TCU and UCLA win openers in the College World Series

Associated Press

OMAHA, NEB.

Undefeated freshman Matt Purke limited Florida State to four singles and one unearned run over seven innings and Omaha newcomer TCU scored five times in the first inning on its way to an 8-1 victory in the opening game of the College World Series on Saturday.

The Horned Frogs (52-12) advanced to a Monday night game against UCLA. The Seminoles (47-19), at the CWS for the 20th time, have lost five of their last six CWS openers and will play Florida in a Monday afternoon Bracket 1 elimination game.

TCU is the first team to win its CWS debut since Georgia Tech in 1994 — a team that featured future Boston Red Sox stars Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek.

Jason Coats’ double into the left-field corner gave the Horned Frogs a 2-1 lead before Seminoles’ starter Sean Gilmartin recorded an out.

Jantzen Witte scored on Brance Rivera’s suicide-squeeze bunt in the third and Bryan Holaday hit his 14th homer in the fourth to make it 7-1.

Tyler Holt lined Purke’s first pitch of the game into left field for the only ball hit out of the infield by Florida State until Devon Travis’ grounder up the middle in the seventh.

The Seminoles’ only run came in the first. Holt came around from first base when TCU third baseman Jantzen Witte picked up Sherman Johnson’s short bouncer and threw into the right-field bullpen.

Purke (15-0), who turned down a $4 million offer last year as the Texas Rangers’ top draft pick, mixed his new changeup with a fastball in the mid 90s and a devastating curveball. He struck out four of six batters after Florida State scored its run and finished with seven strikeouts. He walked four to match his season high.

UCLA Vs FLORIDA

Trevor Bauer set the UCLA season strikeouts record, and the Bruins (49-14) won for the first time at the CWS.

The sixth-seeded Bruins scored in eight innings and finished with 18 hits. Niko Gallego went 4 for 5 and Beau Amaral was 3 for 4.

Bauer (11-3) set the UCLA strikeout record in his last inning when he got Jonathan Pigot looking. Bauer struck out Preston Tucker to end the inning, giving him 11 for the game and 152 for the season.