No. 1 Florida Takes Series Opener Over Dartmouth, 7-0

Friday, March 4

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

Dartmouth

Logan Shore lowered his ERA to 0.43 this season and has 17.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

No. 1 Florida Takes Series Opener Over Dartmouth, 7-0

Friday, March 4, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

Logan Shore yields one hit over seven shutout innings to improve to 3-0.

By: John Hines

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior Logan Shore, junior Frank Rubio and freshman Eddy Demurias combined on a two-hit shutout as No. 1 Florida handled Dartmouth, 7-0, in the teams' series opener on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.

Shore (3-0) tied his career high with eight strikeouts and allowed one single over seven innings before Rubio and Demurias each threw a scoreless frame. Shore has claimed his last eight starts dating back to last season, increased his scoreless streak to 17.1 innings and lowered his earned run average to 0.43.

After blanking UCF on Wednesday, 4-0, the Gators (10-1) have now posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since March 29-30, 2013 against Ole Miss (7-0, 4-0). Junior Peter Alonso was 2-for-4 with three RBI, while sophomore Dalton Guthrie (2-for-4, two RBI, two runs), freshman Deacon Liput (2-for-4) and sophomore JJ Schwarz (2-for-3) had multiple-hit efforts as part of Florida's 12-hit total.

Alonso gave the Gators a 1-0 lead against Big Green senior Duncan Robinson (0-2) with an RBI single in the first inning to score junior Buddy Reed. Reed had legged out an infield hit with one down, stole second and came home on Alonso's first of three RBI on the night. Sophomore Kyle Holbrook had both of the hits for Dartmouth (0-4).

Sophomore Jeremy Vasquez delivered a two-out RBI single in the third inning for a 2-0 UF advantage. Guthrie led off with a single through the left side to extend his hitting streak to a career-high nine games. Schwarz singled up the middle with one down for a pair of Gators aboard and Vasquez connected on a 1-2 pitch from Robinson to drive in Guthrie.

In the fourth, Guthrie boosted the margin to 4-0 with a two-run single up the middle that brought across Liput (leadoff triple, 2-for-4) and Jonathan India (reached on fielder's choice). Schwarz roped a two-out RBI single into left field to score Guthrie.

Alonso produced a two-run, two-out double in the sixth for a 7-0 count. Junior Chris Burkholder replaced Robinson (5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R) prior to the inning and yielded a leadoff single to India, who stole second with one down. Reed earned a free pass and Alonso's fifth double of the season plated both of his teammates.

Shore faced one batter over the minimum through seven dominant innings and was followed to the mound by Rubio (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K) and Demurias (1.0 IP, 1 K), who made his collegiate debut with a perfect ninth.

Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan
Opening Statement:
"All in all, it was a good game. We made the one error at third, but other than that, it was very clean. Our pitching was efficient. We were able to get Logan (Shore) out of there with 76 pitches. The goal was to keep him at 80 (pitches) or less because last week he threw a complete game down at Miami. It was a great Friday night victory for us against a really quality pitcher."

On Logan Shore's seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts:
"He was really good. He and I had a really good rhythm. He changed speeds early in the count and did a really nice job of getting leadoff hitters out and staying ahead of them. That was the challenge for him tonight. It's easy when you have such a great start the week before to not be as ready to pitch, and he was outstanding. That's what Friday night guys do."

Junior right-hander Logan Shore
On the Gators winning the opener of the series:
"They did a great job keeping us off balance early. Credit our hitters, they put some good runs up on the board. I made some pitches early in the count and kept my pitch count down and really just tried to attack and let my defense play for me again. It's kind of been our thing these past couple weeks – our defense playing really well."

Junior first baseman Peter Alonso
On his RBI single in the first inning:
"It was a good offensive count. I got a pitch to hit and wanted to capitalize and set the tone for the game and kind of get us going a little bit in the right direction on a Friday night and take the momentum into tomorrow."

Postgame Notes

The Gator pitching staff recorded its third shutout of the season and its third in the past six games.
Logan Shore tossed 7.0 scoreless innings to extend his streak to 17.1 consecutive shutout innings dating back to the season opener against FGCU on Feb. 19.
During that span, Shore has had back-to-back games with eight strikeouts, and he picked up his eighth consecutive win dating back to last season.
On the year, Shore has 22 strikeouts and permitted two walks in 21 innings, while holding foes to a .121 batting average.
The Gators improved to 6-0 at McKethan Stadium and have claimed 13 straight wins at home dating back to last season.
Buddy Reed increased his hitting streak to six games with an infield single in the first inning and leads Florida with six stolen bases in six attempts.
Dalton Guthrie raised his hitting streak to a career-high nine games with a single to start UF's third inning.
He added a two-run single in the fourth, giving him a team-best sixth multi-hit outing.
Deacon Liput has safely reached base in all 11 games this season, and he recorded his team-leading third triple.
Blake Reese recorded his first career hit with a single in the eighth inning.
Florida's pitching staff recorded double-digits in strikeouts for the eighth time in 11 games and did not allow a walk tonight.

Up Next
The Gators and Big Green will continue the series on Saturday at 4 p.m., with junior LHP A.J. Puk (0-1, 2.70) facing junior RHP Jackson Bubala (0-1, 18.00). The entire series can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Steve Russell.

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