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Florida avoids elimination, beats Central Michigan in NCAA baseball regional

FILE Sterlin Thompson Central Michigan Florida Baseball
Posted at 6:43 PM, Jun 05, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-05 18:43:34-04

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Wyatt Langford hit two home runs and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth to help Florida beat Central Michigan 6-5 Sunday to stay alive at the Gainesville Regional.

The Gators (40-23) play Oklahoma later in the day. A win by Florida would force a Monday finale.

Langford and Sterlin Thompson drew back-to-back walks to open the ninth inning and BT Riopelle’s sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position before Langford scored on a sac fly by Ty Evans to give Florida a 6-5 lead.

Ryan Slater (6-3) pitched three innings of scoreless relief to earn the win for Florida.

Langford hit solo shots in the third and fourth innings and Josh Rivera scored when he came home on a double-steal to give the Gators a 5-0 lead in the top of the fifth. Robby Morgan led off the bottom of the inning with a homer for Central Michigan (43-18) and an RBI single by Danny Wuestenfeld sparked a four-run sixth that pulled the Broncos even at 5-all.

Rivera went 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk and two runs scored.