Gators’ Singer hums along in victory over Cardinals

FLORIDA 5, LOUISVILLE 1

omaha» Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings and Austin Langworthy and Deacon Liput homered to lead Florida to a 5-1 win over Louisville in the College World Series on Tuesday night.

The Gators won their first two CWS games for the first time in four appearances since opening 3-0 and reaching the finals in 2011.

Louisville managed one run on six hits and struck out nine times against Singer (8-5).

Florida pitchers finished with 10 strikeouts, making it their fifth straight game with double-digit K’s.

The left-handed-swinging Langworthy sliced a ball just inside the left field foul pole in the third and Liput hit a three-run homer to right in the fourth.

Both home runs came against Louisville starter Kade McClure (8-4), who otherwise was impressive with nine strikeouts and one walk in six innings.

The 6-foot-7, 230-pound McClure had kept the game close until there were two outs in the fourth.

He walked Nelson Maldonado and Jonathan India singled before Liput drove a low 1-2 pitch into the bullpen for his second homer in four games and third of the season.

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 in an elimination game.

The Horned Frogs avoided going 0-2 for the first time in five all-time CWS appearances. The Aggies have gone two-games-andout in their last three appearances and have lost eight in a row in Omaha.

Howard (12-3), the Oakland Athletics’ eighthround draft pick, flummoxed the Aggies with pinpoint location of his fastball and cutter.