Kevin O’Sullivan draws from 2017 College World Series, reveals biggest keys to winning championship

Saturday marks the start of the College World Series championship series between Florida and LSU. It’s a rematch of the 2017 series, which the Gators won in two games for their first-ever title.

History has a fun way of repeating itself, though, and Florida has another finals matchup with the Tigers this weekend in Omaha. Kevin O’Sullivan remembers that series well, and he shared the biggest keys to bringing home a championship ahead of Saturday’s opener.

“Good pitching and good defense and timely hitting,” O’Sullivan told ESPN’s Kris Budden. “It’s really that simple.”

The stars will be out in full force at Charles Schwab Field. LSU has two potential No. 1 overall picks in Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes. Florida, meanwhile, has the nation’s home run leader in Jac Caglianone as well has Wyatt Langford, who’s also likely to hear his name called toward the top of the MLB Amateur Draft.

There aren’t many stages bigger than the one Florida will be on this weekend. As for what his message was before the game, O’Sullivan — just like his keys to victory — kept it simple.

“We took care of that right before pregame,” O’Sullivan said of his message. “The bottom line is we’ve just got to go play now.”

Florida got a little more rest than LSU did before the best-of-three championship series. LSU and Wake Forest had to play an if-necessary game on Thursday — a thrilling 2-0 Tigers victory in 11 innings. That extra rest could make a difference for both teams. Florida catcher B.T. Riopelle sounded like he thought the Gators could have more of an edge as a result, but O’Sullivan had a different perspective on it.

As it turns out, having so much time before the national championship didn’t help his nerves.

“I think from a bullpen standpoint, it’s been helpful. But, honestly, from my standpoint, it puts me a little bit on my edge, honestly,” O’Sullivan said ahead of the CWS final. “Because what you don’t want your players to do is, on off days, lose their edge. There have been plenty of teams who played on that Thursday game and went on to win this last series.

“It’s really our responsibility to keep our players off edge. That’s going to be a huge message. The days off are fine, but you have to be able to turn the switch back on.”

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.

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