Florida Gators Stave Off Elimination After 6-1 Victory Over Texas Longhorns In CWS Elimination Game

By  //  June 20, 2018

ABOVE VIDEO: SEC Player of the Year Jonathan India gives the Gators a 5-0 lead in the sixth.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA (Florida Gators) – The defending national champion Gators stayed alive in the College World Series behind a dominant performance from starter Jackson Kowar, who struck out a career-high 13 over 6 2/3 scoreless innings to lead the Gators to a 6-1 win over Texas.

Kowar overmatched Texas all afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park, surrendering just five hits and two walks. All 13 of Kowar’s strikeouts were swing and misses by the Longhorns.

PLAY OF THE GAME: With the Gators up 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning and two on, two out, Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Jonathan India slammed a three-run homer into the left-field seats to give the Gators some much-needed breathing room.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Florida’s lineup went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position in its first game in Omaha and started 1-for-8 in Tuesday’s win. However, Nelson Maldonado’s two-out single in the fifth scored Blake Reese from second to give UF a 2-0 lead, and India followed with his blast for rare back-to-back hits with RISP. Overall, the Gators finished 3-for-13 with RISP on Tuesday.

CLOSE CALL: The Gators threatened to blow the game open early. They loaded the bases with nobody out off Texas starter Blair Henley in the second inning. Austin Langworthy and Reese singled, followed by a walk to Nick Horvath. However, Florida came up empty after Jonah Girand popped out to right, Deacon Liput struck out and Maldonado grounded out to short.

STRANGE MOMENT: The Gators led 1-0 in the third inning and had India at second base and Wil Dalton at first with one out when Dalton took off to steal second base. Only one problem: India wasn’t going and tried to go back to second. India was the one eventually caught in a rundown. However, instead of staying at second, Dalton raced back to first to erase a runner from scoring position during the base-running blunder.

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