Difference is pitching when you get to Omaha, always has been and always will be. Florida and LSU both played bam ball last year, finishing 3rd and 4th in the country in home runs per game. They just had the pitching to go with it.
EDIT: Pierce's staffs have always lacked swing and miss
Maybe but I'd be surprised, if he does I hope it is a limited pitch count. He just threw 104 against Kansas. I'd only pitch him 1 time through the order. Good opportunity tomorrow to throw Cade and Easton
A lot of that though is just the lack of support for college baseball from the schools within the conference. If you put the SEC tournament there it would be a much more enjoyable experience
Gage threw 36 innings in conference play this year without making a single start. 16 more innings than the next closest guy out of the pen which was Dre who had 20. Gage only threw 5.2 less innings than Lebarron who started 10 conference games.
The amount of stressful pitches Gage threw is pretty incredible. The offense did their thing most of the year, Ace, Max and Andre were obviously vital parts to this team being able to grind out series wins but without Gage consistently getting this team the final 6-9 outs pretty much every win, we would have been a .500 baseball team. Gage finished with 4 wins and 7 saves in conference play.