Gators first baseman Peter Alonso, right, is greeted by teammates JJ Schwarz and Michael Rivera after his first-inning homer on Friday. (Photo: Madison Schultz for UAA)
Gators Blast Bethune-Cookman in Alonso's Return
Friday, June 3, 2016 | Baseball, Scott Carter
Junior first baseman belts two home runs as Florida wins regional opener
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida baseball team entered the NCAA Tournament bolstered by the return of injured first baseman Peter Alonso.
Alonso proved he is healthy and raring to go, smashing a pair of towering home runs in Florida's 9-3 win over Bethune-Cookman on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.
"That's kind of how baseball works,'' Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "The guy has been out three weeks and comes up and gives us two homers."
In his first at-bat and on the second pitch he saw from BCU starter Tyler Norris, Alonso drilled an 0-1 offering over the fence and into the tall pines beyond left-center field for a two-run homer. Three innings later, Alonso tagged a pitch from Wildcats reliever Alexis Herrera into those same trees for his second homer of the game and team-high 11th of the season. He got the silent treatment from his teammates in the dugout after his second home run, which prompted a smile from Alonso and proof the Gators are glad to have him back in the lineup.
"I'm not going to lie, it sucked,'' Alonso said of missing three weeks. "I wanted to be out there, play with my guys and help my team win. Initially when I broke it, I thought I wasn't going to be able to play as a Gator again. Having that thought is kind of scary. It's a blessing to be able to come back. I'm back and it feels good."
Alonso had not played since suffering a broken bone in his left hand when he got hit by a 95-mph fastball from Vanderbilt ace Jordan Sheffield on May 13. He showed no lingering effects Friday after getting clearance to return earlier in the week. He went 3-for-4 and scored three runs.
The No. 1-seed Gators (48-13) spotted starter Logan Shore a 6-0 lead after three innings and cruised from there, advancing to face No. 3-seed UConn on Saturday in the winner's bracket of the Gainesville Regional. No. 4-seed BCU faces second-seed Georgia Tech, which lost to UConn 7-6 in the first game Friday.
A junior right-hander named SEC Pitcher of the Year, Shore was stellar as usual in his school-record-tying fifth career NCAA Tournament win, tying former UF pitcher Hudson Randall in the school record books. Shore limited the Wildcats (29-26) to five hits and three runs (two earned) over 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four to win his 16th consecutive decision dating to last season's SEC Tournament.
Shore, who improved to 11-0 with a 2.44 ERA, didn't allow a hit until Danny Rodriguez doubled with one out in the fourth. The victory was Shore's 29th career win, two behind Marc Valdes for the school's all-time lead. Shore only pitched 3 1/3 innings over his last two starts due to a weather delay at LSU and O'Sullivan opting to use a pitcher-by-committee approach in Sunday's SEC Tournament championship game against Texas A&M.
Shore wasn't as sharp as usual, but he pitched well enough to avoid any significant trouble.
"He gave us a great quality start,'' O'Sullivan said. "The most important thing in regionals is to win Game 1, and we were able to do that."
Shore left with one out in the seventh after he made an underhand throwing error on a grounder back to the mound and then gave up an RBI triple to BCU second baseman Nate Sterijevski to bring home Josten Heron.
Prior to that, whenever the Wildcats threatened, Shore found a way to get an out.
"To his credit, that's what great pitchers do,'' BCU coach Jason Beverlin said. "They battle when they don't have their best stuff. We just couldn't capitalize on some of the mistakes he made when we had runners on."
Relievers Brady Singer, Kirby Snead, Dane Dunning and Michael Byrne closed out the game as the Gators improved to 31-0 all-time against the Wildcats, who earned an NCAA at-large berth as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament champions.
"I thought we swung the bats alright today, but we just couldn't overcome some of the mistakes we made on the mound and in the field,'' Beverlin said.
*****
Postgame Notes:
• Alonso's multi-homer game was Florida's first since Nelson Maldonado (March 25 at Kentucky).
• Alonso's last muli-homer outing was against Mississippi State on April 19, 2015 (Florida defeated MSU, 10-5).
• Florida improves to 31-0 against Bethune-Cookman in the all-time series (11-0 under O'Sullivan).
• With tonight's win, the Gators are now 70-42 in NCAA Regional play.
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