Florida and LSU are so evenly matched that predictions are a moot point. Just let them play behind strong arms on the hill and whatever hitting is generated after that.
College World Series 2017: 5 key moments from Florida’s Game 1 win
Phantom tags, errors, and spectacular catches made this game one for the ages.
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
On Monday, the Gators and Tigers kicked off the College World Series final round, a best-of-three tilt that will determine this year’s NCAA baseball tournament champion, and damn did they deliver in an already much anticipated matchup. The game was riddled with highlights, lowlights, and lights-out pitching in between. Florida eventually prevailed, 4-3.
That these two should generate some of the best baseball of the year is already given. They’re spectacular clubs with top tier coaches and players. One should only hope that they go to the full three games, if only to deliver two more bouts like Game 1. Should they do that, it’ll be the second year in a row that all 17 games were required to decide the NCAA tournament champion in Omaha.
Permit one to hope.
Top of the first: Dalton Guthrie gets gunned out at second
Since LSU couldn’t throw Alex Lange or Jared Poché, skipper Paul Mainieri elected to go with Russell Reynolds, a fully capable arm, but relatively untried in this year’s tournament. He put Dalton Guthrie on base in the top of the first, but Guthrie made the mistake of testing LSU catcher Michael Papierski’s arm on a runout attempt at second with two outs.
That ended Florida’s batting in the first, and it wouldn’t be the game’s first close call at second. It also set off a cascade of controversy that would return in the eighth inning, when an LSU runner was called out at second on a call that should have probably gone the other way.
Top of the third: LSU’s shortstop can’t complete glove to hand transfer
Two innings later, LSU shortstop Kramer Robertson completely lost his head for the second time this CWS and failed to cleanly transfer the ball from his glove to his hand on a routine grounder. This led to a three-run third inning for Florida.
Robertson has had a rough time in Omaha, failing to hit in clutch situations and committing boneheaded errors like the one above. Still, though, he’s put himself on base when needed, and those behind him in the Tigers’ lineup have batted him home. He in fact snuck under a crazy jumping tag at home in the bracket round against Florida State, a game which LSU eventually won. He’s all over the place in this year’s CWS.
Robertson would eventually redeem himself, however, stabbing a big time catch in the gap to save a single in the fifth.
The .413 hitter still has yet to really find his bat in Omaha, but with plays like that, he’s easily forgiven.
Bottom of the third: Florida’s shortstop ends the inning on tremendous catch in foul territory
But the Tigers didn’t own a monopoly on the day’s theatrics. Previous to Robertson’s gymnastics, Florida’s shortstop Guthrie had set the bar for spectacular foul territory pop fly catches, skying out to haul in a ball slapped toward the LSU dugout.
Dirt in the mouth — nothing like it. Guthrie ended the day with one hit, but with fielding prowess like this, who needs a bat?
Bottom of the sixth: LSU sends a bat into the photog den
But enough with highlights. Tiger big bat Greg Deichmann — normally a human highlight reel himself — came up in the bottom of the sixth hoping to cut into Florida’s 3-1 lead and instead let his cut get away from him, heaving his bat into the first base line’s photographers pool.
A dangerous situation, to be sure, but nowhere near the level of failure that Tim Tebow achieved in Charleston, S.C. a couple weeks ago, flinging his bat into the second level stands at Mayor Joe Riley Park. Even so, Deichmann and Tebow are a perfect pair, insofar as both of them ended their at-bats by striking out. Such is life in baseball.
Bottom of the eighth: LSU runner is probably safe at second, but called out nonetheless
In the bottom of the eighth inning, real controversy broke out on a close call at second, as LSU third baseman Josh Smith tried to stretch a single into a double and was perhaps tagged out on his slide into second.
Smith does in fact appear to slither his way around Guthrie’s attempt at tagging him, though he also slides off the bag so who can be sure. The play of course plated Deichmann for LSU’s third run of the night to pull them within one, but Beau Jordan grounded out to follow and end the inning. In any case, this put one more nail into LSU’s collective coffin in the ninth inning, and the Gators would go on to take the outing, 4-3.
Game 2 is at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday night.
