GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With a one-run lead and a spot in the College World Series at stake, Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan put an inconsistent freshman on the mound.
College World Series
TD Ameritrade Park
Omaha, Neb.
All times Central
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Oregon State (54-4) vs. Cal State Fullerton (39-22), 2 p.m., ESPN
LSU (48-17) vs. Florida State (39-20), 7 p.m., ESPN
SUNDAY’S GAMES
Louisville (52-10) vs. Texas A&M (41-21), 1 p.m., ESPN
Florida (47-18) vs. TCU (47-16), 6 p.m., ESPN2
Tyler Dyson responded with the performance of his life, helping the Gators (47-18) return to Omaha, Neb., for the third consecutive season and for the sixth time in the past eight years.
Dyson allowed 2 hits and struck out 7 in 5 scoreless innings of relief, and Florida beat Wake Forest 3-0 Monday night to earn the final berth to college baseball’s biggest stage.
JJ Schwarz provided Dyson (3-0) a little extra breathing room with a towering, tworun home run in the third inning, and right-handed ace Alex Faedo pitched the final two innings for his first career save about an hour after Detroit selected him with the 18th overall pick in the MLB draft.
But Dyson got all the postgame praise.
“He should grow from this day and be a totally different pitcher moving forward,” O’Sullivan said.
Added Wake Forest Coach Tom Walter: “Dyson was the difference today. He kept coming after us. He made pitch after pitch and pitch, and we just couldn’t solve him.”
Dyson turned in the longest outing of his career, and was downright nasty against the country’s leading homerun-hitting team.
“I couldn’t let the seniors and juniors that are going off to pro ball end their season here,” Dyson said. “I just wanted to hand the ball to Alex and let him finish it.”
Faedo had made 43 starts since his previous relief appearance in April 2015. But with four weather delays totaling nearly 10 hours during the best-of-three series, Faedo was in the bullpen for the decisive game and on the mount when it mattered.
He struck out Ben Breazeale to end the game and then got mobbed by teammates near the hill. After a traditional dogpile and some water splashing, the Gators donned “Omaha Bound” hats and returned to the dugout and celebrated Dyson.
“We wouldn’t have won today without him, and I think that was huge,” Schwarz said. “I thought today there was a whole new monster out there.”
Wake Forest (43-20), which won Monday’s first game 8-6 on Breazeale’s game-winning home run in the 11th inning, was held to four hits in the second game and shut out for the fourth time this season.
SUNDAY’S LATE GAME
LSU 14, MISSISSIPPI STATE 4
BATON ROUGE — LSU shortstop Kramer Robertson, right fielder Greg Deichmann and second baseman Cole Freeman trotted toward their positions to start the bottom of the ninth inning, exchanged hugs with teammates, and walked arm-in-arm back to the dugout, soaking in a standing ovation.
The three seniors all could have left school when they were selected in the MLB draft after their junior year.Robertson’s three-hit game and Caleb Gilbert’s five-plus innings of scoreless middle relief helped LSU clinch its 18th College World Series berth with a victory over Mississippi State on Sunday night in the Baton Rouge super regional.
“I think we were all tearing up,” Deichmann said of the moment when he, Robertson and Freeman came out of a game at home for the final time. “We all said to each other, ‘We did it.’ Our goal coming back from last year was tonight. We accomplished that goal. Now we move on to our next one, and it’s the national championship.”
Sports on 06/13/2017