With two outs, a 5-3 lead and loaded bases in the bottom of the eighth inning, Florida sophomore closing pitcher Brandon Neely had a chance to carry momentum into a second win in the College World Series. The Gators nearly shot themselves in the foot instead.
UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan inadvertently took his sixth mound visit of the game and was forced to pull Neely for freshman Cade Fisher without warming him up.
Fisher came in cold but kept the Gators hot as he propelled UF to victory.
“We had complete faith in Cade Fisher,” junior shortstop Josh Rivera said.
Florida (52-15, 20-10 SEC) defeated Oral Roberts (52-13, 23-1 Summit League) 5-4 in the winner’s bracket opener of the College World Series. The Gators picked up their 135th home run of the year, a new program record for most in a single season.
UF opened its run in Omaha with a win against the Virginia Cavaliers. O’Sullivan’s crew trailed 4-1 at one point before mounting a comeback.
Freshman designated hitter Luke Heyman hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to close out the win and move Florida into the winner’s bracket.
The Gators got their first knock right away Sunday. Freshman infielder Cade Kurland notched a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game. He ended up stranded after Oral Roberts starting pitcher Harley Gollert struck out two on his way to retiring the side without a score.
The Golden Eagles’ bats made noise early after UF starting right-handed pitcher Hurston Waldrep gave up a leadoff hit of his own. The junior Southern Mississippi transfer walked his second batter to put two runners on with nobody out.
He worked a swinging strikeout and two quick groundouts to escape the jam with runners in scoring position.
Junior outfielder Tyler Shelnut drew a walk with two outs in the second frame. Sophomore Ty Evans capitalized with a two-run shot to right field and put the Gators up 2-0. Junior infielder Colby Halter struck out looking to end Florida’s second frame up early.
Waldrep opened up the bottom of the second with a hard-hit single to Rivera. The righty walked two more batters to load the bases. Oral Roberts’ Justin Quinn brought in a run on a single. Waldrep escaped the inning with a strikeout and a one-run cushion.
Junior outfielder Wyatt Langford crushed a ball into left field with one out in the third, but the ball went just foul to keep the run off the board. He struck out swinging once the at-bat resumed.
Sophomore two-way player Jac Caglianone struck out behind Langford to close the top of the third.
Waldrep added his fourth, fifth and sixth strikeout of the night in the bottom of the third to put the bat back in the hands of UF’s lineup. Rivera took advantage and launched a solo-shot homer to put the Gators up 3-1.
Fifth-year catcher BT Riopelle followed up by taking an 0-0 offering to his body and reached first. Heyman sized up his first pitch of the at-bat to score both runners and made it a 5-1 ballgame.
“If you’ve got me 0-2 on two changeups, I wasn’t gonna let a heater go by,” Heyman said.
Golden Eagles head coach Ryan Folmar opted to pull his starter for relief arm Dalton Patten with no outs in the top of the fourth inning. He struck out two on his way to the middle of the fourth inning without another score.
ORU singled with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Waldrep snagged three more strikeouts to break out of the inning. It marked eight consecutive outs on punchouts for Waldrep.
Langford walked to first with one out to begin the fifth inning. ORU dipped back into its bullpen, this time for right-hander Jacob Widener. He struck out two batters to strand Langford and end the top half of the inning.
Waldrep continued his run of clean innings after he let up a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth. He lulled the ORU batting order into two quick outs before he caught the runner at first in a rundown to close the inning up 5-1.
Oral Roberts woke up from its slump after Evans couldn’t track down a fly ball to left in the bottom of the sixth. It went over the outfield wall for an automatic double. Waldrep closed the inning with his twelfth strikeout of the night.
Halter kept the UF bats rolling with a leadoff single to open the seventh. He advanced to second on a balk and moved to third on a sacrifice fly from Kurland. The Gators left Halter stranded and held the lead at 5-1 into the bottom frame.
Sophomore reliever Ryan Slater took over for Waldrep in the seventh. Waldrep finished with 12 strikeouts, seven hits and just one earned run allowed in another stellar outing.
Slater walked a batter with one man down before he secured the second out. He let up a hit off the left-field wall and escaped the grasp of Langford. Oral Roberts right fielder Matt Hogan raced around the bases for a two-run, inside-the-park home run.
O’Sullivan promptly pulled Slater for Neely. He secured a groundout at first to close the seventh up 5-3.
Florida went scoreless through the top of the eighth.
Neely let on two runners due to a fielding error and a single to the right side. He gave up another walk to load the bases. O’Sullivan chose to leave Neely in the game in search of the third out but was informed it was his second mound visit and had to pull the closer.
O’Sullivan moved to Fisher with the bases loaded. He snagged the third out to escape near-disaster and move to the final inning.
Rutgers transfer Richie Schiekofer reached second on a throwing error, but the Gators left him stranded and gave Fisher a two-run cushion with three outs needed to secure the win.
ORU dropped a ball just fair for another automatic double. Fisher let up a hit to center field to put runners on the corners and walked another to load the bases with one out. He got the second out but a runner scored to make it 5-4.
Fisher delivered the 0-1 pitch and was met with hard contact. The ball landed safely in the hands of freshman outfielder Michael Robertson and the Gators secured the win.
“I think it just shows you the parity of college baseball,” O’Sullivan said. “The eight teams are here for a reason.”
Florida moves onto the final round of its bracket Wednesday against the winner of the loser’s bracket matchup between ORU and Texas Christian. The game will broadcast at 2 p.m. on ESPN.
Contact Jackson Castellano at jcastellano@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @jaxacastellano.
Jackson Castellano is a third-year sports media journalism student and the Digital Managing Editor at The Alligator for Spring 2024. In the past, he's served as the Sports Editor, Assistant Sports Editor and a Sports Reporter covering Football, Men's basketball and Baseball.
