The score 24-4 might make you do a double-take, but the theme LSU will certainly carry into a winner-take-all Monday is simple: It only counts as one.
Florida's dynamic offense absolutely detonated on the Tigers to even the series, hitting six home runs and piling on for a statement win in an elimination game. Florida had won eight consecutive games before LSU took them down 4-3 in 11 innings on Saturday.
"It is what it is," Jay Johnson said. "I’ve had a Super Regional game relatively similar to this, and then we turned the score around on the team in Game 3. It happens all the time in our league."
Florida is the 7th team to score 20-plus runs in a CWS game, but the first since 2001 and the first-ever to score 24. The previous record was 23, which had been done twice. Every member of the Florida starting lineup scored at least once. The Gators finished the game with 23 hits compared to the Tigers' 6.
It was the second consecutive game that a long-held CWS record was touched, with Ty Floyd tying the high-water mark for strikeouts with 17 in Game 1.
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LSU had the game start exactly as it must've hoped for, with a scoreless first inning from Nate Ackenhausen followed by an RBI double in the bottom of the first by Gavin Dugas to plate Dylan Crews. The Golden Spikes winner led off the inning with a single, safely reaching base for the 70th time in as many games this season. The Tigers loaded the bases, but couldn't push any more runs across, which has been a theme in both games of the title series.
Ackenhausen still looked sharp to start the second, with a pair of strikeouts against Luke Heyman and Tyler Shelnut, but Ty Evans took advantage of shifting winds that were blowing directly out and wrapped a long home run around the foul pole. That theme would loom large again later.
LSU continued to pepper Florida starter Hurston Waldrep, with Josh Pearson drawing a walk followed by a single from Crews. Tommy White drove in Pearson with a single to right center, then Tre' Morgan sent a ball out to left field to plate Crews on a sacrifice fly. LSU left the bases loaded again, but with the way the Tigers' pitcher have been performing in Omaha, a 2-run lead felt significant. Waldrep only got through 2.1 and was charged with 3 runs and uncharacteristically managed just 2 strikeouts. He handed the ball to Blake Purnell in a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the third, and the sidearm right immediately induced an inning ending double play.
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That all changed quickly in the top of the third, with Florida's bats finally getting unglued and the Tigers shooting themselves in the foot. Ackenhausen finally looked human, plunking Cade Kurland to start the inning, followed by singles from Gators star sluggers Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone, which plated a run. Florida pushed another run across with Josh Rivera single. Ackenhausen settled in with a strikeout of Florida's catcher, and appeared to have induced a double play ball from Luke Heyman, but LSU shortstop Jordan Thompson booted it and everyone was safe. Jay Johnson opted to take the ball from Ackenhausen and give it to freshman Gavin Guidry. he responded with a three-pitch strikeout of Shelnut, but the game flipped on its head on the next pitch, with Evans hitting a fly ball well up into the air that appeared to be carried by the wind just over the left field fence for a grand slam.
Suddenly it was 7-3 Gators after the first grand slam in CWS history. Game changed. Florida's run total marked the first time any team in the 2023 CWS bracket eclipsed 6 total runs in a game. LSU committed five errors in the game.
"We get a complete reset. I don’t know what our fielding percentage in the NCAA tournament was going into today, but I’m guessing it was pretty good," Johnson said. "We’re not in a place where we’re going to go out and hit a bunch of ground balls on concrete and those types of things. We need to get these guys rested. ... For us, it’s about playing in character."
Ackenhausen was charged with 6 runs (only 3 earned), along with 5 hits to go with 5 strikeouts over 2.1. Guidry went 1.2 and was charged with 2 runs. Bryce Collins and worked the 6th, which was when the game really was put out of reach with Wyatt Langford cranking a 3-run homer to left field, followed by a solo shot from Caglianone. The Tigers allowed 6 runs in the third, and 5 runs in the 6th. For perspective: LSU pitching had allowed just five runs TOTAL over its past four games (Tennessee; Wake; Wake; Florida).
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Things continued to get ugly in the 8th with another 4 spot for Florida, with Jack Cagnlianone hitting another home run, his 33rd to lead all NCAA baseball. Wyatt Langford also fell a triple shy of the cycle, settling for a double just before his teammate's home run. Langford finished the day 5-for-5 with 6 RBIs.
Blake Money (1.1), Christian Little (1.2) and Sam Dutton (1.0) also took the mound for the Tigers, one solace being that with the game well out of reach they were able to rest some of their key bullpen arms for a winner-take-all Game 3 on Monday. Dutton struggled mightily to close out the top of the ninth inning, but there was no relief in sight as five more runs crossed the plate to set the new CWS scoring record.
Purnell went 1.2 for the Gators, followed by Nick Ficarotta, who continued to -- mostly -- silence the Tigers bats for the final 4.2 innings. Brayden Jobert got a minor yay-rah-rah moment with a solo shot to deep center field in the bottom of the 9th.
The Tigers won't have long to stew, and they'll have another chance to win their 7th national title after a 4-3, 11-inning victory in Game 1. The biggest question will be the pitcher that takes the mound. The logical answer would be Paul Skenes, but he'd have to pitch on 4 days rest to do so. Skenes pitched on 6 days rest in a winner-take-all game against Wake Forest on Thursday, going 8 innings without allowing a run and setting up LSU for Tommy White's 11th inning walkoff heroics.
First pitch for Game 3 is at 6 p.m. Monday, catch all the action on WWL.
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