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Friday, March 29, 2024

Fourth-inning explosion propels Florida to opening CWS win over Miami

<p>Florida's JJ Schwarz (22) runs toward first base during the Gators' 15-3 victory against Miami in the NCAA Men's College World Series on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at the TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.</p>

Florida's JJ Schwarz (22) runs toward first base during the Gators' 15-3 victory against Miami in the NCAA Men's College World Series on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at the TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.

Through the game’s first three innings, Miami looked to have the upper hand.

Florida’s Logan Shore was struggling to find a rhythm and the team had only two hits, while UM’s left-hander Andrew Suarez was sharp and its batters were firing.

And then came the fourth inning.

The No. 4 national seed Gators (50-16) tied a College World Series record with 11 runs in one inning and used a .390 batting average to roll past the No. 5 national seed Hurricanes (49-16) 15-3 Saturday night.

“I thought the first three innings, nerves were getting the best of us,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “(The fourth inning) was the difference in the game.”

Shore (10-6) gave up two runs through the first three innings, but struck out six batters in his first World Series appearance. Relievers Danny Young, Aaron Rhodes and Dane Dunning combined to allow just four hits and held Miami scoreless the rest of the way.

Four different Gators recorded multiple hits, including freshman Dalton Guthrie, who had three hits and scored two runs. The second-baseman also made an impressive diving catch and a difficult throw to second base to record an out in the sixth inning.

Josh Tobias and Peter Alonso led Florida will three RBIs each, while freshman JJ Schwarz finished with two RBIs and was responsible for two runs.

“I think the first run is always the hardest,” Schwarz said. “It doesn’t matter how you get it. Balk, wild pitch, home run. It doesn’t matter. I think it was just a relief for all the hitters and it gave Logan a little more confidence out there.”

After falling behind early, Buddy Reed hit a center-field single to score Tobias from third and even the score at two in the fourth inning. Alonso followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Schwarz, and Guthrie and Ryan Larson both hit right-field singles to take a three run lead over the Hurricanes.

Miami’s Suarez was pulled, but UF scored seven more runs and recorded five more hits in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach.

Florida tallied three more runs in the seventh after a Harrison Bader double, a Miami throwing error and a fielder’s choice on a Tobias ground-out.

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Florida advanced to face Virginia on Monday in the second round of the CWS.

“We don’t know a whole lot about them, so we’ll have to do some work between now and Monday night,” O’Sullivan said of UVA. “But to be honest, it’s more about how we’re playing… and I’m just proud of the way we played.”

Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb.

Florida's JJ Schwarz (22) runs toward first base during the Gators' 15-3 victory against Miami in the NCAA Men's College World Series on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at the TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.

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