2023 College World Series Schedule/Scores/Discussion

TCU eliminates Virginia by a 4-3 score.

 

Tough CWS for VA, losing 2 1 run games.

 

And we’re in the semifinals after having won two 1 run games. Not much of a margin between the two outcomes.

 

What an incredible CWS so far. Five of six games decided by one run with a couple incredible come from behind wins.

 

Gators: A win is a win but... I have concerns re- our approach at the plate and some puzzling moves and non-moves by Sully in the ORU game.
Last night we were out hit 11-5, Gators K'd 14 times, and we still won. Can't argue with success but ORU 11 hits against far better pitching shows a more balanced approach at the plate. The swinging from the heels, trying to pull everything Gators approach works until it doesn't.
I'd rather see a more balanced approach: go with the pitch and not try to hit a bomb with every swing. Lots of guys slumping bigtime led by Cags and Shelly. Perhaps time for Shelly to sit?
We're all still shaking our heads at our coaching staff (not just Sully) losing track of mound visits- a miscue that could have been catastrophic and a massive embarrassment had we lost. Thank goodness for Cade Fisher.
Not mentioned in the discussion is the non-move that I pointed out to those watching the game with us.... Gators with a 5-1 lead in bottom of 7th and there was no defensive re-allignment in the OF... Sully kept Shelly in LF and Langford in CF. I was saying: make the defensive changes now with a 4 run lead.... Nope and the result was an embarrassing 2-run inside the park HR that suddenly made it a game and got Slater yanked. Could Langford had played the ball better than Shelly?
Again, a win is a win but you can't say it was pretty. Or some might say it was a win so ugly that it was pretty.

 

Fair assessment.

 

He had some well-founded points to be sure. But I'd also agree that no one can throw shade on a winning effort when the season is on the line quite like Gator fans. We really seem to have a penchant for it.

 

I'm unsure of the origin, but I've long heard the expression "No one suffers a victory as much as Florida fans." I don't spend enough time on other team sites but it sure strikes me as correct, a highly visible minority, often echoed by sports media and magnified therein.

I've lived almost 30 years in Knoxville and Vols-heimers, and the forgetfulness the Vols display with their rose-colored view of events, is the converse of Gators poor-mouthing our own. We do it across all sports and across my entire sports lifetime. It borders on petulance, at times, and may be a result of the high bar set by Spur's teams that we cannot be satisfied with a victory; It must be a blowout or we pick nits obsessively.

I'd be discouraged if I was the object of it.

 

UVA and ORU are the types of teams that give us fits. We survived both. Our team has weaknesses but resiliency is one of our strenghts.

 

I could not agree with you more… Approach at the plate at some point may come back to bite us if we’re not super careful and maybe even lucky.

No doubt about it. Langford catches that ball in left. The last out of the game, once I realized Robertson was there I wasn’t even concerned.

and yes, a win is a win for sure, and I’m ecstatic like everybody else. It’s just that we will have to do a little more to win it all. The strikeouts are just giveaway at bats. We’ve got to put bat on ball a little more.

 

Felt like they got up 5-1 early on a team they probably felt like they could handle easily and got too complacent.

 

We have set a high bar- that is correct. This baseball team is special with very special talent that does not come together every year. The goal is winning but also working to get better.
We are the Gator Nation.... the University of Florida, and as a flagship top five public university, we strive for excellence in everything. In academics and in our sports programs across the board. It is expected.
Celebrate the victories but know that performance can always be improved and always strive to get better... that's how you win National Championships. Go Gators!

 

Well spoken.

There's a troubling aspect about expectations, given all the things you postulated above. All of those things are true and yet I think we get into trouble when we apply an if:then expectation when it comes to the variability of sport, esp. by student-athletes, whose talent is beyond question but not being applied as a professional. I think it's fair to expect skilled and fair play, even to expect to be competitive in sports, but more than almost any endeavor, the outcome in sports is always in doubt, made more so by the "amateur" status of our participants. And I tend to leave the working out of what needs to be done to wiser minds than mine, some of whom are on here...and who often disagree about what that thing should be. But this is an opinion forum and debates and discussions of woulda-shoulda-coulda are the one thing we do well here.

 

A couple of things:

1) Agree with the striving for excellence thing... I've done a bit of that in my own life as a matter of fact. Incidentally, I missed the part about someone saying anything about last night being "perfect."
2) My point remains that no fan base is more famous for pissing and moaning at every conceivable juncture...and deservedly so IMHO.

 

To be fair, I don't know much about other fan bases. They might be the same as I think Gator fans are...we just don't associate enough with them to know.

 

Yeah, I guess it's fair to be critical of coach. There were some errors. Adjustments and the ever so illusive quest for perfection prove hard to come by. But our guys whack ball out of the stadium quite regularly, so changing that up might be a double edge sword. Also, and I'm no expert, that side arm slinger was a trick and really a great pitcher. Some stumbling and bumbling will always happen.

The fact we won regardless was the most important. I'm sure the close call will have the staff meeting and planning over the next two days.

One thing I've noticed being a Gator ever since the 70's, If we aren't chewing nails off, having stomach issues and completely exhausted after a win, whelp, it just ain't Gator ball!!

(Insert shoulder shrug head tilt emoji)

Go Gators.

 

I completely understand, but this negative perception of Gator fans as uber entitled titty babies goes back to the 1960s - at the very least. In fact, I recall some hack at SI named Dan Jenkins once described Florida fans as having the arrogance of Notre Dame with the FB track record of Wake Forrest, many years before SS returned and gave us something to be arrogant about. Don't get me wrong, legitimate criticism of real problem areas isn't at issue, nor is freedom of thought and speech. But for those who may doubt the phenomena exists, allow me to refer you to Cassandra chorus in the recruiting forum.

 

It's the CWS. It ain't supposed to be easy.