College Roundup: Gators Beat UCF, Aggies Rally

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: won, 9-5, at Central Florida

(2) Texas A&M: won, 3-2, vs. Houston Baptist (13 innings)

(3) Oregon State: off

(4) Louisville: postponed vs. Morehead State

(5) Vanderbilt: postponed vs. Tennessee Tech

(6) Miami: exhibition at Miami Marlins

(7) Louisiana State: off

(8) Virginia: won, 16-8, vs. William & Mary

(9) Texas Christian: won, 13-0, vs. UT-Rio Grande Valley (seven innings)

(10) California: off

(11) Oregon: off

(12) North Carolina: off

(13) Mississippi: off

(14) UCLA: lost, 11-6, at UC Santa Barbara

(15) Florida State: lost, 7-3, vs. Jacksonville

(16) Louisiana-Lafayette: won, 7-4, vs. New Orleans

(17) Arkansas: off

(18) North Carolina State: won, 8-4, vs. UNC-Greensboro

(19) Coastal Carolina: off

(20) Michigan: off

(21) Houston: lost, 3-2, vs. UT-San Antonio

(22) Oklahoma State: won, 7-1, vs. Incarnate Word

(23) Georgia Tech: won, 11-6, vs. Georgia State

(24) Mississippi State: won, 14-0, vs. Alcorn State

(25) East Carolina: off

Florida and Texas A&M, the top two ranked teams, both won in midweek action to improve to 8-1 Tuesday night, but with vastly different levels of drama.

No. 1 Florida went on the road and defeated Central Florida, 9-5, in front of 3,831 fans, the third-largest crowd in UCF history. Shortstop Dalton Guthrie (3-for-6, 2 R), third baseman Jonathan India (3-for-5, HR) and center fielder Buddy Reed (3-for-5, 2 2B, SB) combined for nine of Florida’s 14 hits, as the Gators won the first game of their home-and-home with the Knights.

No. 2 Texas A&M, however, required 13 innings to beat Houston Baptist, 3-2. The Aggies twice trailed in the game, falling behind 1-0 in the fifth and 2-1 in the 13th. But they came back both times, and remain undefeated in eight meetings with the Huskies. First baseman Hunter Melton (2-for-6) provided the big hit, tying the game in the 13th with a one-out RBI triple. After a pair of intentional walks to load the bases, center fielder Nick Choruby drew a bases-loaded walk for the walk-off win.

While Texas A&M survived the scare, a few Top 25 teams were not so lucky.

Jacksonville righthander Michael Baumann, a Freshman All-American last year, did not pitch last weekend as the Dolphins opened their season against Mount St. Mary’s. Instead, the sophomore made his season-debut Tuesday night at No. 15 Florida State. The Dolphins took full advantage of having their ace on the mound, and defeated the Seminoles, 7-3, for their first win at Florida State since 2010.

Baumann (5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) picked up the victory. He threw five scoreless innings before Florida State freshman catcher Cal Raleigh hit a solo home run in the sixth, the first of his career. While the Seminoles mounted a late rally, scoring two runs in the ninth, it was too late.

Across the country, UC Santa Barbara continued its hot start to the season. Coming off winning the Tony Gwynn Classic over the weekend, UCSB defeated No. 14 UCLA, 11-6. The Gauchos (8-1) collected just seven hits, but took advantage of seven walks, five hit batters and two errors to extend their winning streak to four games. UCSB will look to keep that going this weekend when it heads to No. 11 Oregon for a weekend series.

UCLA lefthander Justin Hooper (1 IP, 0 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 2 K) took the loss in his first career start. The freshman was a heralded recruit and ranked No. 39 on the BA500 last year, but struggles with his command last spring and his strong commitment to UCLA led him to fall in the draft. While he has immense upside, he’ll have to throw more strikes to reach it.

Tuesday also included milestone victories for a few coaches. No. 9 Texas Christian defeated UT-Rio Grande Valley, 13-0, in seven innings for coach Jim Schlossnagle’s 600th career victory. Hall of Fame coach Mike Gillespie became the winningest coach in UC Irvine, as the Anteaters defeated Loyola Marymount, 5-1. Gillespie has won 313 games in his nine seasons coaching the Anteaters, surpassing the total of Mike Gerakos. And Mercer defeated Florida A&M, 11-3, for coach Craig Gibson’s 400th career win.