Gators advance to College World Series final

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My Gators keep on rolling, knocking off Vanderbilt, and will now deal with South Carolina

Florida is in the College World Series finals, which is right where most people in college baseball figured they would be all along.

The second-seeded Gators advanced with a 6-4 victory over Vanderbilt on Friday. Preston Tucker drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to offset a shaky bullpen that squandered a three-run lead.

Florida (53-17) will play South Carolina (53-14) in the best-of-three finals starting Monday. The Gamecocks advanced with a 3-2, 13-inning win over Virginia.

For the Gators, it’s the place to be to finish a year in which they were the preseason No. 1-ranked team, won the Southeastern Conference tournament and lost back-to-back games on only two occasions.

“You have to feel fortunate,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You’ve got to have some breaks along the way. This is a long grind. This team, from day one, its goal was to set out to play for the national championship. That doesn’t always come in the end, doesn’t always work out that way. But they’ve been focused, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Darned proud of my Gators, and the SEC too