Josh Rivera says Florida takes pride in resilience

Florida cruised into the championship series at the 2023 College World Series, the only team to go 3-0 in Omaha. But it’s Florida’s resilience that sticks out after winning three one-run games.

The Gators just refused to break in late-game situations where they could have folded.

That’s what stands out most to star shortstop Josh Rivera.

“I said this many times before and I firmly believe it’s how resilient we are as a team,” Rivera said. “No matter what the score is in the game, we always reiterate to attack and be ready for anything that could possibly happen.”

Florida’s start in Omaha nearly ended in disaster. Trailing Virginia 5-3 going into the ninth inning, the Gators were forced to dig deep to find a rally if they wanted to avoid having to play out of the loser’s bracket.

Up stepped one batter. Home run. Up stepped another. Home run. Tie game.

The Gators would go on to win thanks to a Luke Heyman sacrifice fly out to center field, icing a 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Cavaliers and illustrating Florida’s resilience.

The team wouldn’t have to play from behind against Oral Roberts, but it did have to protect a narrow lead in the ninth inning. Against TCU, Florida won when it plated a run in the ninth inning, then avoided disaster on a long fly ball hit to the warning track that very nearly tied things up.

“We’ve seen it time and time again, even when we’re done we come in the dugout and as long as we have the will to fight and will to win, we put up good ABs, play clean defense so can do anything,” Rivera said.

Florida’s resilience equated to a nice run to the championship series. Now the team’s pitching staff is well rested and ready to roll against LSU in a rematch of the 2017 championship series.

And Florida has that knowledge that it’s pretty tough in its back pocket.

“Our resiliency is off the charts, we never give in no matter what the score is,” Rivera said. “Or no matter what the situation is we just always try our best to come out on top.”

Florida and LSU will kick off the series on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET, with a broadcast on ESPN.

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