The University of Florida rallied from an early deficit to grab an 8-4 victory over the University of Texas in the opener of the College World Series. With the victory, the Gators will now face Vanderbilt in the winner’s bracket on Monday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Florida improved to 51-17 on the year while Texas dropped to 49-18.
After trailing 3-0 early, the Gators scored five straight runs in a variety of ways before a two-out RBI double by Texas cut the Gator lead to 5-4 in the seventh before Brian Johnson responded with an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh and Bryson Smith added an RBI in the bottom of the eighth to finish the scoring.
The Gators sent right-handed sophomore starter Hudson Randall (11-3 after the win) to the mound, while Texas countered with Taylor Jungmann (13-3), a first round pick earlier this month by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Randall gave up a two-out single in the first, but no real threat, and retired six of seven batters through two innings.
The Longhorns opened the scoring in the top of the third after a pair of errors by the Gators put runners on first and second, bringing the top of the order around for Texas. Tant Shepherd delivered an RBI single to put the Longhorns up 1-0 and put runners on the corners with no one out. Mark Payton followed with a sacrifice fly to give Texas a 2-0 lead. Eric Weiss followed with another sacrifice fly to give the Longhorns a 3-0 lead.
All three runs were unearned.
Like Randall, Jungmann retired six of the first seven batters before running into trouble in the third. He issued walks to Daniel Pigott and Cody Dent to open the third. After a failed sacrifice bunt led to Pigott being thrown out at third, Bryson Smith got the Gators on the board with an RBI single. A passed ball cut the lead to 3-2.
Tyler Thompson walked in the bottom of the fourth and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs Pigott drove a double over the right fielder to knot the game, 3-3. A batter later Dent delivered an RBI double down the left field line to give the Gators their first lead of the game, 4-3.
In the bottom of the fifth Jungmann hit Bryson Smith and that was all for the Longhorns starter, as he lasted just 4.1 innings. Preston Tucker then greeted reliever Hoby Milner with a double into right center to score Smith from first base and give the Gators a 5-3 lead.
Randall was in control nearly the entire game with the exception of the third inning when Texas benefitted from two errors, and the seventh when the Longhorns strung together a pair of hits. A double by Jordan Etier cut the lead to 5-4 with a two-out double down the left field line and that was all for Randall, who went 6.2 innings, gave up five hits and only one earned run. With the tying run at second, Greg Larson shut the door on the Longhorns with a strikeout of lead-off hitter Shepherd.
In the bottom of the seventh the Gators quickly responded when Johnson, in his first game back since May 28, hit what replay showed to be a home run. The umpires do not have the benefit of using instant replay in the College World Series, and it was ruled a two-run double that gave the Gators a 7-4 lead.
A single by Smith with two outs in the bottom of the eighth gave the Gators an 8-4 lead and a cushion heading into the ninth inning.
Florida is making back-to-back appearances in the College World Series for the first time in school history, and making the seventh CWS appearance in program history.
The Gators now face Vanderbilt on Monday night at 7 p.m. in the fifth meeting of the year between the two teams. Florida has won three of the first four meetings, including a 5-0 decision in the SEC Tournament title game.
