Florida’s College World Series loss to LSU boiled down to one issue above all others: a starting rotation that hit the showers before some fans likely got to their seats.

On Monday night, Jac Caglianone followed in the footsteps of Brandon Sproat and Hurston Waldrep before him — which is to say, walking head-down back to the dugout way too early in the game.

None of Florida’s starters threw a pitch past the fourth inning in the championship series.

Improbably, Sproat’s Game 1 start ended up being the Gators’ gold standard against the Tigers.

It was average at best, with the biggest plus being his ability to weave out of the trouble he continually placed himself in. Sproat allowed 6 hits and walked 5 in 4 innings but surrendered only 2 runs thanks to 7 timely strikeouts.

Due to his command issues, the Gators went to the bullpen early. Sproat threw a season-high 111 pitches in those 4 innings.

Again, that was Florida’s best start in the finals.

Waldrep couldn’t even make it out of the third inning in Game 2, walking 6 and hitting 2 more Tigers to go along with 3 runs and 4 hits in 2 1/3 innings. The damage should have been worse, but LSU left the bags loaded in each of those innings.

That the series even went the full 3 games is a testament to Florida’s offense and bullpen.

The Gators got better than 3 innings out of both Cade Fisher and Brandon Neely in the 11-inning Game 1 defeat. And it didn’t much matter who replaced Waldrep in Game 2, because Florida’s offense put a record-setting 24 runs on the board.

Come Game 3, though, the Gators needed something out of their starter. This was not a sustainable path to a championship.

Caglianone was not up for the moment. It was a disappointing outcome for a player still very much on a trajectory to be remembered as a Gator legend.

With the very first pitch of the game, he plunked LSU leadoff man Cade Beloso. Though Caglianone quickly sent the next 3 batters down in order, the Beloso beaning was an omen of things to come.

The defining moment of the game came when Caglianone caved against the most lost hitter in LSU’s lineup.

Shortstop Jordan Thompson was 1-for-30 in Omaha and coming off the worst game of his career in the field. He had a pair of errors, one of which preceded Florida’s grand slam to break the game open.

It would be reasonable to assume he was not brimming with confidence. And Thompson still looked lost when Caglianone built an 0-2 count with back-to-back changeups. His premature swings indicated he was looking for a fastball.

And on the next pitch, Caglianone gave him one — right down the pike.

Based on where the catcher set up, that was obviously not the intended location. But mired in a slump, Thompson probably would have chased something well outside the strike zone. And perhaps been helpless against any kind of breaking pitch.

Instead, Thompson’s single ignited the LSU bench and crowd. Everyone was desperately pulling for him to break the slump. And once he did, the Tigers tide turned into a tidal wave of momentum. Caglianone wouldn’t even make it out of the inning.

The final line: 6 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks and 2 HBP in just 1 1/3 innings. After being staked to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

That’s the opposite of a prime-time performance.

Dropping the ball

The most disappointing element of Florida’s total pitching failure? It was the Gators’ greatest advantage entering the championship series.

Florida went 3-0 to start the CWS, allowing the Gators to set up their normal weekend rotation for the finals. And that rotation is not exactly chopped liver. Sproat and Waldrep will both be gone by the end of the second round of the MLB Draft, just as Caglianone will be a year from now.

LSU had to fight its way past Wake Forest in back-to-back elimination games, including one that burned all-world starter Paul Skenes.

Turns out the Tigers never came close to needing Skenes in order to beat the Gators.

The far less heralded Ty Floyd answered the bell in Game 1, tying a CWS 9-inning record with 17 strikeouts.

In the decisive game, part-time starter Thatcher Hurd — he of the 5.97 ERA entering Monday night — outdueled Caglianone by a wider margin than Aaron Burr over Alexander Hamilton.

After allowing 2 runs in a shaky first inning, Hurd made it all the way through the sixth. He didn’t allow any Gator runs or hits in his final 5 innings. Not bad for a guy who was lit up by Southern University in his first start of the season.

There were no such unexpected heroes for Florida in this CWS final.

Not even the expected ones stepped up.