Royals draft pick Jackson Kowar matches Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer in CWS gem
Jackson Kowar hears them. So does Brady Singer. Florida’s top two pitchers are being cheered and greeted by two fan bases at the College World Series. The Gators of course.
Also, Royals followers who are getting a close-up of the team’s top two selections in the draft earlier this month.
“They’ve been awesome to me and Brady,” Kowar said. “Everyone has come up to us and said how excited they are. It’s great they’ve come here to see us.”
Their excitement will be difficult to contain with what they saw on Tuesday. Kowar dominated Texas with 13 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. The Gators won the elimination game 6-1.
The strikeout total was the most in a College World Series game since 2010, when Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer each recorded that many for UCLA.
“Obviously, that’s really cool,” Kowar said. “Those guys are doing pretty well for themselves right now.”
The total is the highest since the college baseball championship moved to TD Ameritrade Park in 2011, and no pitcher in the last 40 years has recorded as many as 13 strikeouts in Omaha while pitching fewer than seven innings.
Kowar lasted 6 2/3, leaving the game after 121 pitches.
He mixed fastballs that touched 98 mph with a biting slider and change-up to fool the Longhorns throughout the afternoon
“When you have stuff like that it’s one thing,” Texas Coach David Pierce said. “But when you mix stuff with command, that’s when you’re a first rounder.”
Escaping a first-inning jam proved important. The Longhorns put runners on first and third with one out. But Kowar struck out the final two.
“It was huge getting through that first inning and just being able to settle in,” Kowar said.
He struck out the side in the third and sixth innings and worked out of another jam with help in the seventh.
A single and double put Longhorns on second and third to open the inning. With rain starting to fall, Kowar fanned the next two, and reliever Jordan Butler completed the inning with another strikeout.
“My main focus there was to avoid the big inning,” Kowar said.
Kowar was the Royals’ second choice, No. 33 overall. Singer, who lost to Texas Tech in the Gators’ opener on Sunday, was No. 18 overall. With their five picks on the draft’s first day, the Royals selected a rotation— five college pitchers.
That wasn’t necessarily the intention going into the draft but the Royals believed they couldn’t pass up Singer and Kowar, who were part of Florida’s NCAA title team last season.
Singer has been the Gators’ top starter this year, Kowar the No. 2 and on a college path that included a couple of detours.
Kowar signed Clemson out of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian but changed his mind when the Tigers coach was fired. Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan had spent eight years as a Clemson assistant, so Gainesville, Fla., was a logical landing spot.
But a condition he had developed in high school caused a lung to collapse during his freshman season. Florida reached the College World Series in 2016. Kowar did not.
With the victory, Kowar improved to 10-5 this year, 25-6 as a collegian and continued to reverse a late-season malaise in which he dropped three in a row. The streak stopped with a stellar seven-inning, one-run performance against Auburn in the Super Regional.
With Tuesday’s victory, the Gators are scheduled to play on Thursday and Singer and Kowar delay their professional lives for at least that long. There has been little contact between the Florida pitchers and Royals since the draft.
“They're kind of leaving us alone until the end of the season, which is great,” Singer said. “We’re here right now and our goal is to win a national championship. We’re here to compete.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Royals draft pick Jackson Kowar matches Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer in CWS gem."