Florida edges LSU 4-3 in finals opener
OMAHA, Neb. — Florida got a dominant performance from Brady Singer, a big defensive play when LSU was threatening and just enough offense.
Now, after a 4-3 win in Game 1 of the College World Series finals Monday night, the Gators are one win from their first national championship in baseball.
But with LSU all-time wins leader Jared Poche’ starting Tuesday and first-round draft pick Alex Lange available if there’s a Game 3, the Tigers believe this best-of-three series matching SEC rivals is just getting started.
“We’ve got to play better if we want to win this thing,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s not near over. We got six hits tonight, and Brady had to pitch his tail off. It’s exciting to have Game 1 under our belt ... but we haven’t crossed the line yet.”
LSU’s Greg Deichmann said he and his teammates haven’t had their confidence dented. Poche’ (12-3) will pitch against Tyler Dyson (3-0) on Tuesday night.
“We’re not hanging our heads about anything,” he said. “We had a lot of great stuff we did tonight. We had a couple of tough breaks that didn’t go our way. We’re going to come out tomorrow with a lot of positivity, energy and get after it.”
Singer struck out a careerhigh 12 in seven innings before turning over the game to closer Michael Byrne, who picked up his nation-leading 19th save for the Gators (51-19). The Gators improved to 19-7 in one-run games.
Singer’s strikeout total was the highest by one pitcher in a CWS finals game. Singer (9-5) limited LSU (52-19) to three singles before Antoine Duplantis homered in the sixth.
After Deichmann doubled leading off the eighth, Josh Smith sent Byrne’s pitch into the right-center gap to make the score 4-3. But Smith was thrown out trying for second by Nick Horvath, who entered as a pinch runner in the top of the eighth and stayed in the game as the center fielder.
“That play changed the whole complexion of the game,” O’Sullivan said.