Friday, June 19, 2015

2015 College World Series: #4 Florida Forces Winner-Take-All Game vs Virginia

After losing to Virginia 1-0 on Monday, the #4 Florida Gators found their offense and beat Virginia 10-5 today. The Gators need to beat Virginia just one more time to advance to the third ever College World Series Finals in school history.

Florida went down 1-0 early in the first inning, but used a four-run third inning and five-run sixth inning to edge the Cavaliers.  The Gators banged out 11 hits with all but two batters notching a hit. First-rounder Richie Martin led the Gators with three hits and two RBIs. Harrison Bader and Mike Rivera joined him with two RBIs as well. Rivera also had two hits of his own in the game.

In the four-hole, star freshman JJ Schwarz had two hits and scored twice. At the bottom of the lineup, both Ryan Larson and Dalton Guthrie also scored twice with one hit and one RBI a piece. In the middle of the lineup, Peter Alonso and Buddy Reed went hitless but both managed to score a run. Finally, Josh Tobias had just one hit as he knocked in a run and scored.

Handling the pitching duties for Florida was sophomore ace Logan Shore. He had a solid outing as he went 6.1 innings, gave up four runs on eight hits, struck out four, and walked just two. The Gators' victory today gave him his 11th win of the season. After Shore's departure, senior lefty Bobby Poyner came in and delivered 2.2 innings of relief. He allowed just one run on two hits, struck out one, and walked none.

With another double-digit offensive performance, the Florida Gators have put themselves in the record books. Their 35 runs are now the new team record for the most runs scored at a College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. They have broken countless other records in Omaha which I will cover in the team's end of the year season recap article.

The Florida Gators' season up to this point now comes down to their rematch with Virginia tomorrow. A.J. Puk (9-4) will most likely be getting the ball for Florida and will have to shut down the Cavs just one more time to put the Gators in the Finals. With the offense back on track, Florida has a good shot at advancing if Puk pitches well. Game time and broadcasting information for tomorrow's game is yet to be determined.

*All stats accredited to NCAA.com

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