Florida’s offense exploded and now the path to Omaha looks very real

Heading into the 1-0 game against Miami, the Gators seemingly had everything lined up. Florida had been able to save Aidan King for this game, and when Florida shot out to a 6-1 lead early on, it looked like Florida was going to waltz its way to an easy night.

What ensued was one of the wildest nights of baseball the Condron Family Ballpark has seen, but the end result was still the same as Florida prevailed 22-10 to 2-0 in Regionals for the first time since 2016.

Florida beats Miami 22-10 in Regionals

In our preview of the game, our FanSided sister site Canes Warning highlighted that Miami’s main weakness was its defense. Their site expert, Patrick Previty said:

“Defense. Miami has committed 86 errors with a .959 fielding percentage, while opponents have committed 61 errors with a .970 fielding percentage. The pitching staff has also had moments where it lets teams hang around, entering with a 4.88 ERA and 1.45 WHIP.

The offense is good enough to win this regional, but the Hurricanes have to play clean baseball.”

So, for as much as we had mused this season about Florida’s defense, the Hurricanes put on what might have been the worst defensive display of baseball ever seen. Four errors from Miami led to 11 unearned runs.

11.

Forget watching the Tom Emanski videos, Miami needs to start over in T-ball because there are legit six years who can catch the ball better than what Miami put on display.

Florida was the beneficiary of Miami’s inability to field the ball, and the Gators needed the help. After taking a 6-1 lead, King just wasn’t sharp on the mound, and it continues a concerning decline he has had over the last month. King only made it three innings before getting pulled after six earned runs of his own. Luke McNeillie only went 1.1 innings before he gave up two runs as Miami tied things 8-8 in the 5th.

But it was the fateful bottom of the 6th inning where Florida loaded the bases via walks, then with two outs had two runs come home via a walk. Then Miami didn’t know how to step on third base, which allowed things to continue. A wild pitch scored a run, and eventually a bases-clearing double by Kyle Jones broke things open.

Florida popped off again in the 8th inning as Miami was simply out of arms from its bullpen. Cade Kurlan, Brendan Lawson, Blake Cyr, Ethan Surowiec, and Karson Bowen all hit home runs in the 8th to eventually make things 22-10.

Florida is 2-0 for the first time since 2016

King looking mortal is the concerning part of this game, but Florida’s pathway to Omaha is now wide open. Miami will now have to play Troy this afternoon, with the winner moving on to face Florida at 5 PM. The Gators will have Liam Peterson locked and ready to go, who has looked like Florida’s best pitcher over the last month.

Then factor in that in the Hattiesburg Regional, the one that funnels into Florida’s Super Regional, Southern Mississippi is already knocked out, and it’s Little Rock that is 2-0. If you really want to look ahead, if Florida made it to Omaha, it was supposed to slot into UCLA for the first game, but right now, the Bruins are having to fight for their own survival after dropping their first game on Friday.

At this point, if Florida has an ideal path to Omaha as one could have dreamed of. 

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