild with a fist pump.

Florida will have a few days off. The freshman will now turn his attention to Henry Doorly Zoo and the ever elusive red panda.