Resilient Florida baseball team is one game away from a National Championship

OMAHA, Neb. — There wasn’t a sound out of the Florida baseball clubhouse Saturday night. The players filed silently out of Charles Schwab Stadium and into a bus. If you haven’t followed this team all year you would have assumed it was a defeated bunch.

That isn’t in the DNA of the 2023 Florida Gators. They’ve come from behind to win 22 games this season — a school record. They played with their backs against the wall in their own Regional, winning three-consecutive elimination games to advance.

You should not have taken their silence in defeat for weakness. They’re battle tested.

“We were pretty disappointed last night. It was a close game and we didn’t feel like we took advantage of the opportunities we had,” third baseman Colby Halter said. “The message going into today was to clear it. Play our brand of baseball and good things will happen.”

“I’ve never really been a part of a team like this. If we’re down, it never feels like we’re out of it. We know we’re going to come back. It’s a special group.”

A unique makeup for the Florida baseball team

The Gators have been one of the best teams in the country all season. The team has never fallen outside of the top 10. The team is loaded with talent. With that can come egos. There are more arms than available innings. There are more offensive players than spots in the batting order. It would be easy for a disgruntled player to turn the clubhouse sour.

“You’ve seen our three or four guys that have thrown the majority of the innings,” reliever Nick Ficarrotta said. “Blake and I don’t think anything of it. They’re working and they’re winning games. There’s no, ‘I wish that was me.’ Let’s just keep winning games. Blake and I are roommates. We said our time was coming.”

Ficarrotta had thrown just 3.1 innings in the NCAA Tournament. Purnell hadn’t touched a game mound in nearly a month.

Purnell’s number was called in a tough spot. The Gators had just put up a six-spot in the top of the third but starter Hurston Waldrep loaded the bases with just one out. Kevin O’Sullivan walked out of the dugout, looked toward the bullpen, and tapped his right arm.

Purnell made his way to the mound. Standing in the box was Tommy White, the third baseman whose home run sent LSU to this series against Florida. White is always one pitch from turning a baseball into a souvenir. Purnell is one mistake from erasing Florida’s six-run third and four-run lead.

The 0-1 offering dipped low and into White, who pounded it right at Josh Rivera. The slick-fielding shortstop had trouble getting it out of his glove but flipped it to Cade Kurland who slung the ball to Jac Caglianone for an inning-ending double play.

“I just wanted to keep the team in the game,” Purnell told Gators Online. “I just wanted to keep us going.”

That’s the attitude of this team. They have first-round draft picks. The single-season home run king in Jac Caglianone — who hit his 32nd and 33rd home runs on Sunday. Caglianone has been followed this week like an A-list movie star. He’s been the talk of the World Series, well, when they’re not talking about LSU. Even sitting there after the game when asked about his new home run crown, he turned the attention back to the other guys in the clubhouse.

“The record’s cool and all but the biggest thing on my mind is winning tomorrow,” he said ahead of his Monday start in the CWS Championship game.

That’s why the Florida Gators are playing in the last game of the season. There are no egos. They play for each other. On Monday night, they’ll have one last opportunity to take the field together.

“I’d give anything for this team to win,” Caglianone said. “I said it earlier in the year, my biggest goal is just to get a ring on these guys that have been here a while. That’s the whole game plan for tomorrow.”