Baseball fans couldn’t have asked for more out of Wednesday’s slate with everything from eliminations to spots in the 2024 Men’s College World Series championship on the line in the three games.
Here is a look at the full schedule and results for Wednesday’s contests at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska:
The full bracket can be found on the NCAA’s official website.
In short, SEC rivals Florida and Kentucky started things off with an elimination contest. The winner stayed alive to face Texas A&M in the nightcap. If the Aggies won that, they would advance to the CWS championship. However, there would be a decisive rematch on Thursday if the Aggies lost.
In between the SEC drama was a showdown between one of the conference’s other teams in Tennessee and the ACC’s Florida State.
The Volunteers would clinch a spot in the CWS championship with a win, while the Seminoles winning would mean the teams faced each other again in a decisive game on Thursday.
Florida 15, No. 2 Kentucky 4
Talk about leaving no doubt with the season on the line.
Florida exploded for 15 runs in a dominant 15-4 victory over No. 2 Kentucky to end the Wildcats’ championship dreams. The Gators set the tone with seven runs in the opening inning and never looked back.
Brody Donay launched two home runs while going 3-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored, while Jac Caglianone blasted a long ball as well. Elsewhere, Luke Heyman went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.
Caglianone’s home run set the program’s all-time record:
Jac Caglianone's 75th career HR broke the all-time Florida home run record 💪 <a href="https://t.co/h69S1IQnuw">pic.twitter.com/h69S1IQnuw</a>
In all, each of Florida’s top eight batters in the lineup notched hits, while seven players had at least one RBI.
Starting pitcher Pierce Coppola allowed four earned runs while striking out nine in five innings, while the bullpen duo of Jake Clemente and Alex Philpott combined for a dominant showing of four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed.
The Gators will have a quick turnaround for their game against Texas A&M, but at least they didn’t have to sweat the ending of their overwhelming victory over Kentucky.
No. 1 Tennessee 7, No. 8 Florida State 2
The No. 1 team in the field is going to the CWS championship.
Much like Florida in Wednesday’s opener, Tennessee wasted no time setting the tone with three runs in the top of the first inning on the way to a 7-2 victory. Billy Amick and Hunter Ensley drove in runs in that first inning, but the fireworks came later.
Christian Moore’s RBI triple in the fourth inning made it 5-0, and Blake Burke’s long ball in the ninth further broke the game open.
BURKE BLAST TO ADD ON IN THE 9TH 💥<a href="https://twitter.com/Vol_Baseball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Vol_Baseball</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MCWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MCWS</a> /ESPN <a href="https://t.co/glsXXll6q1">pic.twitter.com/glsXXll6q1</a>
It was part of an excellent game for Burke, who went 3-of-5 with the home run, two RBI and a run scored. Moore and Amick also finished with two hits and two runs scored each as the top three batters in the Volunteers’ lineup spearheaded the offensive effort.
They didn’t overshadow the pitching, though, as starter Zander Sechrist allowed just two runs on solo homers from Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise in the seventh inning after pitching six scoreless frames at the start. He ended up with three strikeouts and five hits allowed in 6.1 innings of work.
He then turned the ball over to the bullpen, and Kirby Connell pitched 1.2 shutout innings before Nate Snead slammed the door with a scoreless ninth.
No. 3 Texas A&M 6, Florida 0
It will be an all-SEC CWS championship.
Texas A&M clinched its spot against Tennessee with a 6-0 victory over Florida to round out Wednesday’s crowded schedule. The Gators could only do so much after playing earlier in the day, and the Aggies were largely in control from the opening inning.
The victors used some small ball to push across two runs in the opening frame and then broke it open with an RBI double from Gavin Grahovac in the fifth and a two-run homer from Caden Sorrell in the sixth.
SORRELL SMASH 💪<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GigEm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GigEm</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/CadenSorrell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CadenSorrell</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MCWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MCWS</a> <a href="https://t.co/gnoq7O1mAd">pic.twitter.com/gnoq7O1mAd</a>
A 5-0 lead was more than enough for the Aggies’ pitching, which was dialed in throughout the contest.
Starter Justin Lamkin struck out nine and allowed just three hits in five scoreless innings, and Josh Stewart struck out two Gators in a key moment in the sixth with runners on second and third to preserve the shutout.
The escape acts continued for the Texas A&M bullpen in the eighth when Evan Aschenbeck induced a pop out and strike out with runners on the corners and one out for Florida.
In all, the bullpen combined for five strikeouts in four scoreless innings in a brilliant performance to push the Aggies through to the championship.
College World Series 2024: Wednesday Winners, Scores, Bracket Results – Bleacher Report
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