Gators rally for CWS bid
Langworthy belts 11th-inning HR to seal Super Regional victory
GAINESVILLE — Auburn robbed Austin Langworthy twice.
The third time, the Florida Gators’ sophomore wanted to leave nothing to chance.
A walk-off home run by Langworthy in the 11th inning delivered the Florida Gators a 3-2 win against Auburn and returned them to the College World Series.
After two diving catches by the Tigers squashed scoring opportunities, Langworthy ripped a 1-2 pitch by freshman All-American closer Cody Greenhill deep into right field. Langworthy’s booming line drive caromed off the glove of Auburn freshman right fielder Steven Williams and over the fence.
“In this game everything comes back to you eventually,” Langworthy said. “That’s how this game works.”
After Langworthy rounded the bases, the sophomore from Williston was mobbed at home plate by the elated Gators as an announced crowd of 5,958 — the eighth-largest in school history — went wild.
Meanwhile, Auburn’s players
headed to right field to console Williams, a freshman All-American who had played well all weekend but could not come up with one final play.
“He’s going to be OK,” said Auburn fifth-year senior pitcher Andrew Mitchell, who started the game. “He has a really bright future. One play doesn’t define him.”
The dramatic home run, Langworthy’s second in the Super Regional, sends the Gators back to Omaha, Neb., to defend their 2017 national title. UF (47-19) will face Texas Tech during its opening game on Sunday at 7 p.m. The Red Raiders (44-18) advanced to the CWS Monday night with an 11-2 win against Duke in Game 3 of the Lubbock Super Regional.
“I felt really good about him coming to the plate,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of Langworthy. “I did not expect him to hit a walk-off home run, but I expected him to give us a really good at-bat.”
Joining Langworthy as UF’s hero was All-SEC closer Michael Byrne.
“He was special,” O’Sullivan said of the Olympia High alum.
After allowing a walk-off double during a 3-2 loss in Game 2, Byrne entered the rubber match in the eighth inning with the game tied 2-2 with Auburn (43-21).
Byrne allowed one hit and had five strikeouts during four innings to pick up his third win this season.
“I thought Byrne was the difference in the ballgame,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “We couldn’t get anything going against him.”
The Gators took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Jonathan India tattooed a pitch by Mitchell into right center field for his 20th home run of the season, making India just the fifth UF player to reach the plateau.
Auburn answered two innings later on a single by Williams that scored sophomore shortstop Will Holland. Holland followed a two-out infield single by stealing second base to put himself into scoring position.
The Gators were in danger of stranding runners on the corners for the second straight inning, but instead took the lead on some daring and deceptive base running.
As catcher Jonah Girand faced an 0-2 count, O’Sullivan called for a double steal, sending second baseman Blake Reese from third base and and center fielder Nick Horvath from first base. Horvath even staged a slip while running to distract Mitchell, the Auburn pitcher.
It worked. Reese just beat Mitchell’s late throw home to give the Gators a 2-1 lead.
“The moment on the road, loud, there was definitely a delay,” Thompson said. “He paid attention to first instead of third first.”
O’Sullivan said last week sometimes a team needs to take a chance to pull out a win.
“You feel like a gamble play gives you a chance to score,” he said. “We just rolled the dice and it seemed to work out.”
Following a lead-off walk to open the sixth inning, UF starter Jack Leftwich was replaced by fellow freshman Tommy Mace.
A shaky sequence by sophomore Wil Dalton helped keep Auburn within a run of UF.
Looking to pad Florida’s 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, Dalton was overly aggressive on the base paths following a deep fly ball to right center field by Langworthy. Expecting the ball to fall in for a hit, Dalton rounded second base by at least 10 feet, allowing Tigers’ center fielder Jay Estes to turn an easy double play following a diving catch.
An inning later, Dalton misplayed a single to right field by second baseman Luke Jarvis, allowing him to advance to second base. Jarvis, the hero of Game 2 for Auburn, moved to third base on a wild pitch.
Jarvis scored on a line drive to right field by first baseman Josh Anthony. Dalton had a chance to erase his previous mistakes, and nearly did. Dalton rifled the ball home on the fly to Girand, but Jarvis slipped his left hand just under the tag while making a headfirst slide to tie the game 2-2.
The Gators had another chance in the bottom of the eight inning with Langworthy at the plate. This time, Auburn left fielder Judd Ward robbed the UF sophomore. Ward made a diving catch down the left-field line to keep the Gators in check and force extra innings.
“It’s just one of the games we had to stay really focused because Auburn was playing well,” O’Sullivan said. “They were making plays all night.”
But the Gators made the one that counted most of all.