OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings and Austin Langworthy and Deacon Liput homered to lead Florida to a 5-1 victory over Louisville in the College World Series on Tuesday night.

The Gators (49-18) have won their first two CWS games for the first time in four appearances since opening 3-0 and reaching the finals in 2011. They will play Friday in the Bracket 2 final against the winner of the Louisville-TCU elimination game on Thursday.

Louisville (53-11) managed one run and six hits and struck out nine times against Singer (8-5). Florida pitchers finished with 10 strikeouts, making it their fifth straight game with double-digit Ks.

The left-handed-swinging Langworthy sliced a ball just inside the left field foul pole in the third and Liput hit a three-run homer to right in the fourth. Both homers came against Louisville starter Kade McClure (8-4), who otherwise was impressive in striking out nine and walking one in six innings.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – College World Series teams have already matched the number of home runs in 2016 and are on pace to hit the most since the event moved to TD Ameritrade Park in 2011. Deacon Liput’s homer for Florida against Louisville on Tuesday night was the 10th in eight CWS games. Last year there were 10 hit in 17 games, and there were 15 in 16 games in 2015.

College baseball coaches and fans bemoaned the scarcity of homers after a total of six were hit in 30 combined games in 2013 and ’14. The numbers throughout college baseball increased in 2015 when the NCAA put a flat-seam ball into play to counter severe drops in offense since bat specifications changed in 2011. The new ball replaced the more wind-resistant raised-seam ball.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Brian Howard matched his career high with 12 strikeouts in seven-plus innings, Omaha native Ryan Merrill homered to start a three-run third and TCU beat Texas A&M 4-1 in a College World Series elimination game on Tuesday.

The Horned Frogs (48-16) avoided going 0-2 for the first time in five all-time CWS appearances and will play Thursday against the loser of Tuesday night’s Louisville-Florida game. The Aggies (41-23) have gone two-games-and-out in their last three appearances and have lost eight in a row in Omaha.

Howard (12-3) struck out six of the first seven batters he faced and turned the game over to Sean Wymer in the eighth. Merrill homered to right, Evan Skoug doubled in a run and Elliott Barzilli had an RBI single to make it 4-0 in the third.

Texas A&M starter Stephen Kolek (4-5) was knocked out in 2 2/3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season. Kaylor Chafin held the Frogs to three singles the rest of the way.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Yadier Molina and Tommy Pham both homered in a seven-run 11th inning to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1 on Tuesday night. Stephen Piscotty had a two-run double off Casey Fien after Edubray Ramos (0-5) started the inning with two walks. Molina and Pham followed with homers as the Cardinals had their biggest output of the season in an inning.

Fien gave up both homers and then a single to Chad Huffman and double to Carpenter before the pitcher was removed. Philadelphia has now lost 12 of its last 13 games. Kevin Siegrist (1-1) pitched one inning in relief to earn the win.

Mike Leake started the game for St. Louis and allowed one run and three hits in six innings.  Jeremy Hellickson gave up six hits and a run in seven innings. His only blemish was a solo homer for Jedd Gyorko in the second inning. Philadelphia scored its lone run of the game on a Maikel Franco RBI single after Leake walked the first two batters in the fourth inning.