Florida powers past Louisville in CWS
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 (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.
Louisville (53-11) 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 Ks.
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.
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.
He celebrated in the dugout by dumping a bucket of ice water over the head of a Gators staff member.
Singer hummed along through six innings, striking out eight, walking none and limiting the Cardinals to three singles.
Louisville broke through for a run in the seventh when Brendan McKay doubled and scored on Colin Lyman’s two-out single.
A base hit and walk followed, but the Cardinals left the bases loaded when Logan Taylor grounded out.
That hurt
Florida’s Maldonado, already playing on a bad ankle, hurt his right shoulder diving back to third base on a pickoff attempt in the fourth.
The athletic trainer and coach Kevin O'Sullivan tended to Maldonado, who stayed in the game after moving his arms to loosen up.
Up next
Florida plays Friday in the Bracket 2 final against the winner of the Louisville-TCU elimination game on Thursday.
This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Florida powers past Louisville in CWS."