Video LinksHighlightsLogan Shore, Peter Alonso & Deacon LiputHead Coach Kevin O'Sullivan CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Junior
Logan Shore tossed his first career complete-game shutout to lead No. 1 Florida to a 5-0 victory over No. 6 Miami on Friday night at Alex Rodriguez Park. The right-hander matched his career-best total of eight strikeouts and yielded four hits as the Gators (6-0) claimed the opener of the weekend series and downed the Hurricanes (4-1) for the 22nd time in the last 27 meetings. The victory was also the 350th for ninth-year UF head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan.
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Shore (2-0) was masterful in going the distance for the third time in his career, facing only two batters above the minimum and he did not issue any walks. The Coon Rapids, Minn., native was supported by a two-run homer by junior
Peter Alonso in the first inning, a two-run single by freshman
Deacon Liput in the fourth inning and a solo homer by sophomore
JJ Schwarz in the sixth inning
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Alonso staked the Gators to a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza with a two-run homer to left field off of senior left-hander Thomas Woodrey (1-1). Junior
Buddy Reed had singled with one down and Alonso (2-for-3, two runs) cranked a 2-2 pitch out of the yard for his first round-tripper of the campaign.
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Florida increased its advantage to 4-0 in the fourth on a two-out, two-run single by Liput, who leads the squad with 12 RBI. Schwarz drew a leadoff walk and Alonso collected his second hit of the contest before sophomore
Jeremy Vasquez laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance his teammates. With two down, Liput delivered a bloop single into right field to raise his hitting streak to six games.
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Miami threatened in the home part of the fourth, as sophomore Carl Chester (3-for-3) began the inning with a double into left field for UM's first hit and junior Christopher Barr followed with a single into right. Shore responded by jamming junior Zack Collins on an infield fly, picking Barr off first base and having junior Jacob Heyward fly out to Vasquez at the warning track in right field.
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Schwarz belted his second homer of the year to left field to open the sixth for a 5-0 margin. Alonso then drew a walk and Vasquez singled into left field, ending the night for Woodrey (5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R). Although Liput earned a free pass from sophomore Jesse Lepore to load the bases, the righty had junior
Ryan Larson ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
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Shore retired the side in order five different times, highlights by three strikeouts in the fifth, and had Barr fly out to Reed to complete the contest.
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Postgame QuotesHead Coach Kevin O'SullivanOn Logan Shore's outing and the Gators' performance tonight:"I tell you what, that might the best game he's thrown at Florida. Once he got through the first inning, he was really good and had all three pitches working. He was down in the strike zone and I have to say that he has been working hard in the bullpen about getting the ball down and doing a lot of stuff in between starts. Obviously, it showed up tonight. Credit goes to Logan, he's been working awfully hard to perfect the ball down. His change-up was really good, he threw some really quality sliders and pitched to both sides of the plate with his fastball. If there was a game ball we give out, Logan gets it."
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"Offensively, I thought it was really important for us to get on the board early, especially when you play in a hostile environment like we did tonight. Pete (Alonso) ran into that ball in the first and I thought we struck five balls in the first inning that we hit hard. I thought we had a good approach, played really good defense and this was the best game we have played this year. We're excited and we have the bullpen rested after using guys on back-to-back nights on Tuesday and Wednesday. All in all, great game for us, great game by Logan and we're looking forward to tomorrow night."
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Postgame Notes- Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 23-10 against Miami during his career and the Gators have now claimed 22 of the last 27 encounters.
- Logan Shore's two previous complete games came last season: March 27 vs. Alabama and April 17 at Mississippi State.
- Before tonight, the last Gator to throw a complete-game, nine-inning shutout was Aaron Rhodes versus Missouri on April 26, 2014.
- UF's most recent shutout before tonight was a seven-inning effort by A.J. Puk against Arkansas during the SEC Tournament on May 22, 2015.
- Peter Alonso connected on his first homer since June 20, 2015, against Virginia at the NCAA College World Series.
- Deacon Liput has at least one hit in all six of the Gators' games and is hitting a team-best .474 with 12 RBI.
- Florida's defense played error-free ball for the third time this year.
- JJ Schwarz has two homers in his last three outings.
- Mike Rivera caught a runner stealing second base in the sixth inning.
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Up NextThe Gators and Hurricanes meet again tomorrow at 7 p.m. In a matchup of left-handers, junior
A.J. Puk (0-0, 0.00) will face sophomore Michael Mediavilla (1-0, 0.00). The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with
Jeff Cardozo and
Steve Russell and will be carried on ESPN3 through the Watch ESPN app.
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