State scoreboard, Saturday, June 8

Jimmy Obertop tied Blake Wright
for the team lead with his 21st homer
of the season. (Clemson photo)

Player of the day: Jimmy Obertop, Clemson, 1B, HR, BB

NCAA Clemson Super Regional
* Florida 10, Clemson 7 - The Gators scored seven runs in the fifth inning - with Jac Caglianone's three-run homer giving them the lead - and held on to take the first game of the best-of-three series over the third-ranked Tigers.

Game 2 is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Clemson (43-15) must win that game to force another game on Monday for a spot in the College World Series.

Clemson took advantage of the wildness of Gators starter Liam Peterson, scoring two runs on wild pitches and another on a bases-loaded walk to to lead 3-0 after two innings.

Florida got a run back in the top of the third, but Jimmy Obertop restored Clemson's three-run edge with a homer over the Doug Chapman grandstands in left field.

Tyler Shelnut homered in the fourth to pull Florida within two.

In the Gators' fifth, Michael Robertson walked and Cade Kurland singled. Caglianone then ripped an 0-1 pitch from Tristan Smith over the wall in left-center to give Florida (33-28) a 5-4 lead. The Gators scored four more runs in the inning and never trailed again. 

Tristan Bissetta homered the bottom of the inning and Clemson scored two more in the sixth, but could come no closer. Luke Heyman closed the scoring with a homer in the Florida ninth.

Brandon Neely struck out seven in four innings of shutout relief to get the save.

Alden Mathes had three hits and Obertop added two for Clemson, which struck out 13 times.

Caglianone and Aidan Knaak are the scheduled starting pitchers for Sunday. Florida will be the home team/

NCAA Clemson Super Regional

Florida 10, Clemson 7, Florida leads best-of-three series, 1-0

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Beyond the border

*  ACC: Florida State beat UConn, 10-8 in 12 innings, and Virginia beat Kansas State, 10-4, to become the first two teams to earn bids in the College World Series ... North Carolina advanced to Omaha with a 2-1 win over West Virginia. The loss ended the coaching career of WVU coach Randy Mazey, a former Clemson player ... N.C. State scored 11 runs in the second inning and Caleb Cozart hit two home runs as the Wolfpack took the opener of its series at Georgia.

* SEC: Evansville became the first ever No. 4 seed to beat the overall No. 1 seed with a 10-8 win over Tennessee to force a deciding game on Sunday. Top national seeds were 30-0 against No. 4s previously ... Texas A&M's 10-6 win over Oregon in the super regional opener included rallies from two-run and four-run deficits. The Aggies' Braden Montgomery, projected as a first-round pick in the Major League Baseball draft, suffered an apparent ankle injury in the first inning and left the game. His right leg was placed in an air cast and he left the field riding a cart. Later Saturday baseball analyst Jeremy Booth reported Montgomery had suffered a clean break of his right ankle ... Kentucky moved within a win of Omaha with a 10-0 shutout of Oregon State.

* Elsewhere: Tampa beat Angelo State, 8-3, to win the program's ninth NCAA Division II championship.