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: Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone are a combined 3 for 23 with 1 RBI in Omaha. How vital is it for Florida that these two powerhouse sluggers find their groove in the championship series? Being realistic, can the Gators win without them turning it around at the plate?

The Florida baseball team is finding ways to win games without its top three in the lineup producing to their averages. In 10 NCAA Tournament games, Florida has pitched three shutouts and held opposing teams to 23 total runs on 72 hits, equating to a 2.33 ERA. That has been winning the Gators games. At this point of the season you need to get contributions from unlikely sources. In 2017, it was Ryan Larson, Nick Horvath, and Christian Hicks. So far in Omaha, Michael Robertson and Ty Evans have played that role in 2023.

But at the end of the day, you need the guys that brought you to this point to carry you to the end. Florida has shown it can win games in different ways but it would be a lot easier if the stars showed up. 

Q: In these types of series between two elite teams, fielding often isn’t talked about much in the lead up even though it could potentially determine the outcome. When looking at Florida, how do you feel about the Gators defensively? Where is your confidence the highest — and what positions give you a little cause for concern? Also, what insight can you give us about the Tigers?

Pitching and defense have been the pillars of Kevin O’Sullivan’s teams. The infield is phenomenal. Colby Halter is a vacuum at third base. Josh Rivera is a plus defender and the right side of the infield is solid with Cade Kurland and Jac Cagianone.

How will the Gators hold up defensively?

But Florida is choosing offense right now in the outfield. Michael Robertson was in a massive slump that resulted in him being benched. That moved Wyatt Langford to center field, where he’s been adequate but doesn’t cover the same ground Robertson does. On either side of him is Tyler Shelnut — who is an infielder and often times looks like that in left field — and Ty Evans.

Shelnut came up with a huge hit and went 2-for-4 against TCU. That’s why he’s in the lineup. Ty Evans has made some spectacular plays in right field this season but his defense can sometimes be an adventure. He went 2-for-2 with a double and a home run in the opening game against Virginia — that’s why he’s in the lineup. 

The Gators will make defensive changes late in games to get Robertson and Richie Schiekofer in there to shore up the outifleld. But they need the bats of guys like Shelnut and Evans in there to compete. 

LSU is built on power pitching and power bats but the Tigers also play solid defense. The left side of the infield (Tommy White and Jordan Thompson) do have 26 errors between them on the season but LSU has been solid defensively in Omaha. 

Q: You’ve looked at these two rosters closely and watched each side multiple times in person, so tell us … what matchup is the one that intrigues you the most in this championship series and why?

After talking with some of the players from the 2017 National Championship team, I think getting off to a hot start is important. It’s not an indictment of the Florida fan base, but the College World Series final will be a road game for Florida. LSU has packed Charles Schwab Field for all of its games and the Tigers will outnumber Florida fans for the Championship Series. None of those fans will throw a pitch or take an at-bat but it will be important for Florida to start games hot. 

Florida baseball probably need strong starts in the finals

The fans were the same in 2017. Brady Singer came out and fired seven shutout innings and didn’t give them anything to be loud about. Tyler Dyson followed that in Game 2 with a spectacular outing of his own and Florida swept. 

This season, Brandon Sproat and Hurston Waldrep have started games slowly. In an environment like this and on a stage like the National Championship, a slow start can quickly snowball and get ugly. The matchup that intrigues me isn’t so much UF-LSU but how the Gators starters come out of the gates.

The Gators will make defensive changes late in games to get Robertson and Richie Schiekofer into games to shore up the outfield, but they need the bats of guys like Shelnut and Evans to compete. 

LSU is built on power pitching and power bats but the Tigers also play solid defense. The left side of the infield (Tommy White and Jordan Thompson) has 26 errors between them, but LSU has been solid in Omaha.