OMAHA, NE (AP) — Florida and Florida State are both headed home. The teams’ dreams of playing in the finals of the College World Series (CWS) ended Wednesday night in the double elimination tournament in Omaha, Nebraska. Their opponents – Texas A&M and Tennessee (respectively) – move on to the play in the national championship.
FLORIDA
Texas A&M shut out Florida 6-0 to make the CWS finals for the first time in its program’s 130-year history.
Hours after Florida banged out 14 hits and scored its third-most runs this season in a 15-4 win over Kentucky, the Gators (36-30) managed just four hits and were shut out for the first time in 145 games.
“It’s like you’re going full speed ahead, and you win the game this morning, and you go back to the hotel, everybody’s in a good mood, we’re feeling really good about tonight, and it just didn’t go our way,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “As simple as that, and Texas A&M deserves to move on.”
There was a scary moment in the top of the ninth when Florida right fielder Ashton Wilson struck his head on a padded post on the fence separating the bullpen and field as he tried to catch Ali Camarillo’s drive that went for a triple. Wilson appeared woozy, was tended to by an athletic trainer and coach O’Sullivan and came out of the game.
The Gators struggled in the regular season and had to win their last series, at Georgia, to achieve the winning record necessary to be eligible for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. They won regionals and super regionals on the road to get here.
“Any time you lose a game to end the year, especially in Omaha, it’s going to be heartbreaking,” Gators outfielder Tyler Shelnut said. “I’m just super proud of my teammates and the rest of this group who pushed through a lot to get here — I mean, a lot. This whole year was pretty hard on all of us. So being here was a huge accomplishment.”
FLORIDA STATE
Tennessee is heading to the CWS finals for the first time in the modern era after it knocked out Florida State with a 7-2 victory on Wednesday to win its bracket.
FSU freshman John Abraham (5-2) was making his first start since April 9 and third of the season. He struggled with his control and faced only five batters before getting pulled with one out.
Tennessee’s win assured an all-SEC finals for the second straight year and third time in four. The Southeastern Conference has had at least one team in the finals 15 of the last 16 years. Seven different SEC teams have made it since 2009.
The Volunteers (58-12) will play Texas A&M (52-13). Game 1 is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.