Florida tops Auburn; Tar Heels advance

Wil Dalton drove in two runs, Deacon Liput homered for the second time in three games and top-seeded Florida roughed up No. 1 draft pick Casey Mize and Auburn 8-2 Saturday in the opening game of a best-of-three series in the

NCAA baseball tournament.

The defending national champion Gators (46-18) are one victory away from making the College World Series for the fourth consecutive year. The Tigers (42-22) have to win two straight to advance to Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 1997.

Pitching for the first time since becoming first-round draft picks, Brady Singer outdueled Mize for the second time in 44 days. It was a much-hyped matchup of soon-to-be millionaires, with Mize going to Detroit with the first pick Monday night and Singer taken by Kansas City with the 18th selection.

Mize (10-6) gave up six earned runs on seven hits, walked a career-high four

and a hit batter. He lasted just five innings and lost his fourth straight start against SEC opponents. His ERA jumped from 2.95 to 3.30.

Singer (12-1) was much more effective despite giving up two early runs thanks to lead-off walks. The SEC Pitcher of the Year allowed four hits and two earned runs in 6⅔ innings. He struck out nine, walked two and plunked two.

UNC 7, Stetson 5: It wasn’t that long ago that North Car

olina made it seem almost routine going to the College World Series year after year. Now, after five seasons away, the Tar Heels are heading back to Omaha.

UNC jumped on Stetson starter Jack Perkins in a four

run first inning and the Tar Heels hung on to win. The host Tar Heels (43-18), the No. 6 national seed, went to Omaha six times in eight years under coach Mike Fox. They returned by sweeping the best-of-three NCAA super regional series against the No. 11 national seed.

“They get to experience something that’s going to be a lifetime memory,” Fox said. “And our coaching staff, trainers, equipment manager, operations people — they’ve all been there (to Omaha). But none of these kids have.”

And everything started Saturday with that fast start, a big first inning with the bats that are humming right now. Cody Roberts, Brandon

Riley and Ashton McGee had RBI doubles in that first inning for a 4-0 lead on a pitcher who hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a start in two months.

“Our whole game plan really was we knew he was going to throw a lot of offspeed and mix pitches up a lot,” Roberts said. “So we just knew we had to try to attack the pitches that were in the zone and lay off the ones that were out.”

Perkins (11-3) took the loss, allowing six runs and nine

hits in 2⅓ innings — his shortest outing of the year for the Hatters (48-13).