Florida Gators fall to LSU in College World Series finale
OMAHA, Neb. — The Florida Gators won more games than any other team in program history, but they couldn’t win the final game of the season. Florida fell to LSU 18-4 Monday night in Game 3 of the best-of-three College World Series finals, finishing as national runners-up to its SEC rival.
The team’s run in 2023 nonetheless was historic. The Gators won the SEC championship and 54 games.
But the day after Florida routed LSU 24-4, the tables were turned.
Florida (54-17) started fast Monday, then things went south in a hurry.
Wyatt Langford’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first put the Gators ahead 2-0. But for Florida, that is where the highlights ended.
The Tigers (54-17) roughed up Gators starter Jac Caglianone in the second and scored six runs that inning. Caglianone, Florida’s two-way star, was knocked out of the game after throwing just 1.1 innings while allowing four earned runs. He gave up only two hits but walked three and hit two batters.
LSU was on cruise control the rest of the way. The Tigers finished with 24 hits.
The Gators had two hits in the first inning but only three more the rest of the way and they never seriously threatened to make things interesting after the Tigers’ second-inning outburst.
LSU had six players with two or more base hits Monday.
With Monday’s defeat, Florida falls to 1-3 all-time in College World Series finals and drops the Gators to 25-26 in Omaha.
Here are 7 records the Gators baseball team broke in 2023
54: Wins — The most in a single season in program history.
33: Home runs for Jac Caglianone, which broke a school record and his 33rd home run broke the single-season BBCOR record (Ivan Melendez – Texas, 32, 2022).
24: The Gators’ 24 runs scored against LSU in game two of the College World Series Final set a new Men’s College World Series record for runs in a single game.
20×2: Wyatt Langford became just the third Florida Gator to hit 20 home runs in back-to-back seasons, joining Brad Wilkerson and Jud Fabian.
17: Since Charles Schwab Field opened in 2011, Florida’s 17 home runs are the most ever in a single College World Series.
145: Florida’s 145 home runs in 2023 not only lead the country but are the most in program history.
717: Florida pitchers entered Monday’s game having struck out 717 batters in 604 innings – translating to 10.7 per nine innings, which would mark a new program record.
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