College World Series Finals: South Carolina Beats Florida 2-1 in Game 1

The South Carolina baseball team is one win away from its second straight national championship.

Back-to-back throwing errors by Florida allowed Christian Walker to score in the top of the 11th to break a 1-1 tie and give defending national champion South Carolina the go-ahead run in a 2-1 win over the Gators Monday night in Game 1 of the best-of-three College World Series Finals.

Game 2 between the Southeastern Conference rivals is Tuesday night.

The defenses shined in the first two innings, but in the third, Florida (53-18) chalked up the first run of the evening.

After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Tyler Thompson scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Dent to give the Gators a 1-0 advantage.

The bats remained cold due to near picture-perfect pitching by both staffs until the eighth inning, when South Carolina (54-14) finally found some magic of its own.

With two outs, Scott Wingo's RBI single to center tied the score at one. The hit also sent Gator starting pitcher Hudson Randall, who struck out six Gamecocks in eight innings, to the Florida dugout.

The Gators would load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out, but a double play by South Carolina sent the game to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 11th, Walker stole second, then advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Another throwing error by the center fielder allowed Walker to score.

Game 2 from Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park starts Tuesday night at 8 ET on ESPN.

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