With a potential third-straight Omaha appearance on the line, the top-ranked Gators received a bit of help from the dark clouds hovering above McKethan Stadium.
Florida, facing North Carolina State’s freshman southpaw in Carlos Rodon, needed a good offensive effort against the Golden Spikes Award finalist Sunday afternoon.
The rain ended Rodon’s day early in a 9-8 Florida victory against the Wolfpack.
Rodon entered the game versus Florida’s Jonathon Crawford tied for third in the nation in strikeouts. Rodon and Crawford had not allowed any hits heading into the bottom of the third, but a two-hour, 23-minute rain delay put the game on hold for the second day in a row.
While Crawford tossed only 17 pitches before play stopped, Rodon had 40 and the delay prevented any chance for his return.
N.C. State coach Elliot Avent favored postponing the game until Monday to prevent a repeat of Saturday’s two rain delays that approached three hours.
“I won’t speak for either club, but I will say that each manager, each coach, will probably have feelings based on what affects his team in his mind one way or another,” NCAA game representative Bob Warn said.
Avent pulled Rodon, but Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan kept Crawford in the game due to his low pitch count. O’Sullivan, known for protecting his pitchers, had no qualms about giving Crawford the ball.
“I knew that question would come up and I knew there would be a lot of people questioning the move,” O’Sullivan said. “All I know is we’ve only had one pitcher throw over 100 pitches all year long and we take care of our arms. You get to this time of year and when you protect kids’ arms, you have the opportunity to do that.”
Although Crawford allowed three earned runs in 3.2 innings, he delayed Florida’s need to burn a reliever in a game that forced O’Sullivan to use seven pitchers. N.C. State used five pitchers in the high-scoring contest.
Right-hander Anthony Tzamtzis replaced Rodon in the fourth and the Florida offense erupted for four runs including a Preston Tucker right-field homer, which tied the game at one. Tzamtzis survived five batters and registered one out.
“We were definitely going to battle. We knew that we were going to get there best and that was the thing,” Tucker said. “Whether it was him or somebody else, we knew it was going to be tough.”
Once the starting pitchers exited the game, an offensive outburst ensued with four lead changes.
“I’m drained,” Tucker said. “Mentally and physically that was one of the most exhausting games I’ve played in.”
Mike Zunino bats in the seventh inning just before the first rain delay against N.C. State on Saturday. Zunino completed the at-bat with a home run two hours and three minutes later.
