Freshmen rack up postseason hardware

The hardware keeps coming in Kevin O’Sullivan’s talented freshmen class. This week Peter Alonso and Logan Shore were named to the 2014 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Freshmen All-America Team — both as second team selections.

Alonso represented the Gators as a member of the SEC All-Freshmen Team after batting .264, with 32 RBI, 19 walks, 18 runs, six doubles, four home runs and two triples in 60 games (58 starts). Alonso’s bat was too good to keep out of the lineup, leading O’Sullivan to find a place from him in the field to keep the freshman’s stick in the lineup. Alonso played four games at third base, 24 at first base and 30 games as the designated hitter.

Alonso’s numbers were better against SEC competition. The slugger hit .290 in conference, including all four of his long balls.

Logan Shore’s phenomenal freshman campaign continues to rack of postseason awards. This newest distinction comes after Shore was named the SEC Freshman of the year, first team All-SEC and a third team All-American nod from Louisville Slugger.

Shore was 7-4 with all seven wins coming against conference foes. He led the team with a 2.16 ERA (it was sub 2.00 before regional play) as well as led the team with 68 strikeouts over 95.2 innings.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan now has 11 Freshman All-Americans in his seven-year tenure: Josh Adams (2008), Preston Tucker (2009), Nolan Fontana (2010), Brian Johnson (2010), Austin Maddox (2010), Hudson Randall (2010), Mike Zunino (2010), Karsten Whitson (2011), Casey Turgeon (2012), Alonso (2014) and Shore (2014).

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC