Florida hits two homers and gets past Louisville
OMAHA — Brady Singer gave up one run and six hits in seven innings, and Austin Langworthy and Deacon Liput homered to lead Florida to a 5-1 victory over Louisville in the College World Series on Tuesday.
The Gators (49-18) have won their first two CWS games for the first time in four appearances since opening 3-0 and reaching the finals in 2011. They will play Friday in the Bracket 2 final against the winner of the Louisville-Texas Christian elimination game Thursday.
The Cardinals (53-11) struck out nine times against Singer (8-5). Florida pitchers finished with 10 strikeouts, making it their fifth consecutive game with double-digit knockouts.
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 homers came against Louisville starter Kade McClure (8-4), who otherwise was impressive in striking out nine and walking one in six innings.
Texas Christian 4, Texas A&M 1: Brian Howard matched his career high with 12 strikeouts in sevenplus innings, Omaha native Ryan Merrill homered to start a three-run third inning and the Horned Frogs prevailed in an elimination game.
The Horned Frogs (48-16) avoided going 0-2 for the first time in five all-time CWS appearances. The Aggies (4123) have gone two-games-and-out in their last three appearances and have lost eight games in a row in Omaha.
Howard (12-3) flummoxed the Aggies with pinpoint location of his fastball and cutter. He struck out six of the first seven batters he faced and held the Aggies scoreless until Braden Shewmake’s run-scoring groundout in the sixth inning.
Stephen Kolek (4-5) was knocked out in 22⁄3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season. Kaylor Chafin held the Horned Frogs to three singles the rest of the way.