Jackson Kowar shines, Florida ends Texas's season with 6-1 victory in College World Series

The defending-champion Florida Gators got off to a rough start in the College World Series, losing to Texas Tech.

Facing elimination, RHP Jackson Kowar, a recent early draft pick of the Kansas City Royals, took the mound to take on the Texas Longhorns.

Kowar didn’t disappoint, striking out 13 Texas batters in 6.2 innings to pick up a much-needed victory for the Gators. Kowar’s 13 strikeouts were the most in the College World Series since a pair of now-MLB hurlers — Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer — did it back in 2010:

Florida's Jackson Kowar (drafted by @Royals) struck out 13 batters Tuesday at the College World Series

He's the 1st pitcher with 13 K in a CWS game since 2010 (Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer)

He's the 1st in the last 40 years to strike out 13 in a CWS outing of less than 7 IP pic.twitter.com/uRdlJSAPPq

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 19, 2018

The Gators ended up winning 6-1, with first-round draft pick Jonathan India providing half the offense with this 3-run blast:

So uh that was killed

Jonathan India can play some ball pic.twitter.com/gYYUDP3GAG

— Ben Murphy (@BenMurphyTV) June 19, 2018

The Gators now advance to play the loser of tonight’s Arkansas-Texas Tech game in what will be another elimination matchup for Florida.

The game is scheduled to start on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern time and will air on ESPNU.