Nice start: Chanticleers stun No. 1 Florida 2-1 in CWS debut

Beckwith ran his record to 13-1 on the season as Florida continually pounded the ball on the ground and the Chanticleer’s defense came through time and time again as Coastal won their 50th game of the season.

Starter Brian Howard was great, Luken Baker hit another bomb – this one to the opposite field on a pitch high and outside – but Tuesday night was all about reliever Ryan Burnett, who retired all ten batters he faced against CCU is a flawless 3.1 innings.

He has seemingly impressed everyone but Major League Baseball scouts.

“This trip never gets old”, O’Sullivan said Friday during a news conference in Omaha. “It came down to executing a couple pitches, and I didn’t execute them”. “We needed to take the first two days we were to enjoy it, get to see everything and enjoy the ceremony”.

All credit should go to Texas Tech’s pitching staff, though.

For college baseball players, it’s TD Ameritrade Park, located slightly west of the Missouri River in Omaha, Neb., that holds around 24,000 people for each game and the dreams of more than 200 members of the eight teams that qualified through NCAA regionals and Super Regionals. In addition to its 94 home runs, Coastal Carolina has stolen 107 bases. Foul ball was the initial call, but after the first instant replay review in CWS history – and a lengthy one at around five minutes – the ball was ruled fair. “And that’s kind of how our lineup is”.

“Supposedly pitching is the weakest part of their game but they just beat the No. 1 team in the country 2-1 and their starting pitcher pitched a complete game, so I don’t know how weak their pitching actually is”. The big fella’s hitting. We got him to Omaha, but our job’s not done.

It could have been a bigger inning, but Coastal Carolina had a runner thrown out at home and a runner picked-off second base. Alex Cunningham got Michael Landestoy to pop out, but walked Austen Wade to force in a run and keep the bases loaded.

Andrew Beckwith, a right-handed pitcher with a variety of arm angles – sometimes over the top, sometimes sidearm – bedeviled the Gators much of the night, striking out seven.

“We take it as a challenge”, Owings said. “We really came to try and compete and win the whole deal”.

With the Gators needing to win four straight to advance out of their bracket, expect a rotation of Faedo, A.J. Puk, Dane Dunning or Scott Moss and then perhaps Shore if the Gators can force a game four.

TCU ultimately came away with a 6-1 win. “I think I got Z (third baseman Zach Remillard, who had both RBI) probably about 10 ground balls”. “I’ve been very vocal about those two kids because they haven’t been the go-to guys, and for them to be at this stage of their career and finishing up their careers at Florida and ending it on such a positive note, that for me is satisfying”. I liked it enough that I found this live performance by the band in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that I thought I would share with you. “You don’t want to give any free passes by walking guys”. It was a good team win.

“He and I met after that and he expressed that really this is where his heart was”, DeCenzo said.