OMAHA, Neb. — There came a moment before Ty Floyd finished the best game of his career when LSU coach Jay Johnson considered pulling him from the game.
It was the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday night in the first game of the College World Series finals, a 4-3 LSU win in extra innings. Floyd had already thrown 111 pitches, two short of his season-high, and Florida was sending three of its best hitters to the plate in a tie game.
LSU had freshman right-hander Gavin Guidry and junior lefty Riley Cooper warming up in the bullpen. Johnson thought about turning to Cooper, but he believed the game might stretch into extra innings with the way Florida reliever Brandon Neely was throwing.
“It was a little bit of a tricky spot,” Johnson said.
Johnson left his starter in there to face the top of the order for the fourth time. Floyd knew this would be his final inning, so he tapped into his last bit of energy. He struck out Cade Kurland on three pitches. Then he coaxed a pop-up out of Wyatt Langford. Maybe that would be the time for Cooper to face Jac Caglionone, another lefty, but Johnson wasn’t taking Floyd out the game then.
In three pitches, Floyd struck out Caglionone, a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award who has hit 31 home runs. Floyd flipped his right hand in the air when Caglionone whiffed, having notched his 17th strikeout of the game.
Floyd broke the single-game record for the most strikeouts in a CWS finals, surpassing the 13 set last year by Oklahoma pitcher Cade Horton. He also tied Arizona State pitcher Ed Bane (1972) for the second-most strikeouts in a CWS game.
“That’s pitching at the highest level,” Johnson said, “especially when he emptied the tank to put us in the position he did for the first seven innings.”
Floyd relied on his fastball, his signature pitch. He was touching 98 mph in the first inning as adrenaline pumped through his body, and he sat around 95 mph the rest of the night. His fastball rises with vertical break and rides through the strike zone.
“I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing predominately all year, but in this big of a ballpark, I know they have to really get it to get it out of here,” Floyd said. “But I felt like I had really good command of all my other pitches. I was able to locate it well enough for me to be able to get them off my fastball.”
It has always been a difficult pitch to hit, but Floyd was able to offset the fastball with reliable off-speed stuff that kept Florida unbalanced. He “attacked,” LSU catcher Hayden Travinski said, with multiple pitches.
“I thought we took some fastballs on the outer half of the plate, early in the count, to get us behind the count,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He threw just enough breaking balls to keep us off his fastball. And we chased a bunch of fastballs up.”
Floyd has been LSU’s No. 2 starter most of the season, but coming into this College World Series, he had not lasted deep into his two NCAA tournament starts. Floyd threw 71 pitches in three innings before a three-hour weather delay forced him out of the regional. A week later, he threw 82 pitches in the super regional clincher before leaving with one out in the fourth inning.
In two starts here, Floyd has now racked up 27 strikeouts over 13 innings. LSU lost his first start despite him only allowing two earned runs. It almost lost Saturday after missing chances to pad an early lead. Floyd didn’t even factor into the decision.
But his performance gave LSU the chance to win. The Tigers are one win from the first national championship since 2009 now, and Floyd has proven he can win on the biggest stage.
“There’s a chance,” Johnson said, “for it to be a short arc from Omaha to a big league stadium for him.”
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