Florida and LSU are set to face off in a winner-take-all game three of the Men’s College World Series Finals at 7:00 PM EST on Charles Schwab Field. The Gators seek their second National Championship and first since 2017 while the Tigers seek their seventh and first since 2009.
After dropping and 11th inning battle in game one of the series, the Gators’ staff held a tremendous amount of confidence heading into game two.
“This team has shown fight the entire year,” Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the Gators’ 4-3 loss on Saturday night. “We’ve had a situation in Regionals we had to win three in a row, and we were able to do that. We’ll need some other guys to step up in the pen. But we certainly feel confident that they will. We’ve got a bunch of guys that have not even stepped on the mound yet. But they’ll be ready to play tomorrow.”
“Can’t dwell on tonight. It’s in the past,” senior catcher BT Riopelle said. “We’ve been in this position before where our backs up against the wall and we’re taking some punches and we have to throw back.”
“It’s a matter of going out and attacking and playing our best baseball,” Riopelle added. “We’ll do everything in our power to play our best baseball tomorrow and force a game three on Monday.”
The Gators did exactly that and more on Sunday afternoon, defeating LSU 24-4 behind the most runs scored in MCWS history.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to play tomorrow,” O’Sullivan said after game two. “Obviously we can’t take any of these runs into tomorrow. We’ll have to reset, reboot. But awfully proud of the way they responded from last night’s tough loss.”
Florida is looking to carry over their momentum from game two into Monday night.
“All the runs we scored today, obviously we can’t carry those over to tomorrow, but we can carry over the momentum,” junior outfielder Wyatt Langford said postgame. “It doesn’t matter who they pitch, we’re going to be ready to play.”
Due to the blowout victory, Florida was able to get by LSU in game two without using the Gators’ top relievers in Cade Fisher, Brandon Neely, and Ryan Slater. This gives O’Sullivan nearly a full slate of arms out of the bullpen to lean on if needed.
LHP JAC CAGLIANONE
Barring any last second changes, Florida will start their typical Sunday starter in Jac Caglianone. The Gators’ two-way player has worked to a 7-3 record while posting a 3.78 ERA across 73.1 innings in 2023.
The major key for Caglianone is to fill the strike zone early and often. In away or neutral site games, the hard throwing left hander has walked 31 batters in 24 innings pitched, allowing 13 runs in the process.
In his lone start in the CWS, Caglianone tossed 4.1 innings, allowing one run, three hits, three walks and three HBP against TCU.
“I’m really excited. I’d give anything for this team to win,” Caglianone said on starting game three. “I said it earlier in the year, my biggest goal is just to get a ring on these guys that have been here a while. That’s the whole game plan for tomorrow.”
PAUL SKEENS?
There’s been lots of buzz in the media about the possibility of LSU’s ace Paul Skeens making an appearance on three days rest after 120 pitches against Wake Forest on Thursday.
Here is LSU’s Head Coach Jay Johnson’s full quote when asked if Skeens is available to pitch on Monday night.
“As I talked about last time, we do a process to figure that out, which we’ll do,” Johnson said after game two of the series. “And that doesn’t take place until day of game. So we have to do that with all of them. You’re going on game eight in 10 days. So we have to be mindful of all of that, and we will be. And we’ll see who is available.”
LSU has not named a starting pitcher at this time.
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
After forcing a game three, Kevin O’Sullivan was spotted taking it all in inside the dugout after the 24-4 victory.
“It’s really hard to unwind, to be honest with you,” O’Sullivan said. “You lose a game like last night and it’s just really, really hard to kind of let it go. But you have to. That was the message last night.”
“And then just to flip the switch and the whole story — the whole narrative changes, it’s just — yeah, it’s emotional,” O’Sullivan added. “You just take it in and support all the fans. They’re singing the song at the end. And it’s a really, really cool. It was a really cool deal.”
Florida looks to win their second National Championship in program history and second under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.