Top 25 Showdowns

• Top-ranked Florida cruised to an 8-0 win over No. 19 Central Florida to improve to 4-1 on the season. Jonathon Crawford, who was part of Sunday's bullpen meltdown against Cal State Fullerton, rebounded with five scoreless frames, holding the Knights hitless for 4 1/3 innings in his first career start. Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said Monday that he wasn't remotely worried about Crawford, who sat 93-95 with sink against the Titans but fell victim to some well-placed choppers, and his faith was rewarded Wednesday. Daniel Gibson, Bobby Poyner and Ryan Harris combined for four innings of four-hit relief for Florida, and Preston Tucker smacked his third homer of the season to tie UF's career RBIs record.

Other Highlights

• No. 25 Baylor earned its fifth quality win of the young season, beating Texas State 5-1. The Bears broke open a 1-0 game with four runs in the fifth, and five Baylor pitchers held the Bobcats to four hits. In five games against Oral Roberts, Texas Christian and Texas State, Baylor pitchers have surrendered just 4.4 hits per game, and 1.1 runs per game.

• Zane Evans' three-run homer in the eighth broke an 8-8 tie, leading No. 11 Georgia Tech to an 11-9 win against Southern Conference favorite Georgia Southern. Preseason All-American Brandon Thomas (3-for-4, 3 R, 4 RBI, HR) had a big day for Tech.

• Christian Stringer and Shane Hoelscher had four hits apiece and Andrew Benak struck out 10 over 5.1 innings of scoreless, two-hit ball, leading No. 5 Rice to a dominating 12-4 win against New Mexico State.

• Steven Ewing (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K) and three relievers combined on a three-hit shutout, as No. 14 Miami beat Florida Gulf Coast 3-0. Preseason All-American Peter O'Brien went 4-for-4 to raise his season average to .579 (11-for-19). Good luck finding a newcomer anywhere in college baseball who will make a greater impact this spring than O'Brien will for the Hurricanes.

• Highly touted Fr. RHP Nick Burdi (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K) impressed in his Louisville debut, leading the No. 24 Cardinals to a 7-2 win over Eastern Kentucky. Louisville center fielder Adam Engel made the play of the day, robbing Bryan Soloman of a homer run in the fifth inning. Check out the video here.

• Another freshman who looked great in his first collegiate start: Georgia's Pete Nagel (5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K), who led the ninth-ranked Bulldogs to a 4-1 win against Georgia State.

• Louisiana-Monroe earned its second win over a quality Conference USA opponent in as many days, edging Southern Mississippi 2-1. A day after breezing past Tulane 9-3, the Warhawks won a pitching duel against USM behind Andrew Richardson (5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER) and Kendall Thamm (3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K), who earned the win in relief. ULM improved to 4-1.

• Pepperdine also improved to 4-1 with an 11-2 win over Virginia Commonwealth, securing the sweep of the two-game midweek series. Zach Vincej (3-for-4, 2 R, RBI) and Tony Cooper (2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI) led the offense for the Waves, who put up five-spots in the first and fourth. Matt Maurer (5 IP, 4 H, 0 R) picked up his first win for Pepperdine.

• Cal State Bakersfield followed up its nice opening series win against Kansas State by upsetting Fresno State 4-0 on Wednesday. Chuck Buchanan (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K) and two relievers combined to hold Fresno's potent offense to five hits.

• The Roadrunners aren't the only independent team off to a strong start. Seattle followed its weekend series win against Great West Conference power Utah Valley by spoiling Washington's home opener, winning 5-1. Doug Kincaid went 3-for-4 with three RBIs in support of Brandon Kizer (6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER), who twice escaped bases-loaded jams unscathed.