It's the end of the road for the Florida Gators as they get tossed from the 2016 College World Series after being defeated by the Texas Tech Red Raiders, by a score of 3-2. This would give the Red Raiders their first-ever win in the CWS in school history. The Gators went to Omaha, Nebraska with seven of the top 108 drafted players, with very high expectations. It turned out to be the worst performances in all of their CWS appearances. The Gators registered just three runs in 18 innings and now sit at a 14-21 record all-time at Omaha.
Eric Gutierrez was the man of the night, after hitting a two-run homer in their win over the Gators. Texas Tech earned a huge run in the game on the same play, in the means of two errors in the ninth inning of the game. Florida would be defeated, giving the top seed a stunning early exit to the tournament.
Florida can take positives from this game. They turned the tables in the bottom half of the ninth, after a two run homerun from Peter Alonso, allowing the Gators to pull within one. The game would be complete when Jonathan India almost turned a single into a double, getting thrown out by Red Raider left fielder, Tyler Neslony.
Red Raiders roll
For the Red Raiders, this turned out to be a dream where one player probably had to pinch another. Neslony scored from first base, after India threw right into the dirt, trying to get Gutierrez out at first. Alonso, the Gators first baseman, bounced a throw to third, which allowed Neslony to score. This would be the double error play, that allowed texas Tech to send the Gators packing back to Gainesville, Florida.
Pitchers Davis Martin (10-1) and Hayden Howard held Florida to just six hits. The Gators starter, Alex Faedo (13-3), went strong through four innings, after being pulled when Gutierrez went deep. Howard, who entered the game in the eighth inning, surrendered only one run to the Gators, given to buddy Reed to start the final inning. Alonso went on to then, hit his 14th home run of the 2016 season.
Mike Rivera would pop out for the second out, followed by India who drilled a ball to the left corner. Neslony threw a line drive to second where teammate Michael Davis put the tag on to get India out.
Florida also had a bad night stat wise. The Gators did not have a runner reach second base until midway through the game, in the fifth inning. The Gators also had the bases loaded in the sixth, with one out, but couldn't get a run in edgewise.