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Kentucky has had a Cinderella season sharing the Southeastern Conference championship and advancing to its first College World Series. However, Florida has been even more of an underdog story in postseason play.
Florida (35-29, 13-17 SEC) and Kentucky play an elimination game at the College World Series this morning after Tuesday night’s game was rained out.
The Gators are 4-0 in elimination games this season after finishing regular play only one game above .500. Florida won the NCAA regional at No. 11 Oklahoma State and then beat No. 6 Clemson on the road in the super regional.
First baseman-pitcher Jac Caglianone leads the Gators batting .413 with 34 home runs and has a 5-2 record on the mound with a 4.76 ERA.
Kentucky beat the Gators in a three-game series at Gainesville this season but both wins came in extra innings and the loss was 10-1. It was UK’s first series win over Florida since 2016 and now the Cats need a win to get another shot at Texas A&M after losing to the Aggies Monday night.
First baseman Ryan Nicholson, who has homered in both World Series games to tie the UK season record of 23, doesn’t think it will be hard to put Monday’s loss behind the team.
“Same approach as we came into today. Just tomorrow we’re playing Florida, I guess. Other than that, just the same mindset,” he said after Monday’s loss. “We’re going to come out. We’re going to try to put the bat on the ball and play good defense and pitch it well. I wouldn’t say there’s added pressure or anything like that that we’re feeling going into tomorrow.”
Outfielder Nolan McCarthy is just as optimistic.
“I think if we got down on ourselves we wouldn’t be in this spot today. There’s going to be no sour faces in the locker room tomorrow,” he said Monday night. “We’re going to come out ready to go. And back against the wall, but it’s the same game, same baseball game.”
Kentucky coach Nick Mingione knows how well Florida has played recently.
“When you just think about what they had to do to even make the postseason, you give them so much credit. That last weekend what they did in Georgia, and obviously they’ve been playing really good since,” Mingione said Monday night.
“They took the hard path here. They were on the road for both the Regional and Super. And this league, you know this, but every week and every — every week it seems like teams can change. And this is a team that we’re facing tomorrow that’s been there, done that. They’re well-coached as you know.
“Yeah, we’ll definitely have our hands full. They’re not the same team from when we played them a couple of weeks ago.”
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If Kentucky beats Florida, it will face another elimination game at 7 p.m. tonight against Texas A&M.
4 Responses
Go Cats!
We have had a good season. We have proved that we are a good team, but we still don’t believe that we are an elite team. Omaha has been a great experience and maybe we are just happy to be there. The teams that move on in Omaha are the team that believe they are supposed to move on to a championship. Good pitching always beats good hitting. We are better than Florida, but Florida believes they are supposed to win. Whoever wins the pitching duel moves on. Go CATS!!!
Congratulations to the Wildcats on a fantastic year. Thank you for the ride. It’s been fun to watch. Good bunch of young men.
Don’t know if KY pitching didn’t show up or Fla just had one of those days. Either way, great season Cats. Let’s give it a shot next year.