No. 2 Florida hit two homers in the bottom of the ninth to pull level with No. 7 Virginia, then got a walk-off sacrifice fly from Luke Heyman to win 6-5 in an opening-round game at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Ty Evans and Wyatt Langford hit solo shots one out apart off Cavaliers reliever Jake Berry as the Gators erased a 5-3 deficit. A single, a walk and a hit batter then loaded the bases. Jay Woolfolk took over on the mound, and Heyman’s fly to center knocked in the decisive run.
Florida (51-15) advances to oppose Oral Roberts in a winners-bracket game on Sunday. Virginia (50-14) will face TCU in an elimination game, also on Sunday.
BT Riopelle homered in the eighth inning for the Gators, and he and Evans each finished with two hits.
Florida reliever Brandon Neely got the win after throwing 2 1/3 innings of one-run, one-hit ball. Gators starter Brandon Sproat yielded three runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven.
Griff O’Ferrall had a two-run double and a single for the Cavaliers. Berry took the loss after Virginia starter Nick Parker gave up one run and four hits in six innings.
–Field Level Media