Gators Win an Instant Classic, Earn Trip to College World Series – Florida Gators

CLEMSON, S.C. — In an age when people record and share the most mundane of tasks, from Taco Tuesdays to bathing the dog, and almost every major sporting event is broadcast live and ready for instant download, what transpired from mid-afternoon to early evening on Sunday here at Kingsmore Stadium might not be believed unless you saw it with your own eyes.

Even then, you may need to watch a replay to ensure that what you think happened actually happened.

“This is the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Gators shortstop Colby Shelton said afterward. “The longest game I’ve ever been a part of. Both teams going at it back and forth.”

Florida and Clemson, in Game 2 of the Clemson Super Regional, staged what should be considered an instant classic in college baseball. The Gators and Tigers battled for 13 innings, sat through multiple umpire delays, and traded leads five times in front of a sold-out, amped-up crowd eager for a Game 3 on Monday.

In the end, the Clemson faithful left disappointed thanks to a most unlikely walk-off hero, Gators No. 9 hitter Michael Robertson. A soft-hitting center fielder who was 0-for-7 this season with the bases loaded, Robertson stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 13th, with Florida trailing by a run.

Robertson took a ball on the first pitch from Tigers lefty reliever Ethan Darden, the 11th pitcher to take the mound in Sunday’s epic 5-hour, 4-minute marathon. Robertson didn’t let Darden’s second pitch go by. He sliced a two-run double to left-center that split the Clemson outfielders and rolled to the wall.

Robertson’s game-winner sealed Florida’s 11-10 victory and clinched the program’s 14th all-time berth in the College World Series.

“I was just looking from something up in the zone, a good pitch to hit,” Robertson said. “It was there. I thought I got enough barrel for it to find the gap.”

In an instant, Clemson’s dream of a trip to Omaha died, and the most improbable postseason run in Gators history remained alive and well. Florida, with a 28-27 record at the start of the NCAA Tournament, won for the fifth consecutive time, something it did only once in the regular season (a five-game winning streak the second week of the season).

Gators fans will be talking for years about the way it happened. Here are some of the moments they will recall:

• In the bottom of the first, Gators two-way star Jac Caglianone put the Gators ahead with a towering two-run homer to center that cleared the top of the batter’s eye wall. Caglianone, also Florida’s starting pitcher in Game 2, was then involved in a brief tussle with Clemson’s Nolan Nawrocki in the top of the second when Nawrocki took exception to Caglianone tagging him out on a slow tapper to the pitcher along the first-base line. The players shoved each other and exchanged words, and the quarrel quickly ended. However, an 18-minute delay followed as umpires tried to sort out the mess when Clemson players came out of the dugout. Tigers first baseman Jack Crighton, who was at second and rounding third on the play, was ejected for what umpires deemed interjecting himself into the melee. Both teams received warnings, and play resumed.
• Clemson took a 3-2 lead on Blake Wright’s two-run homer in the third, and Shelton tied the game in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single. Shelton struck again in the fifth with a two-run single, putting the Gators up 5-3.
• The Tigers trimmed the lead to 5-4 on a solo homer by Jimmy Obertop in the sixth, but Brody Donay’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth gave the Gators a 7-4 lead. The Tigers scored twice in the eighth to make it 7-6, but the Gators responded again, this time a two-out, two-run homer from Ashton Wilson for a 9-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
• Clemson refused to wilt and, in their final at-bat in the ninth, put two runners on against Gators closer Brandon Neely a day after Neely threw 59 pitches and earned the save in Florida’s 10-7 Game 1 victory. Up stepped Tigers center fielder Cam Cannarella with one out. Following a visit from head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, Neely threw a first-pitch fastball that Cannarella deposited over the right-field wall for a game-tying, three-run homer to tie the game 9-9.
• The drama was only beginning as the game went to extra innings. The Gators appeared ready to walk-off the Tigers in the bottom of the 10th when Wilson, who had barely played a month ago but was named Most Outstanding Player in the Stillwater (Okla.) Regional, drilled a pitch from Austin Gordon deep to center field with the winning run at second base. Somehow, Cannarella raced to the fence and made a Willie Mays over-the-shoulder catch as he crashed into the wall to keep Clemson’s season alive. “I was floored,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s one of the best catches I’ve ever seen. I’m not quite sure I’ve seen a play like that in that situation. I was astounded, honestly.”
• The teams traded missed opportunities until the 13th when Clemson leadoff hitter Alden Mathes connected for the Tigers’ fourth home run of the game, this one a two-out solo shot off UF reliever Luke McNeillie that put the Tigers ahead 10-9. It would have been a two-run homer had Donay not picked off Clemson pinch-runner Devin Parks at first base two batters earlier. Meanwhile, Mathes slammed his bat down on the Tigers Paw logo near home plate as he began to round the bases. The umpires convened to discuss the matter, and by the time play resumed, Clemson head coach Erik Bakich and former legendary Clemson coach Jack Leggett, now a program assistant, were ejected from the game. As Bakich exited the field after following first-base umpire Billy Van Raaphorst for an explanation, he pumped his fist to fire up the crowd.

Finally, coming out of another delay at the umpires huddled, play resumed with the Gators down to their final at-bat. Luke Heyman led off with a single and moved to second on a single by Tyler Shelnut. After Dale Thomas sacrificed the runners up a base, Robertson took his turn as improbable hero of an unbelievable game.

“Everybody in the dugout has their entire faith to do their job. And Mikey happened to be in the right place at the right time,” said Caglianone. “He is the most positive person. He’s always going to be rooting for his teammates to have success. Having that be Mikey right there, you couldn’t draw it up any better.”

The Gators rushed onto the field to mob Robertson as he rounded second base, his double scoring pinch-runner Jacob Guy with the tying run and Shelnut with the winning run. The Clemson crowd watched silently as Florida’s players dog piled near where Robertson’s hit landed in left field.

“An incredible game between two very competitive teams,” Clemson’s Wright said. “What a game. Credit to them for pulling it off.”

How did the Gators continue their magical postseason run after Cannarella’s late heroics, first his three-run homer in the ninth and spectacular catch in the 10th?

They kept playing.

“It just shows how tough of a team we are,” Shelton said. “No matter what the score is, no matter what inning, whether we’re down or up, it just shows we’re always going to go out there and compete. We’re always in the game no matter what.”

Drained from a game he called one of the best he can remember, O’Sullivan said that’s what these Gators do. They never give up. And he never gave up on them.

“We never lost faith in our team,” he said. “We just weren’t very consistent. At some point, when you do get in the tournament, everybody starts with a clean slate.”

When it was over, after O’Sullivan and Robertson got soaked by water buckets, after the players and coaches put on shirts and hats recognizing their super regional championship, after the last Gators fans began to exit the empty stadium, Caglianone tried to put the victory in perspective.

The final conclusion: it was worth every minute of every hour during a long day at the ballpark.

The Gators can rest before they pack for Omaha, where they open the CWS on Saturday against Texas A&M.

“I’d rather play two [extra] hours today than three hours tomorrow,” Caglianone said.