The SEC conference runs college sports and it's not even close. College baseball's national championship once again will be decided between two SEC foes as No. 2 Florida and No. 5 LSU will meet in the College World Series Finals starting Saturday after only three of the league's teams made the field of eight in Omaha, Nebraska. The series will begin with Game 1 on Saturday, June 24 at 7 p.m. ET. A best-of-three playoff, Game 2 is set for Sunday, June 25 at 3 p.m. ET and, if necessary, Game 3 is scheduled for Monday, June 26 at 7 p.m. ET.
LSU fans have once again infiltrated the steak city, consuming tens of thousands of Jello shots and cheering the Tigers through four straight wins to get to the final series. The Jello shot record LSU currently has will never be broken, and the fact that they have a minimum of two more games is incredible. It will be a road-like atmosphere for Florida baseball throughout the three-game series. But it won’t be anything new.
Regardless of the Gators and Tigers' conference affiliation, fans of the game should be in for a treat. This matchup pits the preseason favorite to win it all (LSU) against the SEC's regular-season champion (Florida) with three projected top-five picks in the 2023 MLB Draft on display. And the series looks like one of the most evenly matched in years. As of Friday afternoon, Caesars Sportsbook makes Florida the narrowest of favorites in this series at -115.
Both teams are stacked with top-end talent, albeit Florida may have more of it available for this series. The Gators' starting rotation is set and fully rested with Brandon Sproat likely to pitch Game 1 Saturday followed by Hurston Waldrep in Game 2 and Jac Caglianone in Game 3 on short-ish rest if necessary. Even then, Caglianone will still have four days off, the typical amount for a professional starting pitcher.
No one has a better lineup than LSU's. Dylan Crews leads things off as America's best hitter, and there isn't much drop-off immediately after him with Tommy "Tanks" White followed by Tre' Morgan. The Tigers failed to score against Wake until White hit the 11th-inning walk-off home run, but that performance came against some of the Demon Deacons' top arms, and among the best in the country. LSU features at least seven hitters whom one might consider to fall in the "plus" category nationally. Florida, on the other hand, is probably a half-step behind due to its slightly less impressive depth. The Gators hit for power as well as just about any team in the country, as six starters, Wyatt Langford, Caglianone, Josh Rivera, Luke Heyman, Cade Kurland and BT Riopelle, all have hit double-digit home runs this season. That power, however, plays down in a park that plays so big.
“They play with a lot of passion, a lot of fire,” Florida catcher BT Riopelle said of LSU. “They feed off their crowd that they have every night when they play at home, and their crowd travels well when they play on the road. So they definitely have the blueprint for a team that they have right now to play in the position they are right now.”
LSU has just as much power as Florida but is the better contact-hitting team. In conference play, the Tigers led the SEC by hitting .307; Florida was a bit behind in third place at .292. LSU topped Florida in on-base percentage, and the teams tied with 120 doubles apiece.
That slightly stronger ability to get on base bodes well for LSU in these specific circumstances in which the ballpark has taken away teams' power. Without a doubt, Florida appears to have a pitching advantage here. But if the Tigers can find a way to get to Monday, the prospect of Skenes coming back on short rest looms large.
The prediction here? Florida and LSU split the first two games. Skenes then makes some sort of appearance in Game 3 and cements his status as arguably the best pitcher in modern college baseball history as the Tigers get revenge for the 2017 CWS Finals and add to their trophy case.
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