NCAA Baseball Super Regionals 2011, Florida Vs. Mississippi St., Game 2: Nick Vickerson Walk-Off Forces Game 3

From the third inning until the last pitch of the game, the Florida Gators lead Game 2 of their Super Regional against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. At no point in the first 17 innings of this series did they trail. Then, with the first pitch he was thrown by relief pitcher Steven Rodriguez, Nick Vickerson hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 win over the Gators, allowing them to live to fight another day.

Florida’s offense has been the best in the tournament so far, but they were contained today by Nick Routt and Caleb Reed, who both had solid outings. Reed came in as a reliever in the 4th inning and pitched through the rest of the game, allowing just one earned run against a potent Gators offense.

Karsten Whitson pitched well for Florida and appeared to be in control of the game for Florida, but the Bulldogs finally broke through in the 7th inning and scored twice, tying the score up at 2-2 after the Gators put up two runs in the third inning. Florida would get that lead back in the bottom of the inning, though, when Tyler Thompson hit a triple over the head of C.T. Bradford, who was playing way too shallow in center field, scoring Mike Zunino.

The Bulldogs would finally take the lead in the bottom of the 9th on Vickerson’s walk off, though, and as a result the two teams have to play again tomorrow for a trip to the College World Series.