Three up, three down with Florida Baseball at the College World Series
OMAHA, Neb. — The Florida baseball team is 3-0 at the College World Series and will face LSU in the National Championship series beginning Saturday. Today, we answer your questions about the team’s matchup with the Bayou Bengals.
Three Questions about the Florida baseball team
Q: When looking at the Florida-LSU matchup, obviously these are two elite teams. But could you pinpoint one area where the Gators have a distinct advantage over the Tigers?
The LSU and Florida baseball teams are so similar. They each have dominating pitching and lineups that can dominate an opposing pitching staff. LSU (138) and Florida (136) are second and third in the country in home runs. The Tigers have four guys with at least 50 RBI. Florida only has three but two more that are within two runs batted of that 50 benchmark.
The biggest advantage that the Gators have is their pitching depth. Florida will head into the College World Series final with its entire pitching staff rested. The Gators have only needed to play three games to get here and have played just two games in the last week. LSU has played four games in as many days and will play its sixth game of the week when they face Florida on Saturday.
Q: From talking to people both on the record and off in Omaha, does there seem to be any concern inside the program about the Gators’ lack of run production thus far at the College World Series?
The Gators have not been hitting the baseball like they’re capable of for more than a month. In turn, the pitching staff has posted a 2.33 ERA over the last month, which has made up for it. Florida’s staff is giving up just 2.56 runs per game in the NCAA Tournament. LSU’s lineup can make even the best pitching staff look pedestrian, so that will be a huge challenge.
Can the Gators get their bats going
There isn’t concern among the ballclub here. The general thought is that the team hasn’t played its best baseball and still is 3-0 in the College World Series. Still, the pitching staff has had to carry the load for a month now. Can they do that with just a few games left or will the offense break out and take advantage of an overworked LSU pitching staff?
That’s the million dollar question.
Q: How significant is it that Florida got all this rest from going 3-0 in its bracket and will be able to go with the Gators’ regular pitching rotation in the finals?
It’s an advantage. You cannot understate how big of an advantage it is for the Gators that LSU had to throw No. 1 starter Paul Skenes 120 pitches on Thursday. That likely eliminated him from throwing any kind of significant innings against Florida in the final series. That’s huge. Skenes is one of if not the best pitcher in the country. LSU has stretched its pitching staff thin to get to this series.
That being said, it isn’t everything.
In each of the last five instances in Omaha when only one bracket played its if necessary game, the team that played that extra game went on to win the championship series. Getting an extra day of rest and having your staff set up the way you would like it is an advantage but it doesn’t guarantee victory.
