Florida baseball stuns Virginia with walk-off win in Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. — You can never count the Florida baseball team out. This season the Virginia Cavaliers were 46-0 when leading after eight innings and 36-0 when holding teams to 4 runs or less. The Gators added a one in the loss column Friday night in a thrilling come-from-behind ninth-inning walk-off win.

Florida took an early 1-0 lead on Colby Halter’s RBI single in the second. Brandon Sproat battled to grind out six scoreless innings before faltering late. Sproat would get one out in the seventh but left the game in favor of Cade Fisher with the game tied at one and two runners on base. Fisher was unable to get out of the jam, allowing three more runs to cross the plate.

Florida continued to battle. They drew a run closer in the eighth but Virginia answered to extend its lead to 5-3 in the top of the ninth. A pair of home runs from Ty Evans and Wyatt Langford set the stage for Florida’s most incredible comeback in the College World Series.

Jac Caglianone followed Langford’s home run with a single. Josh Rivera walked and BT Riopelle was hit with a pitch to set the stage for freshman Luke Heyman. The designated hitter smoked a 2-0 fastball back up the middle to center field to plate Caglianone and set off a mad dash of Gators chasing him into the outfield at Charles Schwab Stadium.

What went right and what went wrong

The Good

• A win. Plain and simple.
• Florida got six really good innings from Brandon Sproat. You can second-guess if he should have been sent out for the seventh inning but his velocity hadn’t dropped and he had been in cruise control.
• The bottom of the ninth. Virginia had been a dominant frontrunner all season. Florida blasted two home runs

The Bad

• The first four batters went 0-14.
• Cade Fisher’s first outing in Omaha is one that he’ll want to forget. The freshman recorded just one out while allowing three runs to score (two credited to Brandon Sproat).

Gators who came up big

• BT Riopelle hit his 17th home run of the season. Riopelle hit a solo shot in the eighth inning.
• Colby Halter gave Florida a lead with a single in the second inning.
• Ty Evans came off the bench and went 2-2 with a home run in the bottom of the ninth to pull Florida within a run.
• Wyatt Langford hit the longest home run in the history if the ballpark to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.
• Freshman Luke Heyman laced a 2-0 fastball into center field to plate Jac Caglianone and win the game.

A Cavalier performance

• Virginia’s starting pitcher Nick Parker was great on the mound. After allowing a run in the second, the senior bore down. He finished the game with six innings pitched, allowing just four hits, three walks, and one run. He did enough for his team to win the game.

Most important stat of the game

The top four batters in Florida’s lineup combined to go 0-14 through eight innings. It’s going to be hard to win baseball games if Cade Kurland, Wyatt Langford, Jac Caglianone, and Josh Rivera aren’t hitting the baseball. Langford and Caglianone changed that with a home run and a single in the ninth inning, but this will be a stat to look at as the Gators move on in Omaha.

Big Picture

This win is huge for Florida. 37 of the last 41 National Champions started the College World Series off with a win. 27 of the last 32 National Champions have started off 2-0.

The Gators were able to limit Brandon Neely to 33 pitches. With the format of the tournament allowing Florida to have a rest day on Saturday, he should be available to pitch again for Florida in its second game. That’s massive. A win on Friday sets the Florida baseball pitching staff up for success as it turns the ball over to Hurston Waldrep.

What’s next

The comeback victory kept the Gators in the winner’s bracket, where they will face Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday. Oral Roberts won the first game of the CWS on Friday, 6-5, over TCU with a ninth-inning comeback.