Peter Alonso finally found his groove.
After missing the first 30 games of the year with a broken foot and putting up subpar numbers since his return, the sophomore came up clutch in the Florida baseball team’s series finale against Mississippi State.
Alonso belted out his first two home runs of the season and went 4-for-5 at the plate as the No. 8 Gators (31-10, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) defeated the Bulldogs (22-19, 6-12) 10-5 on Sunday in Starkville, Mississippi.
The win gave Florida its second consecutive series sweep and its first on the road.
"It’s hard to sweep anybody in this league at home, let alone being on the road, especially at a place like Mississippi State," UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in a release. "I thought we had a really good frame of mind today, we talked about that for quite some time this morning before we got off the bus. When you have an opportunity to sweep a series, you have to play your best baseball and I thought they did."
The Gators opened up scoring with a two-RBI single in the first inning from cleanup hitter Josh Tobias, scoring Dalton Guthrie and Richie Martin.
An Alonso solo shot gave the Gators a 3-0 advantage in the top of the fourth before the Bulldogs scored three runs in two innings off a two-run home run from Gavin Collins in the fourth and a Ryan Gridley sac fly in the fifth.
But it was almost all Florida from there.
UF outscored Mississippi State 7-2 in the final four frames and out-hit the Bulldogs 7-3 in the final stretch.
Junior Taylor Lewis, who has served as a closer for the bulk of the season, earned the win after tossing 4.2 innings in relief of freshman starter Alex Faedo. Lewis gave up just three hits and two unearned runs with 32 of his 47 pitches going for strikes.
Florida returns to McKethan Stadium for a midweek matchup against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
Series Notes: Florida outscored Mississippi State 18-9 in the three-game series. … The Gators’ starting pitchers posted a 3.38 ERA, giving up 15 hits and seven earned runs in 18.2 innings of work. They also struck out 10 batters while walking just one.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
UF's Peter Alonso bats during Florida's win against South Carolina on April 10, 2015, at McKethan Stadium.
