College World Series

For a state rich in baseball talent, Florida has had little to show for it in terms of NCAA championships since around the turn of the century.

Florida State has never won the College World Series. The University of Miami’s last title came in 2001. The University of Florida had never won the CWS in 10 previous tries.

That drought ended on Tuesday night with Florida’s 6-1 victory over LSU in Omaha, Nebraska. The Gators swept the Tigers in the best-of-three finals, blowing open a taut 2-1 contest with four runs in the eighth inning to earn the first championship in the program’s 103-year history. LSU had the tying run in scoring position in the sixth inning and again in the seventh, both times with one out, but couldn’t score.

While the Gators won the CWS for the first time, LSU lost one for the first time. The Tigers had won the title in each of their previous six appearances.

Florida’s pitching more than compensated all season long for a team weak at the plate (team batting average of .258).

“I don’t think anybody thought we would get to this point,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We had our struggles throughout the year offensively. In mid-March we were hitting about .230 as a team. They kept working and believing, and I told them before the season started that we had what it took, the ingredients, to pull this thing off.”

After more than a century of trying, the Gators are champions.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman