Jim Schlossnagle also achieved a significant milestone. Until this year, the 53-year-old coach had never advanced to the Men’s College World Series finals despite leading 7 teams there since 2010 (2 in his first 3 seasons at Texas A&M and 5 while at TCU).
“I’m weary of leaving before the title, so personally, it’s fantastic. “It’s exciting to be a part of,” he said after his Aggies eliminated Florida with a 6-0 bracket-clinching victory Wednesday night. “Excited to play an awesome Tennessee team, one of the best college teams that I’ve ever played on—I mean, they have a great team.”
The best-of-three championship series will begin on Saturday with the Aggies (52-13) taking on No. 1 nationally seeded Tennessee (58-12). It will be an all-SEC final for the second year in a row and the third in four.
Justin Lamkin gave Texas A&M its second consecutive spectacular start against the Gators, and Caden Sorrell homered to begin the game.
The Gators (36-30) were shut out for the first time in 145 games, only hours after they had 14 hits and scored their third-most runs of the season in a 15-4 victory against Kentucky.
Guess who last blanked the Gators? A&M, 10-0 in the SEC tournament of 2022.
“It’s like you’re going full speed ahead, and you win the game this morning, and you go back to the hotel, everybody’s in a good mood, we’re feeling really good about tonight, and it just didn’t go our way,” the Florida coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, said. “As simple as that, Texas A&M deserves to move on.”
For their second meeting in Omaha, Schlossnagle enlisted Lamkin after starting pitcher Shane Sdao suffered an arm injury in the Super Regionals. Lamkin was impressive in a 42-pitch, three-inning performance on Saturday. He was even better Wednesday, keeping the Gators scoreless for five innings while striking out nine.
“I think the big part of it is just having confidence in myself and knowing to go out there and compete and play at this level,” Lamkin stated in 2017. “And I think just getting ahead of hitters and having true confidence in all my pitches really helped me out.”
As Ashton Wilson, a right fielder for the Florida Marlins, attempted to catch a triple-bound drive by Ali Camarillo in the top of the ninth inning, a terrifying incident occurred when Wilson hit his head on a cushioned post on the fence between the bullpen and field. Before leaving the game, Wilson received treatment from a coach and athletic trainer, Kevin O’Sullivan.
Few anticipated Florida getting to the final four of the MCWS. The Gators struggled in the regular season and needed to win their last series, at Georgia, to reach the winning record required for an NCAA tournament-at-large invitation. They won regionals and super regionals along the way to get here.
Like any year-ending game, the loss in Omaha will be devastating, Gators outfielder Tyler Shelnut said. “I’m just really proud of my teammates and the rest of this bunch for going through so much to get here—a lot. This year has been very difficult for all of us. Getting here was a tremendous achievement.”
Florida freshman Liam Peterson struggled for his third consecutive start. He walked four of the first five hitters, forcing in the Aggies’ opening run, and was removed.
In the sixth inning, with a player on base and one out, O’Sullivan called for reliever Brandon Neely. Neely had allowed just three runs in a team-high 21 innings in the NCAA tournament, but Sorrell connected on a 3-2 fastball for a two-run bomb to right for a 5-0 lead.
“I remember coming to these games when I was 10 years old and wanting to be a part of this,” said Sorrell, who grew up in Highland Village, Texas, three hours from College Station. “The job’s not finished yet.”
