Baker’s big blast gives TCU win; No. 1 Florida falls to Chanticleers

Luken Baker hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the ninth and TCU beat No. 5 national seed Texas Tech 5-3 on Sunday in a College World Series meeting of Big 12 rivals.

The Horned Frogs (48-16) trailed by a run after Hunter Hargrove’s tiebreaking double in the bottom of the eighth. But after reliever Robert Dugger issued a walk to start the ninth and gave up a single to Evan Skoug, Baker sent a towering shot just inside the left-field foul pole into the seats above the bullpen.

Freshman closer Durbin Feltman came on and pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save.

TCU, in the CWS for the third straight year, will play a Bracket 2 winners’ game Tuesday night against the winner of Sunday night’s game between Coastal Carolina and No. 1 Florida. The Red Raiders (46-19), who went 0-2 in 2014 in their only other CWS appearance, will try to stay alive against the Coastal Carolina-Florida loser on Tuesday afternoon.

Cam Warner homered for the third time in the NCAA Tournament and sixth time this season to put TCU up 2-1 in the fifth, but Tanner Gardner doubled in a run in the bottom half to tie it.

TCU reliever Brian Trieglaff retired eight straight batters before Corey Raley singled with one out in the eighth. After Tyler Neslone struck out and Raley stole second, Trieglaff intentionally walked Big 12 player of the year Eric Gutierrez. Hargrove followed with a hard shot down the left-field line to bring home the go-ahead run, ending Trieglaff’s streak of 12 1/3 shutout innings over eight appearances.

Dugger (6-1), who had pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings in the NCAA Tournament, came on for the ninth and struggled. A walk to Austen Wade and Skoug’s single set the stage for the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Baker to go deep for the 10th time this season.

Ryan Burnett (3-1) pitched a third of an inning and earned the win.

Tech, the Big 12’s regular-season champion, had won two of three against the Frogs before Sunday. The teams didn’t meet in the conference tournament, which TCU won.

Coastal Carolina pitcher Andrew Beckwith, right, beats Florida’s Jeremy Vasquez (24) to first base for an out during the eighth inning.

(Mike Theiler / Associated Press)

Coastal Carolina 2, Florida 1: Andrew Beckwith matched his career high with seven strikeouts, Zach Remillard doubled and tripled in runs, and Coastal Carolina upset No. 1 national seed Florida 2-1 on Sunday night in the program’s first College World Series game.

The Chanticleers of the Big South Conference pulled the stunner against the vaunted Florida pitching staff that sent to the mound two first-round picks, a second-rounder, third-rounder and 10th-rounder.

Beckwith (13-1), never drafted, put on a dazzling and efficient performance mixing sidearm and overhand deliveries. The Gators’ only run came on Jeremy Vasquez’s pinch single in the fifth. Beckwith allowed two singles the rest of the way and retired the last 10 batters in the first complete game of his career.

He set down the Gators’ 3-4-5 batters in the bottom of the ninth. Peter Alonso popped out and JJ Schwarz grounded out. That prompted the Chanticleers’ fans to start chanting “C-C-U! C-C-U!” and “Let’s go Coastal!” before Mike Rivera grounded out, with shortstop Michael Paez double-pumping on his throw to first.

The biggest victory in Coastal Carolina’s history comes in the third stage of its incredible postseason run. The Chanticleers beat host North Carolina State in the regional final and swept No. 8 national seed LSU on the road in super regionals to advance to Omaha.

The Chanticleers (50-16) have won 39 of their last 47 games and will play TCU in a Bracket 2 winners’ game on Tuesday night. The Gators (52-15), who came here favored to win the program’s first national title, will try to stave off elimination against Texas Tech that afternoon.

The Chanticleers got to Florida starter Logan Shore (12-1) for five hits — two triples and three doubles. The Oakland Athletics’ second-round draft pick left with none out in the sixth after Remillard’s RBI triple past Buddy Reed in left center put the Chanticleers up 2-1.

Coastal Carolina had chances to add to its lead in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. First-round pick Dane Dunning extinguished the threat in the sixth, third baseman Jonathan India turned a double play to end the seventh and third-rounder Shaun Anderson cleaned up a mess in the eighth after Dunning and first-rounder A.J. Puk hit batters to load the bases.

Coastal Carolina opened the scoring in the third inning after a video review overturned a foul-ball call. With runners on first and second, Remillard launched a fly down the right-field line. First-base umpire Jeff Doy ruled the ball foul, but video showed the ball landed on the line. After umpires conferred for just over 4 minutes, they directed Anthony Marks to score from second and Connor Owings to go from first to third and Remillard to go to second.

A No. 1 national seed hasn’t won the national championship since Miami in 1999, the first year of the current tournament format.