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The Men’s College World Series Final is heading to a decisive Game 3.
After No. 5 LSU took Game 1 in the 11th inning the night before, No. 2 Florida had the hot bats in the afternoon matchup, defeating the Tigers 24-4. The onslaught broke the record for runs scored in a College World Series game. The previous mark was 23, set by Notre Dame in 1957.
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Responded.
See you tomorrow, Gator Nation!#GoGators | #GatorsWin
Presented by: @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/o3ZXsJnXaC
The Gators onslaught wasn’t immediate, and the Tigers led 3-1 until the third inning. A Gavin Dugas double scored Dylan Crews to open up the scoring, and after a solo home run from Ty Evans tied it up, the Tigers took a 3-1 lead after back-to-back RBI’s from Tre’ Morgan and Tommy White.
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JP comes home on Tommy’s RBI single, which is followed by Tre’s sac-fly to score Dylan
UF – 1
LSU – 3 pic.twitter.com/hZc3lOp6BI
Trailing by two and facing elimination, Florida got to work in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back RBI singles from Jac Caglianone and Josh Rivera tied the game, and then the team loaded the bases for Evans.
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🍖 SUNDAY SALAMI 🍖#GoGators // 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/kRjwrzphHz
Evans’ moonshot grand slam put the Gators up 7-3, and they took advantage of an error in the fourth inning to make the score 8-3. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Florida bats went off for 12 additional runs in the final four inning to reach the 20-run total.
Caglianone scorched two home runs, setting the single season home run record in the process.
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Breaking Records.#GoGators pic.twitter.com/Q1lXtQ0FWV
Wyatt Langford smoked a home run of his own and had a team-high six RBI, while Caglianone and Evans each had five. BT Riopelle added the other Gator dingers.
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RIOPELLE LEAVES THE YARD!!! pic.twitter.com/iV4H6m7y9R
A ninth-inning home run from Brayden Jobert put a fourth Tiger run on the board, but that would be the end of the 28 runs combined between the two teams.
Errors were costly for LSU, as it had five miscues, more than it had in the entire College World Series until that point. The Tigers also utilized six pitchers, although several had not pitched since the regular season. The Gators used three, with Nick Ficarotta eating up the bulk of the innings.
The Gators win sets up the winner-take-all Game 3 for Monday night at 7:00 E.T. Florida will be attempting to win their second national title in program history, while the Tigers will be going for No. 7 and their first since 2009.
