Florida baseball holds on to beat Oral Roberts 5-4
OMAHA, Neb. — The first two Florida baseball games in Omaha have caused blood pressure to rise. It’s better to have high blood pressure than a broken heart. The Gators held on to beat the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 5-4 and are one win away from the College World Series Final.
The Gators were on the board first. Outfielder Ty Evans lined a fastball over the wall in right-center field to give the Gators a 2-0 advantage in the top of the second. The homer was the 133rd of the season, setting a new UF single-season record. The Gators would give one back but two more home runs from Josh Rivera and Luke Heyman extended the advantage to 5-1.
Starter Hurston Waldrep cruised through six innings of work, striking out 12 in the process. His 12 strikeouts are the second most of any Florida Gator in the College World Series, tying Brady Singer and trailing only Jackson Kowar (13 vs Texas in 2018).
The game wouldn’t stay at a calm 5-1. Oral Roberts right fielder Matt Hogan lined a ball that Tyler Shelnut couldn’t get too. It bounced off of the left field wall and away from both Shelnut and Wyatt Langford. Hogan hustled around the bag at third and beat a relay throw into the plate to make it a 5-3 game.
The Gators used Ryan Slater, Brandon Neely, and Cade Fisher out of the bullpen. An unusual clerical error by Kevin O’Sullivan caused Neely to have to come out of the game but freshman Cade Fisher was able to hold on and earn the save.
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What went right
- Ty Evans’ two-run home run in the second inning was the 133rd of the season. That set a single-season record for the baseball program.
- Josh Rivera’s 18th home run of the season.
- Luke Heyman stayed hot, hitting a home run in the fourth inning.
- Cade Fisher threw 1.1 innings and earned his second save of the season.
- Florida’s 2-0 start gives them two days to relax and has them looking for just one more win to dance to the College World Series Final.
What went wrong
- Kevin O’Sullivan lost count of how many mound visits he had made. It forced closer Brandon Neely to have to come out of the game in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and two outs.
Gave the Gators trouble
- Jake McMurray was 2-4 with two walks.
- Matt Hogan was 2-5 with two runs scored and two walks.
- Jacob Widener threw 1.1 innings of shutout relief and struck out four.
Big picture
Winning this game was massive for the Gators.
This was the biggest game of the season for Florida’s pitching staff. Florida showed it could get big performances from the bullpen guys during the Regional. The win on Sunday will give Florida two days off before playing its third game on Wednesday night. A loss would have sent Florida into the losers bracket for a game with TCU on Tuesday. A win on Tuesday would just be the start, Florida would still have had to beat Oral Roberts twice to get to the College World Series Final.
The difference is a healthy and rested pitching staff, something the two teams in the losers bracket will not have when they come back to play Florida.
Lose game 2 and you have you use your No. 3 in an elimination game on Tuesday, then bring Sproat back on short rest for a game 4 and another game to even get to the CWS Final (double elimination).
Florida will be very well-rested and needs just one win to get to the championship series.
What’s next
The Gators will play on Wednesday night against the winner of a Tuesday matchup between TCU and Oral Roberts.
