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Florida responded to being shut out by Virginia by finding some power and blowing away Miami (FL) 10-2 on the strength of four home runs:
And when the thunder, which produced six of Florida's 10 runs on the night, finished rumbling, and the ink had begun to dry in the history books, Florida had its second win over Miami of this College World Series — its eighth straight against the Hurricanes in NCAA Tournament play — and safe passage to a Friday showdown with the Virginia team that shut it down on Monday.
The three longest home runs yet hit in TD Ameritrade Park came yesterday as the Gators found their stroke at the plate again.
The three longest #CWS home runs were hit tonight! #OmahaGators pic.twitter.com/JnD99nZJrr
— Florida Gators (@GatorZoneNews) June 18, 2015
Things got going from the first batter, as Harrison Bader led off the game with the first home run ever hit to centerfield at TD Ameritrade. After a pair of ground outs, JJ Schwarz singled to left and then came home when Buddy Reed hit a blast of his own. The Gators stranded runners on second and third in the next inning, but Alex Faedo's pitching held the 3-0 lead. Things remained quiet through the third and fourth frames.
The Gators got things rolling again in the top of the fifth. Bader doubled to get things going, and Richie Martin moved him to third with a single. Josh Tobias then plated Bader with another single. A Schwarz fly out got Martin to third, and Reed sent him home with a single. Two batters later Jeremy Vasquez cleared the bases with a double, plating Tobias and Reed. That would be it for the inning, but now Florida had a commanding 7-0 lead.
Martin hit a homer in the sixth to push it out to 8-0 before Miami managed a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a bad throwing error. Florida got the rest of its runs in the seventh after Schwarz walked and Alonso hit his ballpark-record 421' blast. The pitchers kept things quiet the rest of the way in the 10-2 game.
The win not only offered the satisfaction of sending the Hurricanes home, but it kept UF alive in the tournament. The Gators will now have to beat Virginia in two straight games to advance to the final, and the teams will play on Friday to see if they'll need one or two games to settle things.