The top-ranked Gators were eight outs away from clinching back-to-back College World Series appearances Saturday. Instead, they imploded twice, culminating in Mississippi State’s Nick Vickerson’s stunning walk-off two-run homer.
On Sunday, after Vickerson propelled another Bulldogs comeback, the Gators — the No. 2 national seed — were eight outs away from their season ending.
But with the noose tightening, Preston Tucker sliced the hangman’s knot.
Florida’s right fielder smashed a clutch three-run shot to straight away center, paving the way to an 8-6 win in the deciding Game 3 of the Super Regional and sending UF to Omaha, Neb., in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.
“We had a great opportunity to slam the door and get Florida to put balls in play, and we didn’t,” MSU coach John Cohen said.
The Gators did put the ball in play over the weekend — just often times where no Mississippi State players could field it.
McKethan Stadium doubled as Coors Field on Sunday, as Florida drilled a season-high five homers including three in the first two innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
But the Bulldogs scrapped all afternoon and rallied to take a late two-run advantage.
In a 6-4 game in the seventh, Cohen brought in Caleb Reed — his closer who tossed a gutsy 82 pitches in MSU’s 4-3 win Saturday — to face the heart of UF’s lineup with no outs and runners at first and second.
Reed, operating on fumes, retired Mike Zunino on a sac bunt and was asked to pitch around Tucker to face the right-handed hitting Josh Adams. Instead, he hung a 3-1 changeup and Tucker changed the course of Florida’s season.
“Everyone was kind-of questioning whether we could come back. It completely changed the momentum,” said Tucker, who also acknowledged the long ball was the biggest hit of his storied career.
Although Reed recorded three outs in the inning, the damage was done.
“The game screamed, ‘This is the whole game,’ and it ended up being that,” Cohen said. “We weren’t going to get to the ninth if we didn’t bring Caleb in. He was on the bench telling us he wanted to be a part of it.”
Freshman Daryl Norris — one of eight Bulldogs pitchers used Sunday — walked Nolan Fontana and Bryson Smith on 10 pitches to start the seventh, igniting UF’s rally.
“We were a couple of strikes from changing the momentum and going to Omaha,” Cohen said. “But there are no moral victories.”
Both teams displayed tremendous resolve in an intense and dramatic series. Gators starter Alex Panteliodis shut down the Bulldogs for the first three innings — the junior southpaw retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced — before Vickerson nearly erased a four-run deficit with a towering three-run homer.
The pressure swelled as the Gators squandered multiple insurance opportunities, including when Tucker laced a double down the right field line, but Vickerson nailed Zunino at the plate.
In the seventh, the pesky Bulldogs finally broke through, scoring three runs with two outs. Mississippi State tied the game with Vickerson’s RBI single and plated the go-ahead runs on Brent Brownlee’s two-run knock.
“I thought we really had a chance,” Vickerson, the Bulldogs’ star second baseman, said.
But MSU’s lead lasted just a single out as Florida’s fortunes quickly turned with Tucker’s shot.
“Both teams battled all weekend long,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I think it was one of the best games I’ve been involved in. We just got a couple more runs.”
