South Bound & Down
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Florida Gators: First College World Series Title

By Matt Green

Jun 27, 2017; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators players celebrate winning the national championship against the LSU Tigers in game two of the championship series of the 2017 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 27, 2017; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators players celebrate winning the national championship against the LSU Tigers in game two of the championship series of the 2017 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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With a 6-1 win over the LSU Tigers on Tuesday night, the Florida Gators won their first baseball national title in school history.

It was a long time coming for the Florida Gators’ baseball program. Their 11 College World Series appearances were the third most in NCAA history without winning a title, but you can officially remove them from that list.

The national championship was also the first for Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan. In his 10 years in Gainesville, he’s led the Gators to a 448-208 record, including four SEC regular season titles, two SEC tournament titles, and six College World Series appearances. And now he can add a College World Series title to that list.

Pitching is what got Florida this far, but a couple big innings is what won it for them.

In Game 1, they put up a 3-spot in the top of the fourth, thanks to a sac-fly from Austin Langworthy and a 2-run double by Jonathan India. But Brady Singer stole the show. Singer went 7 innings, allowed 3 runs on 8 hits, while striking out 12. Florida won that game 4-3.

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Then in Game 2, it was more great pitching and timely hitting. Tyler Dyson went 6 innings and allowed 1 earned run. Then O’Sullivan called in his ace. Michael Byrne came in and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, despite giving up 4 hits.

In this game, the big inning came in the bottom of the eighth. They entered the inning with a 2-1 lead, before busting the game wide-open. Nick Horvath was hit by a pitch with the the bases loaded to make it 3-1. Then, Deacon Liput singled to center to score two, putting Florida up 5-1. They ended up scoring four runs in the inning.

In six games at the College World Series, Florida’s pitching was ridiculous. In 54 innings, they had a 2.33 ERA and struck out 68 batters. And that’s including a game against TCU where they allowed 9 runs. Outside of that game, the Gators had an ERA of 1.00.

With this win, Florida is now the first school in the SEC to win a national championship in football, basketball, and baseball.

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