Florida vs. Texas A&M College World Series Preview

Florida Gators baseball is back in familiar territory, preparing for its opening game of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. After upsetting Oklahoma State in the Stillwater Regional, the Gators moved on to Clemson where they defeated the Tigers on back-to-back days.

The two wins sent Florida to Omaha for the second straight season, and the Gators are now set for a matchup with Texas A&M Saturday at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan confirmed Liam Peterson will start against the Aggies, and Jac Caglianone will get Game 2 Monday.

“Just it's great to be back once again,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously our road to this point has been a little bit different. It seems like we've been on the road forever…Difficult road, but these guys fought through it.”

The Gators have turned it on since beginning postseason play and have looked like the team Florida fans hoped to see at the start of the season. They’re playing free. Playing like they have nothing to lose. The team has come together at the right time.

The Gators bullpen is less of a problem, Caglianone continues to be a star and Brandon Neely has put together one of the most impressive pitching performances during a postseason.

The whole Gators lineup has stepped up, getting production from top-to-bottom. Ashton Wilson has emerged as one of the most reliable bats.

“The biggest thing for me in kind of this whole group has been playing for each other to get to this point,” Caglianone said. “We kind of bought into wanting the team's success over individual success, and that's just kind of what's propelled us and motivated us to get to where we are now.”

There are multiple reasons why the Gators are in Omaha. But the biggest one is may be they’re playing with a chip on their shoulder. They’re proving the doubters wrong, quieting the critics who thought they shouldn’t have been in the tournament in the first place. They’ve gone on the road and knocked off the No. 11 and No. 6 national seeds.

They watched teammate Jac Caglianone get snubbed by the Golden Spikes Award committee, while the finalists are at home watching him in the College World Series.

They’ve proven they can compete against the best teams in the country.

“I think we've proven everyone why we should be in the tournament, and that's why we're here in Omaha,” Colby Shelton said.

But now lies the College World Series, with a field this year that may be the toughest it's ever been. The Gators were the only unranked team to make it to Omaha, and the lowest seed other than Florida is the No. 12 Virginia Cavaliers.

Under O’Sullivan, Florida has made an appearance in Omaha nine times. Yet, the Gators have only won once. The program’s first national title came back in 2017 when it defeated LSU.

And last year, they made it to the CWS Final before falling to LSU in three games. It’ll be more difficult this season, as the Gators don’t have as talented of a team. Brandon Sproat, Hurston Waldrep and Wyatt Langford were all major pieces to last year’s run.

All three are in the majors or minors, currently. Yet, the Gators have all the momentum after winning six of their last seven games. Despite starting the season as the No. 4-ranked team in the country, this almost feels like a Cinderella run.

“Every team is different, and obviously our road this year is different than in years past, but I always felt like if we could stay above .500 and get in the tournament that we would have as good a chance as anybody,” O’Sullivan said. “To get to this point, yeah, it's extremely rewarding.

"Extremely rewarding.”

They’ll begin with a matchup against Texas A&M, a team they took 2-of-3 from back in March. It was the team’s first SEC series of the season and all were competitive games. Florida won its two games by two runs, taking the series in Gainesville.

The Aggies will be without one of their best players in Braden Montgomery, who broke his ankle in their Super Regional win over Oregon. Montgomery hit. 322 on the season with 27 home runs and 85 RBI, and will be a massive hole to fill in that Aggies lineup.

Aggies ace Ryan Prager should start Saturday night. Florida faced him March 15 and roughed him up. He allowed six runs and seven hits and got through only 2 ⅓ innings. He’s struggled of late as well, giving up six earned in his most recent start against Oregon Saturday.

But that won’t matter, as Prager may have a chance to put all of that behind him against a hot Gators lineup.

The Aggies will face Peterson, who will make his College World Series debut. The freshman struggled in his last start against Clemson, but that didn’t phase O’Sullivan into making a change.

“I don't like to make major changes this time of year,” the head coach said. “We've gotten to this point because we've done it a certain way. Liam has pitched really well against some really good teams down the stretch. I know he wasn't pleased with his last start at Clemson, but I firmly believe he will learn from that experience and give us a chance on Saturday.”