OMAHA, Neb. – If Florida winds up winning the 2023 Men's College World Series, then the third inning of Game 2 -- the start of what would turn out to be a history-making offensive performance by the Gators -- will likely be remembered as the turning point.
Florida utterly dismantled LSU on Sunday by a score of 24-4 to force a decisive third game on Monday with the national championship on the line. Until that top of the third, however, LSU had designs on a sweep.
The Tigers were up 1-0 after one and then 3-1 after two. Florida starter Hurston Waldrep's lack of command proved a poor match for the disciplined LSU lineup, which worked the splitter specialist for 61 pitches through the first two frames. Of those 61 pitches, just 28 were strikes.
Per basic win expectancy, Florida going into the third had more than a 75% chance of seeing their season end. The Gator bats, though, got to work on those odds and never stopped heaping abuse upon LSU pitching.
The first four batters of the inning reached before LSU lefty starter Nate Ackenhausen notched a strikeout. LSU shortstop Jordan Thompson mishandled a routine grounder, which reloaded the bases. At that point, LSU head coach Jay Johnson summoned freshman right-hander Gavin Guidry from the bullpen. Guidry promptly recorded a strikeout for the second out of the frame, which brought Florida right fielder Ty Evans to the plate. In his prior plate appearance, Evans had lifted a homer down the left-field line and managed to keep it just inside the pole for the Gators' first run of the game. With the game tied, bases loaded and two outs, Evans put it almost the same spot:
That six-run frame turned a 3-1 Florida deficit into a 7-3 lead. LSU would mount a threat in the bottom half, but reliever Blake Purnell and his low arm slot were able to induce a 6-4-3 double play to end the bases-loaded threat and the inning. Purnell's entrance ensured that, on a day when 20 mph winds were steadily blowing out at Charles Schwab Field, neither starting pitcher would make it out of the third inning.
Florida tacked on another in the fourth on Thompson's second error of the day – one of five LSU errors in Game 2 – and in the sixth Wyatt Langford piled on three more insurance runs with his 20th homer of the season.
Langford on the day went 5 for 5 with a walk, six RBI and 10 total bases. Immediately after Langord's homer, Jac Caglianone's 32nd home run of 2023 made it 12-3, Florida. Home run no. 33 for Caglione came in the eighth inning. In all, the Gators on Sunday homered six times, scored 23 unanswered runs and set the MCWS record for most runs scored in a game.
While it's surely little consolation for LSU, star center fielder Dylan Crews, who was named winner of the Golden Spikes Award for 2023 earlier on Sunday as the NCAA's top player, reached base for the 74th straight game and set the single-season school record with his 96th run scored.
In Monday''s winner-take-all contest, LSU will be aiming for the seventh baseball national championship in school history, while Florida will be aiming to hoist the plaque for the second time. Florida's first and only national title came in 2017, when they defeated LSU in the final. FIrst pitch of Monday's game is scheduled for just after 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. local time.
