OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Justin Lamkin gave Texas A&M a second straight sensational start, Caden Sorrell homered to break open the game, and the Aggies beat Florida 6-0 on Wednesday night to reach their first College World Series finals.
The Aggies (52-13) will play No. 1 national seed Tennessee (58-12) in the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday. It will be an all-SEC final for the second straight year and third time in four.
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Just 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.
The last team to blank the Gators? Texas A&M, 10-0 in the 2022 SEC Tournament.
Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle, who lost starter Shane Sdao to an arm injury in the super regionals, turned to Lamkin for a second matchup with the Gators in Omaha. Lamkin was sharp in a 42-pitch, three-inning outing in Saturday’s CWS opener and had no problem coming back off three days’ rest.
In fact, Lamkin was even better Wednesday, holding the Gators scoreless through five innings and striking out nine. He worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the third and pitched three-up, three-down innings in the fourth and fifth before turning the game over to the bullpen.
National Stopper of the Year Evan Aschenbeck came on after Jac Caglianone singled to lead off the eighth. The Gators had two men on with no outs, but the Aggies escaped again as Tyler Shelnut and Colby Shelton flew out and Luke Heyman struck out for the fourth time. Aschenbeck worked around a walk in the ninth, with the game ending on a double play.
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 Kevin O’Sullivan and came out of the game.
Texas A&M, which came to Omaha 4-14 in seven all-time CWS appearances, beat the Gators twice while going 3-0 in bracket play. The Aggies had lost two of three at Florida in March.
Florida freshman Liam Peterson struggled for a third straight start. He walked four of the first five batters to force in the Aggies’ first run and was lifted.
With his team down 3-0 in the sixth, O’Sullivan called for reliever Brandon Neely with a man on base and one out. Neely had entered having allowed just three runs in a team-high 21 innings in the NCAA Tournament, but Sorrell turned on a 3-2 pitch for a two-run homer to right and a 5-0 lead.
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