When Keenan Kish struck out Chris Diaz looking to send the Gators to their third straight College World Series, the on-field scene played out like he imagined. Kish was at the bottom of the pile.
“For whatever reason, it was just running through my mind,” Kish said. “I just prepared myself if the situation came about, and as we all know, it did; so it kind of worked out, and it was awesome.”
Kish locked up the save for Florida (47-18) in its Super Regional-clinching 9-8 win against North Carolina State (43-20) on Sunday at McKethan Stadium. Kish was the last of seven pitchers to take the mound for the Gators.
“Seven pitchers and your seventh guy is (throwing) 90-94 (mph) with an 84 mph slider, that’s pretty good,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve always recruited that way — pitching heavy.”
Home plate umpire Steve Corvi’s called third strike drew the ire of Diaz. After the play, Diaz slammed his helmet on the ground and went after Corvi to argue, but NC State coach Elliott Avent restrained him.
“I trust Chris Diaz. He’s an All-American for a reason,” Avent said. “He has a good eye and in that situation, he knows a slider’s coming, and he’s not going to leave the bat on his shoulder if he’s not 100 percent sure [the pitch] is a ball.”
Florida scored the eventual winning run thanks to Josh Tobias’ efforts on the base paths. Several at-bats after Daniel Pigott put the Gators up 8-7 against the Wolfpack with a solo homer to lead off the top of the 10th, Tobias came to the plate with two outs and Casey Turgeon on second.
After knocking a single into right field, Tobias rounded first and headed towards second to buy Turgeon time to cross home plate. Tobias got himself caught in a rundown, which distracted NC State enough to ensure the key insurance run had scored.
Tobias finished the game 2 for 5, and he made two diving plays to save base hits at third base Sunday.
While the contest ended up a 9-8 UF victory with nine runs scored in the final four innings, it started out a pitcher’s duel. Wolfpack starter Carolos Rodon pitched three no-hit innings, and Jonathon Crawford worked two perfect frames for the Gators before a rain delay that lasted two hours and 23 minutes.
When the teams returned to the field to resume the contest in the bottom of the third frame, Rodon had his arm on ice and Crawford had lost his early-game sharpness.
O’Sullivan pulled Crawford once the sophomore right-hander gave up three earned runs on five hits in 1.2 innings after play resumed.
“(The delay was) a little over two hours, and [Crawford] threw 17 pitches,” O’Sullivan said. “He kept his arm loose, his stuff was still good — he was throwing 94-96 (after the rain delay ended).”
The Gators’ third straight trip to the College World Series kicks off June 15 in Omaha, Neb. Florida joins Florida State, UCLA and Arizona as the first four teams to qualify.
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Keenan Kish celebrates after striking out Chris Diaz of North Carolina State to win the Super Regional game Sunday. Kish is scheduled to start against North Florida on Tuesday.
