OMAHA, Neb. -- The Gators lost their starting pitcher after one inning, and then they fell behind by four runs to Kent State in the College World Series elimination game on Monday afternoon.
And with their season on the line, the Gators had the bases loaded with only one out in the top of the ninth inning. That's when their comeback attempt fizzled in a 5-4 loss to the Golden Flashes, ending the Gators' bid to win the program's first national title.
Florida's third consecutive trip to the CWS came to a crashing halt when Justin Shafer's fly ball landed in Kent State right fielder T.J. Sutton's glove for the final out.
The underdog Golden Flashes had survived an inning that started with 11 consecutive balls to Florida batters. However, the Gators failed to score the tying run, making their stay in Omaha a short one after advancing all the way to the championship series a year ago.
The game started ominously for Florida when starting pitcher Hudson Randall had to leave after the first inning due to heat-related symptoms.
Kent State led 4-0 after two innings. The Gators clawed back and trimmed the lead to 5-4 in the seventh when they loaded the bases. However, only one run scored on Brian Johnson's double-play grounder to second.
Florida's season ended in the ninth when Shafer lifted a fly ball against Golden Flashes reliever Josh Pierce, who was aided by a check-swing third strike on Casey Turgeon the previous batter after the plate umpire originally called a ball. However, he was overruled by the third-base ump for the second out.
"The game was not decided by the umpires,'' Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.
Instead, a dejected O'Sullivan said the Gators simply didn't play well enough early, setting the stage for the dramatic comeback to fall short.
"I didn't expect anything different,'' O'Sullivan said. "We were not going to lay down."
Florida finishes the season 47-20.
