Facing a 1-2 count in the first inning, Harrison Bader stepped into the batter’s box, twirled his bat and set his feet.
The fastball from Miami’s right-hander Enrique Sosa entered the strike zone at Bader’s knees, but after one swing, the ball landed 414 feet away over the center field fence.
It was the start of a historic day for Florida, one that saw the Gators hit the three longest home runs in the College World Series since it moved to TD Ameritrade Park in 2011.
After a bounce-back offensive game and a solid outing from freshman right-hander Alex Faedo, No. 4 national seed Florida (51-17) defeated No. 5 national seed Miami (50-17) 10-2 in the third round of the College World Series Wednesday night. With the win, UF eliminated UM from the CWS.
"At this point in the game, you’re fighting for your life," Bader said. "You have to lay it out there, every pitch and every inning. That’s just what we did and that’s what our approach was. It worked out for us tonight."
Florida's Harrison Bader (8) celebrates his solo home run against Miami with teammates at the dugout, in the first inning of an NCAA College World Series baseball elimination game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 17, 2015.
Faedo allowed three hits and two runs through five innings and struck out seven batters in his first CWS appearance. Left-hander Kirby Snead took over in the sixth inning, and provided three scoreless innings with struck out three batters.
"I though Alex pitched like a veteran," coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. "And in these elimination games, it’s important to build some momentum early on, and I thought we did that.
Bader, Buddy Reed, Richie Martin and Peter Alonso tallied one home run each for the Gators. Reed finished with a game-high three RBIs and two hits, while Bader and Martin both finished with multiple hits. Florida finished with a .341 batting average and limited Miami to .129.
After Bader’s leadoff home run in the first inning, Buddy Reed followed with a two-run homer two outs later to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
Florida was held scoreless through the next three innings, but took a 4-0 lead in the fifth after Josh Tobias singled to third base. After JJ Schwarz moved Martin to third after a fly-out, Reed reached first base after a bunt, scoring Martin. Next, Alonso popped up to center field, and Jeremy Vasquez doubled down the right field line, scoring Reed and Tobias.
Martin hit a solo homer to right field in the sixth inning to give the Gators an 8-0 lead.
Miami scored its lone runs in the bottom of the sixth after David Thompson reached second on a Martin throwing error, scoring George Iskenderian and Christopher Barr.
Florida tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning after Alonso hit a two-run homer to center field.
"Baseball is a game of failure, you're not always gonna succeed," Reed said. "We came out really good against Miami in the first game and then lost a tough one to (Virginia). But we stayed confident."
Next, Florida will play Virginia on Friday, where they will need to beat the Cavaliers twice to advance to the CWS finals.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Logan Shore (10-6, 2.55 ERA) will draw the start for the Gators.
If Florida wins the first game, the deciding match will be played on Saturday.
"I think the biggest thing was just to stay within ourselves and just take care of business," Bader said. "We're at a stage now where we're fighting for our lives. ... .and we're just going to try to carry that momentum into Friday against Virginia."
Notes: For the second time this postseason, Harrison Bader hit a leadoff home run in the first inning. Since moving to the leadoff spot after Dalton Guthrie injured his hand during the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Bader has tallied 10 runs, 10 hits and 12 RBIs through eight games… Florida has now won 11 of its last 12 games, its best stretch since winning 18 straight during the 2012 regular season… Since beginning the NCAA Tournament, the Gators have outscored their opponents 78-18…. When UF scores at least nine runs, it is 23-1 this season…Florida has now won 21 of its last 26 meetings against Miami… UF’s win over UM marked the first game in TD Ameritrade park history where a game has featured at least three home runs by one team… Florida hit more home runs (4) on Wednesday than were hit in either of the last two CWS.
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb.
Florida players celebrate following the Gators' 10-2 victory against Miami in the NCAA Men's College World Series on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska
Heading into the season on a six-game NCAA Tournament losing streak, the Gators powered their way through the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2012. Here we have Ian Cohen's feature heading into the CWS (http://www.alligator.org/sports/baseball/article_d53b4914-0cc1-11e5-b0c6-5f9040295e29.html)
