Florida Wins College World Series
June 28, 2017
Last night, June 27, the University of Florida Gators defeated the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers 6-1 to win the College World Series. Florida won the best-of-three series 2 games to 0 for its first baseball national title. After the final out in the ninth inning, the Gators stormed the field and collided in a joyous pile of ballplayers behind the pitcher’s mound at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
The College World Series (CWS) is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Baseball Championship tournament. The tournament begins with 64 teams, but only the final 8 advance to the CWS. (World Series is a trademark of Major League Baseball licensed to the NCAA). Southeastern Conference rivals Florida and LSU rolled through the early parts of the tournament to reach the tense CWS brackets. LSU knocked off top-ranked Oregon State University to reach the finals. Florida bested a tough Texas Christian University club in its semifinals.
In game one of the CWS Finals, Florida stifled late-inning LSU rallies to eke out a 4-3 win. Pitcher Brady Singer struck out 12 over 7 innings for the Gators, and the lineup pushed just enough runs across to hold off a 9-hit Tiger attack. In game two, Florida starter Tyler Dyson blanked the Tigers for six innings, leaving in the seventh with a 2-0 lead. LSU jumped on Gator reliever Michael Byrne, scoring a run and putting runners at first and third with no outs. Power-hitting LSU catcher Michael Papierski rolled into a double play, but a controversial interference call at second base prevented the tying run from scoring from third. The Gators escaped the inning with a 2-1 lead.
LSU had another golden scoring chance in the eighth, putting runners at first and third with no outs against Byrne and then Gator pitcher Jackson Kowar. But a strikeout, fielder’s choice at the plate, and line out netted zero runs. The Gators responded with four runs in their half of the eighth to make it 6-1, completely deflating the LSU ball club. The Tigers managed a single in the ninth before Kowar got the last out on a chopper to second.
The CWS win was Florida’s first. LSU has six CWS titles, winning in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2009. The CWS has been held in Omaha, Nebraska—a central and generally neutral location—since 1950. The series was played at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium—once the largest minor league stadium in the United States—through 2010. TD Ameritrade Park has hosted the CWS since it opened in 2011.