No. 1 Florida walks off with trip to College World Series
Defending national champion Florida, Texas, Texas Tech and Arkansas won their winner-take-all games in the NCAA Tournament best-of-3 super regionals Monday and are headed to the College World Series.
The No. 1 national seed Gators beat Auburn 3-2 in 11 innings in Gainesville, Florida, when Austin Langworthy’s deep drive to right field glanced off Steven Williams’ glove and went over the fence for a walk-off home run.
Kody Clemens homered for a third straight game, and fill-in starter Matteo Bocchi held Tennessee Tech to one run in a career-high five innings as the Longhorns locked up their NCAA record-extending 36th CWS appearance with a 5-2 win in Austin.
Texas Tech’s Gabe Holt, Brian Klein and Michael Davis homered, and the Red Raiders beat Duke 6-2 in Lubbock Texas, for their third trip in five years to the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska.
Arkansas’ Carson Shaddy hit a three-run homer in a five-run first inning, and the Razorbacks reached the CWS for the first time since 2015 with a 14-4 win over South Carolina in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Florida, in the CWS for the fourth straight year, prevailed in what turned into a duel between relievers Michael Byrne and Auburn’s Davis Daniel. Byrne pitched four innings, allowed one hit and struck out five. Daniel threw 5 1/3 innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts.
Cody Greenhill entered with one out in the 10th and faced Langworthy, who homered off him Sunday, to start the 11th. Langworthy connected on a 1-and-2 fastball, and it appeared Williams would make the catch, but the ball went off his glove and out.
“I just saw a pitch up, and I happened to get good barrel to it, and I saw it go out of the yard,” Langworthy said, “and I was stoked to put my team back to Omaha for the second straight year for me.”
Texas’ Bocchi was called on to make his fourth start of the season because the team’s No. 3 starter, Blair Henley, was unavailable after throwing three innings of relief Sunday.
David Pierce is taking the Longhorns to Omaha in his second year as coach after spending the previous five seasons at Tulane and Sam Houston State.
“I’ve said before: We’re not always pretty; a lot of times we’re ugly,” Pierce said. “But we just figure out how to keep playing, and that’s what’s so special about this group.”
Texas Tech’s Josh Jung went 4-for-5 and Holt, the Big 12 freshman of the year, continued his postseason tear by going 2-for-4. Holt finished the super regional 7-for-12.
John Mcmillon and Dylan Dusek combined to pitch three innings of shutout relief, with Mcmillon getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth with the Red Raiders up 4-2.