Florida advances to SEC baseball tournament title game
The Florida Gators have a chance to sweep the SEC’s baseball titles.
Top-seeded UF won the regular-season crown and advanced to the league’s tournament championship game with a 6-5 win over No. 9 seed Kentucky Saturday at theSECTournament.
Florida (40-20) will face No. 3 seed LSU (43-14-1) for the tournament championship at 4:30 p.m. today, The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Eric Hanhold ( 4- 3) earned the win over Kentucky, giving up two hits during the final 3.1 innings of the contest. Harrison Bader led the Gators at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
After UF struggled hitting earlier this season, the Gators have relaxed to deliver timely hits.
“I think guys are just trying to get singles and not trying to do too much,” Bader said.“We are just trying tohit it hardand not far.”
UM FINALLY EARNS WIN: After dropping its first two ACC Tournament games, top-seeded Miami picked up a 6-5 win over Duke in12 innings Saturday.
Jacob Heyward led off the 12th inning with a double and scored off a wild pitch to giveUMa 5-4 lead. Alex Collins added a solo home run, giving UM the sixth run it needed to earn a victory.
Miami will now wait to see if it has done enough to host a regional. Home-field advantage has proven to be a considerable edge in college baseball’s postseason.
UMknocked Duke out of the ACC Tournament title game, setting up an unlikely showdown between No. 9 seed GeorgiaTech andNo. 6 seedMaryland today at 1:04 p. m. The championship game will air on ESPN2.
UCFINLIMBO: Thanks to Temple’s 9-4 win over UConn Saturday, Houston advanced to the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game instead ofUCF.
The Knights needed a UConn victory in order to win Pool B and play for the league title.
Now UCF is on the NCAA Tournament bubble and stuck waiting until Monday to learn its postseason fate. TheNCAAwill announced the 16 teams hosting regionals tonight at Twitter.com/ncaacws, then it will reveal the full 64-team field at noonMonday on ESPNU.
HATTERS FALL: Stetson jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but the Hatters couldn’t hold on and suffered a 2-1 loss to Kennesaw State Saturday in the Atlantic Sun Tournament.
Kennesaw State (36-21) advanced to the league title game for the third consecutive season and will take on Lispcomb, while Stetson’s (26-34) season came to an end.
Stetson’s Kurt Schluter picked up the loss despite giving up just two earned runs in seven innings on the mound. He ended his career with 190 strikeouts, fourth most among active A-Sun pitchers.
FABFIVE: IfUCFmakes the NCAA Tournament field, the state of Florida will have five teams playing in the postseason.
FSU and Florida will likely earn top- eight national seeds, with the right to host NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals. Home-field advantage for both rounds greatly increases the teams’ chances of reaching the College World Series.
Miami could still host a regional, but it’s likely the Hurricanes would hit the road if they advance to the Super Regional round.
Bethune- Cookman, which won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament to earn an automatic NCAA bid, and UCF are both expected hit the road and play in one of the in-state regionals.