Down to final out, Florida Baseball stages comeback and takes series from LSU

The weekend series against LSU was always going to be a tough one for Florida Baseball. While the Gators had yet to drop a full weekend series in 2024, The Box is considered one of the toughest environments in college baseball to play in as a visitor. Combined with the usual array of pitching concerns, the three-game set in Baton Rouge wasn't one people outside of Gator Nation had faith in.

And while they came within one out of dropping the series, the Gators showcased they still have grit in them as they emerged from Baton Rouge with another weekend series win.

Florida Baseball: Outside The Box

Florida dropped the opening game on Friday 6-1, but it actually felt like a decent step forward. The Gators were facing LSU stud pitcher Luke Holman and only managed one hit in six innings. That obviously isn't great, but for five innings Cade Fisher was in route to his best start of the season before running into trouble in the sixth.

His final line of five innings and five earned runs isn't great, but there was a glimmer of hope he is pulling it all together.

Likewise, Liam Peterson only surrendered two runs through four innings before he ran into trouble in the fifth. His final stat line also didn't look great, but it was a step forward compared to getting shelled in the first two innings.

While the Gator bullpen kept LSU in check, Florida found itself behind 4-2 in the 8th with two outs when it got a fortuitous break. Cade Kurland struck out, but a wild pitch enabled Kurland to scamper to first safely and Ty Evans to score from third.

Florida still needed a run in the 9th to keep the game alive. With two outs and a man on second, Evans came through again.

As the game trudged into extra innings and into the 11th inning, Jac Caglianone came to the plate with a man on.

Take a wild guess what happened next?

116 MPH off the bat and Ryan Slater was able to seal the deal to give the Gators the win.

It made Sunday's beatdown all the more fun as Caglianone went seven innings on the mound, giving up just one earned run. And after going scoreless for the first four innings, the Gators poured it on for 12 runs between the 5th and 8th inning.

12-2 the final in an eight inning mercy rule victory to secure the series win.

To give an idea of how tough it is to win at LSU, the Tigers lost just one series at home last season and just two the season before that.

For Florida, it keeps the Gators undefeated in series play, moving to 5-0 in three game sets.

Next up for Florida is their biggest enemy, mid-week games. The Gators will take on FSU in Jacksonville. The Seminoles are coming off being swept by Clemson over the weekend.