With enemies as generous as LSU, who needs friends?

Florida didn’t look any gifts provided by the Tigers on Sunday in the mouth, in the process forcing a winner-take-all Game 3 to determine the 2023 College World Series champion on Monday night.

For Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators, the 24-4 win was a much-needed laugher after two weeks of Maalox-mashers in Omaha. All 4 of Florida’s previous games in this CWS were decided by a single run, including LSU’s 4-3, 11-inning win in Game 1.

This game probably should have been every bit as tense as the rest in Florida’s Omaha run. Instead, it ended up with a wider margin than any Florida football win over LSU since 2008.

When LSU shortstop Jordan Thompson muffed a routine double-play ball in the third inning, the Gators gladly kicked the door open.

Ty Evans’ ensuing two-out grand slam opened up a 7-3 lead that kept growing and growing. Florida scored a whooping 6 unearned runs thanks to 4 LSU errors — 2 of which Thompson accounted for.

But it wasn’t just LSU’s defense providing the gifts.

For the second straight game, Florida got a dud from its starting pitcher. Hurston Waldrep couldn’t get out of the third inning. He walked 6 Tigers, beaned 2 more and allowed 4 hits.

Despite that Orlando rush-hour level of traffic on the bases, though, Waldrep allowed only 3 runs in his 2 1/3 innings. Because no matter how many baserunners LSU gets in this championship series, it can’t figure out a way to bring them home.

Almost impossibly, LSU left the bases loaded in each of the first 3 innings. The Tigers left a total of 13 men on base, adding to the 17 they left hanging in Game 1.

Though the banks were closed, Florida spent Sunday cashing in. The Gators hit .424 with runners on and .400 with two outs, knocking in 10 two-out RBIs.

Even though it took a blowout to get us there, this College World Series is now getting the ending it deserves: a do-or-die game to crown a national champion.

A College World Series classic awaits

At the very least, we should have known that an event featuring Florida and LSU was bound to go the distance. This rivalry usually features a lack of convention mixed with a heap of contention.

SEC Network’s Peter Burns probably sums it up the best.

And now we get that messed-up cocktail on the greatest possible stage.

Don’t expect to witness another blowout. Especially not in a College World Series where 9 of 15 games have been decided by 1 run or gone to extra innings. The forces combining here are far too powerful for such a thing to happen.

When you mix Florida, LSU and the rest of the games in the 2023 CWS, the end result is likely to be unforgettable. It’s reasonable to anticipate the most entertaining baseball game, period, since the Cubs and Indians dueled in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

It’s not just that this game is for all the marbles. Or that LSU and Florida have an age-old penchant for the wacky.

For the first time this season, all 3 finalists for the Golden Spikes Award will likely be on the diamond: Dylan Crews, Jac Caglianone and Paul Skenes.

Crews, who was named the 2023 Golden Spikes winner prior to Sunday’s game, has reached base every game this season. Caglianone, a two-way star, will get the start for Florida on the mound. And Skenes, the top pitcher in college baseball, is the ultimate wild card.

Given that he threw 124 pitches on Thursday, Skenes is likely to come out of the bullpen if needed. The question is when LSU coach Jay Johnson will make that call. But it sets up the dramatic possibility of a Caglianone vs. Skenes late-inning battle with the national championship on the line.

That scenario is a collegiate version of the Shohei Ohtani-Mike Trout battle that ended this year’s World Baseball Classic.

But that’s just a hypothetical matchup. We already know the game will begin with Caglianone facing Crews. And that at-bat may very well may set the tone for everything that follows.

You could not dream of a better scenario if you’re a college baseball fan. This is the first time both teams in a championship final have each had a Golden Spikes finalist since 2000. And in this case, there are multiple scenarios for those stars to play a role in the outcome.

The stage is set for perhaps the greatest finish in College World Series history. Expect Florida and LSU to step up to the plate and deliver.