A 96 mile-per-hour fastball rocketed past Oklahoma State’s Carson Benge with one out in the fourth inning. Strike three. Colin Brueggemann swung at a 95 mile-per-hour pitch that was caught well above the umpire’s head with one out in the fifth inning. Strike three. Avery Ortiz then took the plate, received two strikes, and looked at a heater that whizzed past his eyes at 97 miles-per-hour. Strike three.
Those outs silenced a raucous O’Brate Stadium — except for University of Florida reliever Brandon Neely, who strode off the mound after the fifth inning with an emphatic roar.
“He just went right at every batter,” said Jim Neely, the pitcher’s father.