College World Series 2023: Friday Scores, Winners and Bracket Results
The 2022-23 college baseball season all comes down to this.
The Men's College World Series kicked off in Omaha Friday with eight teams fighting for a spot in the best-of-three finals. Here's a peek at how the first games of the tournament are shaking out.
Find the full tournament bracket at NCAA.com.
Oral Roberts 6, TCU 5
Oral Roberts, an evangelical school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the lowest-seeded team to reach the College World Series since 2012.
As if that didn't make them enough of an underdog, ORU also headed into the ninth inning Friday down by three runs.
That still wasn't enough to stop the Golden Eagles.
Oral Roberts swarmed TCU pitcher Luke Savage in the ninth inning to put multiple runners on base. That's when Blaze Brothers smashed a three-RBI go-ahead homer over the left-field fence to claim a 6-5 comeback win.
"It was like slow motion," Brothers said after the game, per Eric Olson of the Associated Press. "Right when I felt it off the bat it felt pretty good, and I saw the left fielder kind of turn around, and I was, like, 'Oh, that ball's out. Let's go.' I just wanted to get around the bases to celebrate with the boys."
Both teams were held off the scoreboard for the beginning of the game as ORU's Jakob Hall and TCU's Kole Klecker sent batters through four scoreless frames.
Cole Fontenelle got TCU on the board first with a home run, his third in as many games, in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Oral Roberts grabbed the lead in the top of the sixth with a two-RBI homer from Mac McCroskey, but Fontenelle tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single.
ORU pitchers then ran into trouble at the bottom of the eighth, when TCU loaded the bases on a single and two walks. Fontenelle earned another walk to send home his third RBI of the game, and the Horned Frogs sent the next two more runners home to gain a 5-2 lead before Oral Roberts could close out the inning.
In the final frame, the Golden Eagles completed their last-minute comeback with Brothers' home run.
Cade Denton, who closed out the bottom of the ninth with one walk, one single, and two swinging strikeouts, earned the win for Oral Roberts. Savage recorded the loss for TCU.
The two teams will see action again Sunday when TCU takes on the loser of the Virginia v. Florida matchup in an elimination game. Oral Roberts will take on the winner.
Florida 6, Virginia 5
Virginia held a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. It wasn't enough.
Ty Evans and Wyatt Langford hit solo home runs to tie the game for Florida before Luke Heyman earned an RBI flyout to walk off with a 6-5 comeback win.
Florida scored first in the second frame after two hits, a fielder's choice, and a walk sent B.T. Riopelle home.
Gators starting pitcher Brandon Sproat then kept the game scoreless all the way until a busy seventh frame.
Ethan Anderson walked to start things out for Virginia in the seventh inning before hits from Casey Saucke, Henry Godbout, Griff O'Ferrall, and Ethan O'Donnell helped UVA gain a 4-1 lead.
O'Donnell was caught stealing to end the inning, a call which was upheld despite a challenge from the Cavaliers.
The Gators got runners on base with a hit and multiple walks in the bottom of the frame, forcing Virginia to cycle through three pitchers, but UVA held Florida to one run on a groundout to keep the score to 4-2.
Riopelle hit a home run in the eighth, putting Florida one run away from tying the game. Freshman Harrison Didawick answered in the top of the ninth with a one-out RBI triple to regain the Cavaliers' two-run lead.
That two-run cushion lasted for just minutes before Evans and Langford tied the game at5-5.
The stunned Cavaliers floundered as the Gators loaded the bases on a single, walk, and a hit-by-pitch. With two outs still left on the board, Heyman ended the game.
Jake Berry recorded the loss on the mound for UVA, while Neely, who closed out the game for the Gators, claimed the win.
Florida will now take on Oral Roberts on Sunday, while Virginia faces an elimination battle against TCU.
