Peter Alonso was all smiles as he rounded third base and embraced Taylor Gushue who was waiting for him at home following the freshman’s first-career home run.
Off the bat, Alonso’s blast appeared as a screaming line drive good for a double. Instead, his ball kept rising and rising until landing over the wall left of the scoreboard.
Alonso two pitches earlier had watched a fastball for a strike. He didn’t let another outside heater go to waste, lifting the full-count offering from Arkansas right-hander Trey Killian into the opponents’ bullpen.
The first inning solo shot was all Florida (13-6, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) needed in a 1-0 victory Saturday night against Arkansas (8-7, 0-2 SEC) at McKethan Stadium. The Gators extended their season-long winning streak to seven games and clinched the series.
“It’s finally good to get one over. The feeling rounding the bases for the first time was unbelievable. It felt like being a little kid again,” Alonso said. “Glad I could get one over and ultimately be the winning run in the game.”
In SEC play where runs can be fleeting, Saturday marked the second-straight game Florida scored in the first inning. Arkansas hasn’t scored first in all seven of its losses. Killian, a sophomore, finished as the losing pitcher despite getting his first-ever complete game.
Florida started Game 2 with a clear approach at the plate. When the Gators got down to two strikes, they didn’t panic. Five of their seven hits came on two-strike counts, including Alonso’s at-bat in the first.
The Gators did go 0 for 4 with RISP. With one out and runners on the corners in the third inning, Taylor Gushue hit a sharp ground ball down the first-base line that Arkansas first baseman Eric Fisher turned into a fluky double play by touching the base and firing home to get Casey Turgeon who couldn’t beat the tag at home.
Alonso’s homer and the subsequent six hits pleased Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan, but there were missed opportunities like Gushue’s rally-killing double play that can be crippling in a series where the pitching has been so dominant.
“This is a streaky game. This is one of these games where things are bouncing our way right now. Those are some things we’re going to have to clean up,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s easy to overlook those things when you’re winning, but we do have to do a better job.”
Squandered opportunities don’t sting as much when the pitching staff has held Arkansas to one run over two games. Right-hander Eric Hanhold threw five scoreless innings and earned the win in his first start this season.
Florida followed the same formula that led to a victory on Friday night: get its starter to pitch at least five innings before handing the game over to a bullpen that has been nothing but spectacular.
Junior left-hander Bobby Poyner mowed down Razorback batters from the get-go when he spelled Hanhold to start the sixth inning. He tossed 3.2 innings of one-hit ball before Ryan Harris struck out pinch-hitter Michael Gunn for the one-out save. The early run support has helped the Florida pitchers settle down.
“As a pitching staff it’s way easier to pitch when it’s 1-0 and 2-0 rather than the opposite,” Poyner said. “It’s great to be on the aggressive side than with your back against the wall.”
For Alonso, the impressive display of power was nothing new to his coaches and teammates. He showed it in countless fall scrimmages. Alonso played baseball at Plant High School with former Gators slugger Preston Tucker’s younger brother Kyle. He watched Tucker work out when he returned back to the Tampa school. Now, he’s carrying on the Plant legacy.
“He’s got power from pole to pole. It’s hard to find. We’ve said that since Day 1. The only other guys we had power like that was Mike Zunino and Preston Tucker, and they don’t come around like that very often,” O’Sullivan said. “When it left his bat, those guys with power, the ball just keeps going.”
The trajectory of Alonso’s first-career home run matched the youthful Gators who are now coming into their own. They just keep rising and rising.
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter at @adamDpincus.
