GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Gators took the lengthy street to internet hosting the Gainesville Regional, overcoming ample rising pains early in the season earlier than their late-season surge. They now should take the lengthy street to remain alive in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 1-seed Florida misplaced to second-seed Oklahoma 9-4 on Saturday evening in the winner’s bracket. As a end result, the Gators (40-23) will face Central Michigan for the second time in three days in an elimination sport Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.) at Condron Ballpark. Right-hander Nick Pogue will begin for the Gators. The Chippewas (43-18) defeated Liberty, 3-2, in 12 innings on Saturday to stave off elimination.
On an evening the ball was flying over the fence, the Gators and Sooners mixed for seven dwelling runs. The early fireworks belonged to the Gators, who took a 2-0 lead in the underside of the second inning on solo homers from Ty Evans and Jac Caglianone off Oklahoma starter David Sandlin.
“It was unfortunate we scored two runs in second and had some momentum, and then we walk the nine-hole hitter on four straight,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It simply form of spiraled uncontrolled at that time.”
Oklahoma didn’t wait long to swing back against UF starter Brandon Neely.
Sooners No. 9 hitter Kendall Pettis led off the top of the third with a walk, and after Neely struck out John Spikerman, Sooners shortstop Peyton Graham drilled a two-run homer to tie the game. As Graham rounded first, he and Florida first baseman BT Riopelle exchanged words. Riopelle had applied a hard tag on Pettis at first as he dove back to the base on a pickoff throw. Meanwhile, Graham stared down the UF dugout as he began to round the bases.
“It’s postseason ball, we’re each aggressive groups, aggressive packages, attempting to win a ballgame,” Riopelle said. “Our season is on the road virtually. It occurs typically.”
From there, the inning only got stranger.
Oklahoma first baseman Blake Robertson stepped into the batter’s box after Graham and cranked a mammoth go-ahead home run for a 3-2 Oklahoma lead. Neely then walked Tanner Tredaway, prompting O’Sullivan to make a pitching change. Fisher Jameson gave up a double to Jimmy Crooks, and then on a pitch in the dirt, Tredaway scored to give Oklahoma a 4-2 lead.
As UF catcher Mac Guscette scrambled to retrieve Jameson’s wild pitch, Sooners second baseman Jackson Nicklaus, who was at the plate, blocked his path to the ball. O’Sullivan came out to question the call, but the umpires let it stand, igniting hearty boos for the rest of the game from the announced crowd of 5,000.
“He simply mentioned it was unintentional,” O’Sullivan mentioned of dwelling plate umpire Mike Jarboe. “There was no intent. That’s what they said.”
Crooks went 3-for-5 with two huge dwelling runs over the right-field berm because the Sooners added to their lead. Neely was charged with 4 earned runs and three hits in 2 1/3 innings, dealing with solely 13 batters.
The Gators scored their last run on Guscette’s solo homer in the underside of the seventh.
Florida should defeat Central Michigan for the second time in the regional to maintain its season alive. The Gators beat the Chippewas 7-3 on Friday evening. The winner faces Oklahoma on Sunday evening with an opportunity to advance to a winner-take-all sport on Monday.
The Gators gained three consecutive elimination video games on the SEC Tournament final week to achieve the championship sport. They might want to do the identical to win the regional title and maintain taking part in.
“If we don’t win, we go home,” Riopelle said. “I might say it is form of like a mom and her youngster. We’re going to do every part to guard our youngster, and that is our season proper now.”
NOTABLES
- Guscette linked for his fifth dwelling run of the season in the seventh inning
- The dwelling runs raised Florida’s season complete, which is the second-highest in program historical past, to 115 homers.
- Sterlin Thompson collected three hits on Saturday evening, marking his nineteenth multi-hit sport of the 12 months and seventh three-hit efficiency.
- Saturday marked the first-ever assembly in baseball between Florida and Oklahoma.
- Florida is 117-81 in NCAA Tournament video games.
- The Gators are taking part in in their 14th consecutive Regional underneath O’Sullivan.
- 2022 represents Florida’s thirty seventh NCAA look and 18th time internet hosting.
- The Gators are taking part in in their 14th consecutive Regional underneath O’Sullivan.
- Florida has gained 15 of its final 20 video games and 17 of its final 23.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the Zoom name with former Gators…
“We had a Zoom call yesterday with Mike Zunino, Paco Rodriguez, Tommy Toledo, Hudson Randall, and Vickash Ramjit. I knew that at some point our young freshman were going to have to fill in some important moments this weekend. Those guys were all freshman in 2010 … the biggest message to our team was being in the moment. Not letting the game speed up on you. Unfortunately, it just kind of sped up on us a little tonight.”
On what the message is for tomorrow…
“The biggest message was, we were put in a similar situation last week in Hoover. We were able to rattle off quite a few wins to get to Sunday. As disappointing as this loss is, it’s our job as a coaching staff to not let this leak into tomorrow. We’ve got to take it one game at a time … you have to flush it and get ready to play Central Michigan. I told them, Nick [Pogue] is going to give us a great effort. We can’t look ahead, but we’ve done it before…they’ve got to be ready to play tomorrow. It’s really that simple.”
UP NEXT
Florida will play Central Michigan tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET in a do-or-die matchup on the Gainesville Regional. The sport will stream on ESPN+, with the winner advancing to the championship in opposition to Oklahoma at 7 p.m.