OMAHA, Nebraska — Texas A&M will play for a national baseball championship for the first time in its program's 130-year history.
Jim Schlossnagle also had a breakthrough. The 53-year-old coach has taken seven teams to the Men's College World Series since 2010 (five when he was at TCU and two in his first three seasons at Texas A&M) and never reached the finals until now.
“I'm tired of leaving before the championship, so personally it's great. It's fun to be a part of it,” he said after his Aggies eliminated Florida with a 6-0 win to close out the bracket Wednesday night. “I'm excited to play against an amazing Tennessee team, one of the best college teams I've ever had. I mean, they really have a great team.”
The Aggies (52-13) will play No. 1 national seed Tennessee (58-12) in the best-of-three championship series that begins Saturday. It will be an all-SEC final for the second straight year and third time in four.
Justin Lamkin gave Texas A&M a second consecutive sensational start against the Gators and Caden Sorrell hit a home run to lead off the game.
Hours after Florida had 14 hits and scored its third-most runs this season in a 15-4 victory 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 shut out the Gators? Texas A&M, 10-0 in the 2022 SEC tournament.
“It's like you're going full speed ahead and you win the game this morning, and you come back to the hotel, everyone's in a good mood, we feel really good about tonight, and it just didn't go the way we expected.” way,” Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. “As simple as that, Texas A&M deserves to move forward.”
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 strong in a three-inning, 42-pitch outing on Saturday. He was even better Wednesday, holding the Gators scoreless through five innings and striking out nine.
“I think the most important thing is having confidence in myself and knowing that I can go out and compete and play at this level,” Lamkin said. “And I think just getting ahead of hitters and having real confidence in all my pitches really helped me.”
There was a scary moment in the top of the ninth when Florida right fielder Ashton Wilson hit his head on a padded post on the fence separating the bullpen and the field while trying to catch Ali Camarillo's drive that went toward a triple. Wilson appeared dizzy, was attended to by athletic trainer and trainer Kevin O'Sullivan and exited the game.
Few expected Florida to make the final four of the MCWS. The Gators struggled in the regular season and had to win their final series, at Georgia, to achieve the winning record needed to be eligible for an NCAA at-large tournament. They won regionals and super regionals along the way to get here.
“Any time you lose a game at the end of the year, especially in Omaha, it's going to be heartbreaking,” Gators outfielder Tylor Shelnut said. “I'm very proud of my teammates and the rest of this group who worked hard to get here… I mean, a lot. This whole year was pretty difficult for all of us. So being here was a big accomplishment.” . “.
Florida freshman Liam Peterson struggled for the third straight outing. 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 on reliever Brandon Neely with one man on and one out. Neely had entered having allowed just three runs in 21 innings, the most on the team in the NCAA tournament, but Sorrell hit a 3-2 pitch for a two-run homer to right field and a 5-0 lead.
“I remember coming to these games when I was 10 years old and wanting to be a part of this,” said Sorrell, who grew up three hours from College Station in Highland Village, Texas. “The work is not done yet.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
