Florida is still one game away from playing for the College World Series championship. Only this time, the Gators have no room for error.

They finally ran into a starting pitcher they could not solve, losing to Arizona State 6-1 on Wednesday at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. Sun Devils ace Erik Averill pitched a complete game and allowed one run as Arizona State finally enjoyed a comfortable win after coming from behind in the losers' bracket to eliminate Tennessee and getting down to its final out before knocking Nebraska out of the tournament.

The two teams will play again on Thursday at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship series against Texas, which eliminated Baylor 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Left fielder Travis Buck launched a home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Sun Devils the lead for good. Center fielder J.J. Sferra applied the finishing blow with a two-run line-drive single in the seventh to make the score 5-1.

That was more than Averill (11-4) needed. A junk-baller with an ERA of 3.57, he kept the Gators in a funk despite having thrown 76 pitches three days earlier against Tennessee. Designated hitter Jared Kubin's two-out, RBI single in the fifth prevented a shutout, but UF rarely threatened in the rest of the game, finishing with five hits. UF's top five batters - Jeff Corsaletti, Adam Davis, Matt LaPorta, Brian Jeroloman and Brandon McArthur - combined to go 1-for-20.

"You could not see a difference in arm speed between the fast ball, slider and the changeup that (Averill) was throwing," UF pitcher coaching Ross Jones said. "I watched that guy pitch the other day, and he was nothing close to what he was today. If he could do that every day, he'd be pitching for the Atlanta Braves right now. Today he was Tommy Glavine."

Bryan Ball (7-4), pitching for the first team since the NCAA regional opener against Stetson, allowed four runs on four hits in six innings as UF had a seven-game winning streak snapped and fell to 2-1 in the double-elimination tournament.

UF (47-21) will start ace Alan Horne tomorrow. Arizona State (42-24), which will be playing its fourth game in five days, has gone much deeper into its pitching staff, but the Sun Devils have been beating the odds all postseason.

After finishing fourth in the Pac 10, they won a regional as a No. 2 seed at home and beat defending national champion Cal St. Fullerton on the road in a super regional. They won in Fullerton even though they lost the first game on a controversial balk call when they were issuing an intentional walk in the bottom of the ninth inning.

In Omaha, they rallied from an early 2-0 deficit against Tennessee after losing to Nebraska in their opener. In a rematch with the Cornhuskers on Tuesday, they gave up four runs in the top of the ninth to fall behind 7-5 before tying the score on a two-out home run by Jeff Larish, his third blast of the day.

Sferra's bloop single in the 11th ended it in front of the overwhelmingly partisan Arizona State crowd. The atmosphere was more sedate on Wednesday, and the Gator bats went comatose in UF's first game in three days.

"We had two good days of work, but sometimes in a tournament like this, to keep playing every day can be beneficial," UF coach Pat McMahon said. "You're seeing live pitching every day."

In addition to momentum, Arizona State also has history on its side as it tries to become the fourth team in 18 years to play for the championship after losing its first game in Omaha. Ten of the 13 teams that forced deciding games at the College World Series, as the Sun Devils did today, went on to win two in a row.

UF's advantage is Horne. He is 3-0 in the NCAA tournament, beating Notre Dame, FSU and Tennessee, and has not pitched since last Friday.

Arizona State, which had the worst ERA of the eight teams in the College World Series, may use a full-staff approach.

UF will try to avoid losing two in a row in a postseason tournament for the second time in a month. The Gators won their winners' bracket at the SEC Tournament but fell 14-1 and 4-2 to Ole Miss. … Arizona State is trying to emulate fellow Pac 10 team USC, which reached the NCAA championship game in 1995 after losing its opener in Omaha and won the title in 1998 after dropping its first game. South Carolina lost 11-0 in its opener last year before winning four in a row to get to the championship series, where it lost to Cal St. Fullerton. … UF's 47 wins are the fourth most in school history. The Gator can tie the 1998 team for third place by beating Arizona State. … LaPorta tied a College World Series record with 17 putouts at first base vs. the Sun Devils.