Four takeaways from Florida’s heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M in the opening round of the College World Series.
Florida lost the game of inches
You could hear a pin drop at Charles Schwab Field as the fans anxiously waited to see if Cade Kurland’s 9th inning deep shot had enough juice to get over the tall fence in right field.
“Off the bat, homer,” Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle said on his thoughts as the ball left the bat.
Kurland walked slowly up the 1st base line, admiring his work before Jace LaViolette left his feet and robbed Florida of a go-ahead two run blast. The shock on Kurland’s face said it all.
“He thought he got it; I thought he got it. The right fielder made a heck of a play,” Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame.
In just his second start in right field on the season, LaViolette’s 6’6 frame was just enough to keep Florida from taking the lead in the 9th inning.
“Glad he’s tall,” Schlossngale said postgame. “I don’t think Chestnut would have been able to get it.”
This wasn’t the only play that came down to a few inches on Saturday night. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Aggies’ center fielder Travis Chestnut hit a high chopper to third base with the bases loaded, Gators’ third baseman Dale Thomas hesitated after fielding the ball while trying to decide what play to make. The slight hesitation allowed for a bang-bang play at third base. The call of safe at third was questionable but went unreviewed because Florida had already lost one of their two challenges early in the game. The Aggies would score a run on a wild pitch in the next at bat, which would not have happened if Florida makes that out at third base.
That’s how close this baseball game was.
Missed opportunities
While the robbery in the 9th inning was uncontrollable, there were plenty of missed opportunities throughout the game.
Florida was 1-11 (.097) with runners in scoring position and 3-17 (.176) with runners on base against Texas A&M.
The heartbreaking blow came in the 6th inning when the Gators had two runners in scoring position with nobody out and couldn’t plate a run. RHP Chris Cortez struck out Florida’s three and four-hole hitters before getting Luke Heyman to fly out to right field.
The Gators left ten runners on base including seven in the final four innings.
It’s very hard to win baseball games when you can’t find the big hit in the big moment. That’s what happened to Florida against Texas A&M.
Florida’s 16 strikeouts at the plate didn’t help their case either.
Florida ran into two elite bullpen arms
Texas A&M executed their game plan perfectly. Starter Justin Lamkin had a short lease before turning it over to two of the best bullen arms in college baseball in Chris Cortez and Evan Aschenbeck.
“Pitching-wise it’s exactly how we wanted to script it,” Schlossnagle said postgame. “Lamkin was awesome and it was certainly tempting to run him back out there, but with no Sdao we really don’t have a choice. We have to try and stay in this winners’ bracket the best we can.”
Florida handled Cortez and Aschenbeck as good as any team has this postseason, but it still wasn’t enough. The Gators scored the only two runs Cortez has allowed this postseason in the 7th inning. While Aschenbeck tossed three scoreless innings, the Gators didn’t make it easy for the 2024 stopper of the year. Florida loaded the bases on him in the 7th and found two more base runners in the 9th.
As mentioned in my preview, the Gators needed to jump on Lamkin early before the Aggies made their move to the bullpen. You have to give credit where credit is due. Cortez and Aschenbeck will both be pitching at the next level.
Too many walks
Florida pitching simply walked too many batters, particularly early in the game. Starter Liam Peterson and reliever Fisher Jameson were responsible for all seven walks in the contest.
Two of the three Aggies that crossed home plate reached base via a walk.
“We weren’t particularly sharp on the mound either. I think we walked seven with intentional walks,” O’Sullivan said postgame. “We kind of wiggled ourselves out of a few situations there. We had a couple of 0-2 mistakes with Liam that cost us. But when you lose one-run games it really just comes down to the fundamentals. And we just weren’t good enough in certain areas today.”
Florida is set to take on NC State in an elimination game on Monday at 2:00 PM EST.