Monday, June 11

Gainesville, FL

8 PM

Florida Gators

47-19

Auburn

43-23

Auburn

Florida

Austin Langworthy gets a celebratory bath after his game-winning home run Monday night sent the Gators to the College World Series. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

Omaha Bound! Instant Recap: Gators 3, Auburn 2

Monday, June 11, 2018 | Baseball, Scott Carter

Box Score

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

NCAA GAINESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL

GATORS 3, AUBURN 2

WHAT HAPPENED: Extra innings. Diving catches. A steal of home. Home runs. Close plays at the plate. In other words, a little bit of everything happened under the lights Monday night at McKethan Stadium in Game 3 of the Gainesville Super Regional. That theme lasted until the final pitch when Florida's Austin Langworthy drilled an offering from Tigers reliever Cody Greenhill over the right-field fence with the help of outfielder Steven Williams. As Williams raced to the wall to try and make a catch, Langworthy's shot bounced off his glove and over the wall for a walk-off home run and berth in the College World Series. The Gators rushed onto the field to greet Langworthy at home, a celebration worthy of a fourth consecutive trip to Omaha. And get this, Langworthy's only two home runs of the season at home came off Greenhill. One Sunday that tied the game in the ninth, and his game-winner Monday night.

PLAY OF THE GAME: There were several, but the one that surprised Auburn and the announced crowd of 5,958 at McKethan Stadium the most was Reese's steal of home for the go-ahead run in the fourth inning. With the game tied 1-1, two outs, Jonah Girand at the plate and Nick Horvath at first base, Horvath took off for second before falling to the ground. Horvath's decoy temporarily distracted Tigers left-hander Andrew Mitchell, who after a brief look toward Horvath, turned to throw home. However, Reese's slide beat the throw to send the home fans into a frenzy.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: .Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan turned to freshman right-hander Jack Leftwich with a trip to Omaha at stake and Leftwich delivered a solid outing and departed with a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth. Leftwich allowed four hits and a run over five innings in the biggest start of his young career. He struck out three and walked two, throwing 45 strikes in his 73-pitch outing. After and UF freshman, Tommy Mace, tossed two innings, closer Michael Byrne came in and shifted momentum back to Florida's side with four scoreless innings. Auburn coach Butch Thompson called Byrne's performance the difference in the game.

STANDOUT STAT: 20 -- Junior Jonathan India hit his 20th homer of the season in the first inning, becoming the first UF player to hit 20 home runs in a season since Matt LaPorta in 2007. India is just the fourth player in program history to hit 20 home runs in a season, joining Brad Wilkerson (23 in 1997, '98), Ryan Shealy (23 in 2002) and LaPorta (26 in 2005, 20 in '07).

QUOTE FILE: "It's unbelievable. Right when I hit it, I knew it had a chance." -- Langworthy on his game-winning home run

"He is a very steady player. If you go back and look, he's been swinging the bat very well the last three weeks or so. He's got a lot of natural hit to him." -- O'Sullivan on Langworthy

"It's one of the best games I've ever been involved in. It doesn't seem real." -- Auburn starter Andrew Mitchell on tough loss

"I thought Byrne was a huge difference in the ballgame. We just couldn't get anything against him. I thought we were ready to make a move, ... but it didn't happen." -- Auburn coach Butch Thompson

UP NEXT: Nothing except a school-record fourth consecutive trip to the College World Series, Florida's 12th overall and seventh in 11 years under O'Sullivan. Florida joins Texas Christian (2014-17), North Carolina (2006-09), Texas (2002-05) and Stanford (1999-2003) as the only schools to reach the CWS four consecutive seasons since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999. The No. 1 overall seed Gators will face Texas Tech at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday at TD Ameritrade Park.

--Check back with FloridaGators.com later for more on today's game.