SportsJune 14, 2015

ERIC OLSON Of the Associated Press
Florida’s Ryan Larson celebrates after scoring on a two-run single by Josh Tobias during the fourth inning. The Gators scored 11 runs in the fourth and blasted Miami 15-3 during Saturday’s opening day of the NCAA College World Series at Omaha, Neb.
Florida’s Ryan Larson celebrates after scoring on a two-run single by Josh Tobias during the fourth inning. The Gators scored 11 runs in the fourth and blasted Miami 15-3 during Saturday’s opening day of the NCAA College World Series at Omaha, Neb.AP

OMAHA, Neb. - Florida is the hottest team in college baseball right now, and not even playing in the stadium where the best offenses have been shut down could disrupt the Gators' mojo.

The Gators tied a College World Series record with an 11-run fourth inning on their way to a 15-3 victory over Miami on Saturday night, the Hurricanes' most lopsided loss in their long and proud postseason history.

The outburst broke open a surprisingly sloppy game and ended with Florida having turned a 2-1 deficit into a 10-run lead on nine hits off Andrew Suarez and two relievers.

"We came out a little nervous, and I certainly did not see an 11-run inning in the fourth," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "I can't say enough about our approach there. We stayed in the middle of the field. The first few innings we tried to do too much. The big inning certainly was the difference."

Florida (50-16) advanced to a Bracket 1 winners game against Virginia on Monday night. Miami (49-16) and Arkansas will play an elimination game that afternoon.

Logan Shore (10-6) scattered seven hits and struck out six in five innings for the win. Suarez (9-2) took the loss in a 31/3-inning outing that matched his second shortest of the season.

This was the 241st or 242nd meeting between Florida and Miami - the schools don't agree on the number - but the first at the CWS. The Gators won two of three against Miami in February and 20 of the last 25.

Florida is on a nation-best 10-game win streak since losing its opener in the Southeastern Conference tournament, and is batting .338 since the regular season. The Gators have outscored their six NCAA tournament opponents 68-15, and their 15 runs Saturday were the most in the CWS since Fresno State hung 19 on Georgia in 2008.

The Gators made the most of their 12 singles, two doubles, six walks and two hit batsmen.

"We didn't try for the big at-bat or to hit it out," Josh Tobias said. "We tried to ground out at-bats, keep it up the middle, take walks and add on with each at-bat, string them together."

Miami, making its 24th appearance in the CWS and in the NCAA tournament for a 43rd straight year, hadn't been beaten so thoroughly in a postseason game losing 16-5 to Florida in the 2009 regionals.

"Fourth inning says everything about the game," Hurricanes coach Jim Morris said. "Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Ten runs are pretty difficult to come back from. Beforehand I mentioned that if you give Florida an opportunity and put them on base, they'll get after you. That's exactly what happened."

People in college baseball have been waiting for an uptick in offense since the CWS moved to TD Ameritrade Park in 2011. The signs were positive in the first two games played with the new flat-seam ball.

Virginia and Arkansas combined for two home runs in Saturday's first game. Last year's 16-game total was three.

Florida became only the fourth team in 61 CWS games at the stadium - and first in 27 games since 2013 - to score 10 or more runs. Per-team scoring bottomed out at three runs a game the last two years.

Virginia 5, Arkansas 3

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OMAHA, Neb. - Virginia's Kenny Towns thrives on the pressure this time of year. So he was right where he wanted to be in a tie game late in the opener of the College World Series.

Towns delivered a tiebreaking eighth-inning double after Daniel Pinero stole second and third base, and the Cavaliers defeated Arkansas 5-3 on Saturday.

"I feel comfortable in the postseason with games on the line. The past couple years I've been here and I've gotten used to it," said Towns, whose 22 RBI in 26 career NCAA tournament games are a school record. "You want to rise up for your team and give them a better chance to win. I've been able to get the opportunity and succeed sometimes."

The Cavaliers (40-22), the 2014 national runners-up, advanced to a Bracket 1 winners' game against Florida on Monday night. The Razorbacks (40-24) will meet Miami in an elimination game in the afternoon.

Virginia took a gutsy offensive approach, matching its season high with five stolen bases on eight attempts, and Connor Jones turned in a solid six-inning start despite struggling with his command.

The Cavaliers, a No. 3 regional seed and the lowest to make it to Omaha, have won all six of their games in the national tournament. They've scored 27 of their 37 tournament runs in the sixth inning or later.

"That ballgame is kind of how we played the last couple weeks," coach Brian O'Connor said. "Connor Jones certainly didn't have his best stuff, but he grinded. Our plan coming into this World Series was to be very aggressive and take the fight to the other team, and we did that from an offensive standpoint."

Josh Sborz (5-2), who started two CWS games last year and is now the Cavaliers' closer, struck out five of 10 batters in three innings.

Arkansas tied it at 3 in the fifth on Andrew Benintendi's nation-leading 20th home run. That was the second homer of the game at TD Ameritrade Park, which surrendered only three each of the past two years in the CWS. Virginia's Joe McCarthy had opened the scoring with a drive into the right-field seats in the second.

The Hogs got a strong outing from Trey Killian (3-5), a ninth-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies who left with one out in the eighth after Pinero singled for his third hit. Zack Jackson came on, and Pinero stole second and third on back-to-back pitches.

Towns, a 20th-round pick by the Los Angeles Angels, fell behind 1-2 against Jackson, but worked the count full before driving the ball into right field to score Pinero.

"Having Kenny out there in a tight ballgame, end of a game, I have total confidence in him getting the big hit," Pinero said. "I knew he would get the big hit and he did."

Pinero, who arrived in Omaha with six steals for the season, had three against the Hogs. That was the most by a player in the CWS since 2004.

Ernie Clement added an RBI single in the ninth, and Virginia scored all five of its runs with two outs.

Arkansas' leadoff batter reached base in six innings, including the first four. But Virginia turned three double plays.

"We didn't get a bunt down, and a lot of times when you don't get a bunt down, you hit into a double play," Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said. "Give Virginia credit. Their pitchers got out of some good jams. We had too many runners left on."

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