CORAL GABLES — The conversation was quick. Logan Shore had thrown 80 pitches and Kevin O’Sullivan had two pitchers ready to come in and finish off the game in the ninth. O’Sullivan approached his starter in the dugout, asked him if he wanted to try and close the game. Shore’s response was enough for O’Sullivan.
“It was really one sentence,” O’Sullivan said of the conversation. “I said you’re at 80 do you want to finish the game and he said, ‘what do you think?’ I just said ok.”
The crowd was wild as the No. 1 Florida Gators (6-0) and Miami Hurricanes (4-1) squared off in Coral Gables but Logan Shore quieted them quickly with a masterful performance. Shore went the distance,
Pete Alonso quieted the crowd early. Dalton Guthrie lined out to short to start the game. Buddy Reed blooped a single into left field and JJ Schwarz flew out to the warning track in right field. With two outs and two strikes Alonso got a fastball belt high and crushed it off of the scoreboard in left field to give the Gators its first lead of the game.
“Really [Thomas] Woodrey doesn’t have anything to strike me out with, so I was just looking for a pitch up, something to swing at and make good contact,” Alonso said. “It just went for me.”
Shore made sure it wasn’t just the bats getting the job done Friday night Shore set the Canes’ down in order the first trip around the lineup — nine batters up, nine retired. The last time Shore faced the Canes he lasted just 10 pitches before leaving with an injury, Friday night served as redemption for him.
“That World Series appearance last year still stuck with me, I didn’t’ throw very well,” Shore said of his appearance against Miami in the 2015 College World Series. “Anytime you come to someone else’s ballpark, and after we ended their season last year I knew it was going to be a tough one. Sully preaches that the Friday night starter has to set the tone for the weekend and that’s all I’m trying to do.”
The Gators got back on the board in the fourth inning. JJ Schwarz walked and moved to second on Pete Alonso’s single. Sophomore Jeremy Vasquez executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners up 90 feet. Freshman Deacon Liput stayed white hot, driving both guys in for his team leading 11th and 12th RBIs of the season.
“I guess I really don’t feel like a freshman,” Liput said. “I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of the older guys look at me and it’s really helped a lot, they’ve really helped me become comfortable and accustomed to situations.”
JJ Schwarz ran into a ball in the sixth inning, sending it over the wall in left in a hurry. That proved to be the final run of the game as Shore was able to cruise through the lineup with relative ease.
When Shore struck out Romy Gonzalez to end the eighth inning he had thrown 88 pitches. O’Sullivan likes to keep his starters on a strict pitch count early in the season and Shore was scheduled to throw between 80-85. Good luck trying to tell Shore that he wasn’t going to finish this game.
“Not a shot,” Shore said.
“We were just really fired up to come in here and continue the beating that we gave them in Omaha,” said Alonso. “We’re going to keep doing that.”
Florida and Miami will meet again on Saturday night at 7 pm.
Thanks for the writeup Nick but WHAT WAS THE FINAL SCORE ?????
What was the score? That should be the first sentence instead of trying got build the drama.