Gators move on with win over Cardinals

OMAHA — Expected power on the mound, unexpected power at the plate.

Each factored into Florida’s 5-1 win against Louisville on Tuesday at the College World Series. The Gators (49-18) are off until Friday when they’ll face either Texas Christian (48-17) or Louisville (53-11) — the two teams they’ve beaten in this tournament.

Florida starter Brady Singer (8-5) muted the Cardinals’ offense through six innings. Things got scary in the seventh when Colin Lyman drove-in a run with a base hit. A single and a walk followed to load the bases but Logan Taylor grounded out keep the Gators’ lead at 5-1. Singer struck out nine, giving him 109 in 115 innings this season.

The Cardinals’ run snapped a run of 24 scoreless innings by Florida pitching.

Singer allowed four home runs May 27 of a oneinning, eight-run outing against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament. He returned for a somewhat shaky four earned in 7 1⁄3 innings against Bethune-Cookman, but has allowed one run in 13 innings since then.

Florida had five hits, but three went for extra bases. Austin Langworthy started the scoring when he hit the left field foul pole for a home run, his fourth of the season and second of the NCAA Tournament. The resulting “bong” touched off a roar from the Gators fans among the 22,222 in attendance. That cheer was exceeded an inning later when Deacon Liput pulled a three-run homer into the Gators’ bullpen, putting Florida ahead, 4-0.

Liput, who was 2-for-3, stomped on home plate when he came in after his third homer, second in the postseason.

Liput went deep the opening weekend of the season, then went 60 games until his next home run. He now has two in his last four games.

Mike Rivera, who came in hitting .235, made it 5-0 with a double in the seventh.

The walk that wasn’t

Louisville’s Logan Taylor walked in the third inning…for about a minute-and-ahalf. Taylor took what the home plate umpire called Ball 4, and Taylor remained at first base until Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan asked for an audit. Replay revealed it was actually Ball 3; Taylor returned to the batter’s box and struck out on the next pitch.

Later in the game, Florida’s Mike Rivera was hit with a pitch but not awarded first base. The home plate umpire ruled he did not make an adequate attempt to avoid the pitch. That proved to be a break for the Gators as Rivera reached second on a dropped fly ball.

TCU 4, Texas A&M 1:

Brian Howard matched his career high with 12 strikeouts in seven-plus innings, Omaha native Ryan Merrill homered to start a threerun third and TCU beat Texas A&M 4-1 in an elimination game.