By Phil Stanton
CBI Co-Founder/Editor
OMAHA, Neb. – What felt like a one-sided game came down to the final pitch.
No. 2 Florida used three home runs to build a 5-1 lead with Hurston Waldrep on the mound and saw Oral Roberts strand the potential tying and winning runs in the bottom of the ninth in a 5-4 victory for the Gators, the fifth one-run game out of six in the 2023 College World Series.
“A well-played game that came down to the last out in the ninth,” said UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, “and started on the mound with Hurston. He was outstanding. We knew Oral Roberts was going to be really difficult to deal with. We’re excited about being 2-0 and looking forward to playing on Wednesday.”
The Golden Eagles (52-13) will meet TCU on Tuesday, June 20 at 1 p.m. CT in an elimination game. The Gators (52-15) will face the winner of that elimination game on Wednesday, June 21 at 1 p.m. CT.
UF couldn’t advance a leadoff single by Cade Kurland in the first. With two away in the second, Tyler Shelnut drew a two-out walk before Ty Evans lined a homer to right center, his second in as many games and sixth of the season, to give the Gators a 2-0 edge.
After leaving a pair in the first, ORU scratched for one in the bottom of the second. Holden Breeze had a leadoff single to short and moved to second and third on walks. With two away, Justin Quinn had an infield single off Waldrep to knock in Breeze to make it 2-1. Waldrep struck out Jonah Cox to strand three.
The Gators thought they added to their lead in the third. With one away, Wyatt Langford belted a ball down the left field line. Langford jogged to first and headed back toward the plate, thinking the ball was foul. The third base umpire ruled it a home run and Langford made his way around the bases. The umpires huddled and the call was changed to a foul ball. A review confirmed that the ball was foul. Langford would strike out in a scoreless third.
UF did use the long ball to extend its lead in the fourth. Josh Rivera homered down the left field line, his 18th of the season, to start the inning as the Gators went up 3-1. BT Riopelle was hit by a pitch before Luke Heyman smacked a homer to left center, his 12th, to give UF a 5-1 advantage.
Waldrep (10-3) settled in and dominated for six innings with 12 strikeouts. He scattered seven hits with three walks and one run.
“Overall, the end result was good,” Waldrep said. “And that’s all that matters. But took me a little bit to settle in. I didn’t have the best feel for my fastball, command of my fastball. So to be able to have the three off-speed pitches and rely on those and work with BT really well, just to be able to control the game from there.”
The Golden Eagles got back on the board in the seventh. Quinn drew a one-out walk. With two away, Matt Hogan (2 for 5) hit one off the wall in left center that he turned into an inside-the-park homer to pull ORU within two at 5-3. Brandon Neely took over on the mound and got Mac McCroskey (2 for 5) to ground a ball to second. McCroskey was originally ruled safe, but the call was reversed to an out to end the inning.
Neely retired the first two hitters for ORU to start the eighth. Jacob Godman reached on an error, advanced to second on a single by Blaze Brothers and moved to third on a walk to Jake McMurray (2 for 3). O’Sullivan went to the mound to talk with Neely. The Gators exceeded their number of six defensive conferences and were forced make a pitching change. Cade Fisher entered with limited warmup throws in the bullpen. He tossed a pair of called strikes to Quinn before the next three offerings were out of the strike zone. Quinn lined the 3-2 pitch to left to keep the score at 5-3.
After UF left a runner on in the top of the ninth, ORU rallied in the bottom of the frame. Hogan had a ground rule double with one away. A single to center by McCroskey moved Hogan to third. Breeze drew a walk to load the bases. Drew Stahl grounded to short and Breeze was forced out at second. Hogan scored on the play to make it 5-4. With runners on the corners, Godman sent a fly ball to deep left center that was caught by centerfielder Michael Robertson to end the contest and give Fisher his second save. The Eagles stranded two in the ninth and 13 for the game.
The ORU bullpen allowed one hit over six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. Dalton Patten fanned three in 1.1 innings. Jacob Widener worked 2.2 innings with one hit and four strikeouts. Evan Kowalski pitched the final two frames with one punchout.
“I’m proud of the way our guys hung in there,” ORU head coach Ryan Folmar said. “I thought we had opportunities early in the game and we couldn’t take advantage of them. We gave ourselves an opportunity late. Our guys kept coming. We gave ourselves a chance. I’m proud of the way we competed and now we turn our attention to Tuesday and how we can find a way to win.”
Notes
Hogan had the first inside-the-park home run in the College World Series since Chris Burke of Tennessee in 2001. Burke was broadcasting the game on ESPN2 when Hogan homered.
This was the first meeting between Florida and Oral Roberts.