Florida 5, Louisville 1

Florida entered the College World Series last year with eight players taken in the first 10 rounds of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft and was an overwhelming favorite to win its first national title in baseball. The Gators scored three runs in 18 innings and became the first Southeastern Conference team since 2007 to go two games and out.

This year, with 16 freshmen and sophomores and two 2017 draft picks, the Gators have allowed one run in their first two games and are one victory from playing in the best-of-three finals next week.

A couple guys who went through that 0-2 debacle last year played major roles in the Gators’ win over Louisville on Tuesday night. Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings, Deacon Liput hit a three-run homer, and Florida (49-18) has won its first two CWS games for the first time in four appearances since opening 3-0 and reaching the finals in 2011.

“We learned so much last year, going two and out, and now winning the first two games, we’ve learned a lot,” Singer said. “Obviously, slow the heart rate down and then just pitching to your strengths and hitting to your strengths and doing what you’ve always done.”

Florida plays Friday in the Bracket 2 final against the winner of the Louisville-TCU elimination game on Thursday.

Louisville (53-11) managed one run and six hits and struck out nine times against Singer (8-5). Florida pitchers finished with 10 strikeouts, making it their fifth straight game with double-digit Ks.

Left-handed-swinging freshman Austin Langworthy sliced a ball just inside the left field foul pole in the third inning and Liput hit a three-run homer to right in the fourth. Both homers came against Louisville starter Kade McClure (8-4), who otherwise was impressive in striking out nine and walking one in six innings.

“I thought the stuff was electric,” Cardinals coach Dan McDonnell said. “He just had that one hiccup in the fourth. I know that’s going to eat him up.”

The 6-foot-7, 230-pound McClure walked Nelson Maldonado with two outs in the fourth and Jonathan India blooped a single before Liput drove a low 1-2 pitch into the bullpen for his second homer in four games and third of the season.

“A four-pitch walk is on me, and then a jam shot and (Liput) golfed the ball over the fence,” McClure said. “That’s what happens. Like Coach said, it’s baseball. Not too worried about it.”

Singer hummed along through six innings, striking out eight, walking none and limiting the Cardinals to three singles. Louisville broke through for a run in the seventh when Brendan McKay doubled and scored on Colin Lyman’s two-out single. A base hit and walk followed, but the Cardinals left the bases loaded when Logan Taylor grounded out.

“I guess I was getting a little bit tired,” Singer said. “I just had to fight through it.”

Now the Gators get two days off and will be content to face Louisville or TCU at the end of the week.

“I’ll be honest with you,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said, “I stay out of their way. Every team’s different. You just hope that the more times you come out here (to Omaha), you get more relaxed. And let’s face it, you have to have breaks go your way, too.”

Florida’s Maldonado, already playing on a bad ankle, hurt his right shoulder diving back to third base on a pickoff attempt in the fourth. The athletic trainer and O’Sullivan tended to Maldonado, who stayed in the game after moving his arms to loosen up.

TCU 4, Texas A&M 1

Roommates Brian Howard and Ryan Merrill are going to have plenty to talk about around their apartment whenever they and the rest of the TCU Horned Frogs return to Fort Worth.

Howard matched his career high with 12 strikeouts in seven-plus innings. Merrill, playing before friends and family in his hometown, homered to start a three-run third inning and the roomies helped keep the Frogs’ season going with a win over Texas A&M in an elimination game.

“Big Game Howie,” as Howard is known around the program, flummoxed the Aggies with pinpoint location of his fastball and cutter. The Oakland Athletics’ eighth-round draft pick struck out six of the first seven batters he faced and held the Aggies scoreless until Braden Shewmake’s RBI groundout in the sixth inning.

“I think today was probably the best stuff I had all season,” Howard said. “I’m pumped I didn’t walk anybody. I didn’t give up any free bases. I felt like I was attacking the strike zone from the beginning, and I was able to carry that through.”

The Frogs (48-16) avoided going 0-2 for the first time in five all-time CWS appearances. The Aggies (41-23) have gone two-games-and-out in their last three appearances and have lost eight in a row in Omaha.

Texas A&M starter Stephen Kolek (4-5) was knocked out in 2 2/3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season. Kaylor Chafin held the Frogs to three singles the rest of the way.

Howard (12-3) left after George Janca doubled leading off the eighth, having struck out 12 for the second time in four starts.

“He was coming in both sides of the plate with his fastball, and he was getting us to chase a little bit,” the Aggies’ Cole Bedford said. “He’s an adrenaline guy. When he gets in a groove, he’s got good stuff.”

Merrill graduated from Millard West High School in Omaha and passed on a chance to walk on at Nebraska, instead playing two years at nearby Iowa Western Community College. The St. Louis Cardinals drafted him in the 15th round in 2015, but instead of signing, he went to TCU for the chance to someday return to his hometown to play in the CWS.

He made the all-tournament team last year, and he made another memory in his first at-bat Tuesday, drilling Kolek’s 1-2 pitch off the back wall in the right-field bullpen for his sixth homer of the season and seventh of his TCU career. Evan Skoug doubled in a run and Elliott Barzilli had an RBI single to make it 4-0.

“I don’t hit many home runs, so I was sprinting,” Merrill said. “As soon as I saw it leave, that’s when it just hit me how cool that experience is.”

Howard, who normally keeps to himself in the dugout on days he’s pitching, said he went nuts when he saw the ball leave the yard.

“He always tells me stories about how ‘I saw them win the national championship here’ and all that stuff,” Howard said. “He’s been here since he was a kid and to see him do that was really special.”

Since the Big 12 Tournament, Howard is 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 30 innings. Howard’s 12 strikeouts tied for most in a CWS game since the event moved to TD Ameritrade Park in 2011.

The game matched teams located 175 miles apart and rivals since their days in the old Southwest Conference. TCU won three-game super regionals against the Aggies in 2015 and 16, and beat them 11-10 in 15 innings in their regular-season meeting. The Aggies still lead the all-time series 162-94-4.

This is the third straight year TCU has eliminated the Aggies from the NCAA Tournament. It’s the eighth time one team has eliminated the same team in three consecutive seasons in any round of the tournament.