The Gators are going back to Omaha, Neb.
Preston Tucker went from potential goat to
unquestionable hero with one swing of the bat, and Florida (50-17)
beat Mississippi State 8-6 on Sunday in the deciding Game 3 of the
Super Regional to advance to the College World Series for the
second consecutive year.
Tucker, who entered the day hitless in the
super regional, smashed what amounted to be a game-winning
three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, capping a
cavalcade of emotional highs and lows for Florida.
“Everything was lined up for this team to lose
today,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Everything was lined up.
There was a lot of pressure on us to win, so it’s just a big relief
— a big relief.”
A day after losing in walk-off fashion, the
Gators again jumped ahead early at McKethan Stadium only to see
their lead crumble in the waning moments.
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Southeastern Conference Player of the Year
Mike Zunino hit a towering home run in the first inning, and Daniel
Pigott and Vickash Ramjit hit back-to-back homers in the second
inning to propel Florida to a 4-0 lead.
But Mississippi State (38-25) answered back,
as star second baseman Nick Vickerson ignited the Bulldogs’ offense
with a three-run blast of his own in the fourth. MSU then rallied
with two outs in the top of the seventh to score three more runs
and take a 6-4 lead.
“It was awesome, we were all just up,” MSU
left fielder Brent Brownlee said. “We still had nine outs to go so
we knew we had to stay up, stay confident and keep doing our thing.
It just didn’t work out for us.”
Freshman Daryl Norris, the fourth of eight
Bulldogs pitchers used on Sunday, started the seventh inning with
consecutive walks to Bryson Smith and Nolan Fontana. Zunino then
bunted the runners over to bring Tucker to the plate with two men
in scoring position.
MSU coach Joe Cohen brought in Caleb Reed, who
threw 82 pitches in relief Saturday, to face Tucker. Instead of
intentionally walking the power-hitting right fielder, Reed tried
to throw around Tucker. He
left a 3-1 changeup up in the zone and Tucker pulverized it,
sending the pitch on a line-drive rope over the center field wall
to make the score 7-6.
Asked if it was the best hit of his career,
Tucker was candid: “I would think so. Yeah.”
“We had just given up three runs and everyone
was kind of — we weren’t down — but everyone was kind of
questioning whether or not we could come back even though we’ve
done it plenty of times this year. It completely changed the
momentum.”
Brownlee, whose Bulldogs were picked to finish
last in the SEC, had a different take on watching his team’s dream
season come to an end.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “You put
everything you have into it and to have that outcome, like I said,
it’s heartbreaking.”
Pigott hit his second home run of the day to
lead off the bottom of the eighth, adding a much-needed insurance
run for reliever Tommy Toledo. The righty sat the Bulldogs down in
order in the ninth, retiring the pesky Vickerson for the final out
and setting up the obligatory dog-pile.
A visibly jubilant O’Sullivan even took part
in the celebration afterward, performing a string of energetic
Gator chomps toward the crowd of 3,812.
“As we were going through the postseason, it
just becomes obvious that it’s very, very difficult to get to
Omaha,” he said. “No team is going to go quietly in this
tournament. It gives you a different perspective of the
accomplishments the players had this year, how much more you
appreciate it. I think I appreciate it more [this year].”
Before Sunday, the Gators had never gone to
the CWS in back-to-back years. The CWS begins June 18, and Florida
will play the winner of the Super Regional featuring Texas and
Arizona State.
