After Virginia took a one-run lead over Florida in the seventh, Florida had just two more innings to save its season.
Ultimately, UVA eliminated UF from the College World Series and crushed the Gators’ hopes of advancing to the CWS Finals.
The No. 4 national seed Gators (52-18) fell to the Cavaliers (42-23) 5-4 Saturday night in the CWS Semifinals.
“I’m really proud of our guys. We had a tremendous year,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “. …When you get to this part of the season, the end of the season, it’s just so abrupt. It’s like a runaway train.”
Peter Alonso and Harrison Bader both finished with home runs, including a 421-foot homer from Alonso to center field, the longest in TD Ameritrade Park history.
But Florida’s pitching staff was unable to limit Virginia down the stretch.
Right-handed sophomore Dane Dunning gave up three runs and four hits in 4.2 innings, while Kirby Snead and Taylor Lewis allowed one run each in Florida’s final game of the season.
“I just need to keep this feeling for next year so we can remember how it feels to lose at this time of the season, to use it as motivation,” Alonso said.
UVA took an early 1-0 lead after Matt Thaiss homered to right field in the first inning.
UF responded in the second after an Alonso two-run homer, but lost its lead in the fourth after the Cavaliers’ Joe McCarthy hit a sacrifice fly to bring Pavin Smith home from third base.
Bader’s fifth-inning homer tied the game, but UVA answered after Kenny Towns hit a two-run double down the left field line.
Florida scored one more run in the sixth after Mike Rivera singled to right-center, but couldn’t string any runs together after UVA took the lead in the seventh with a sacrifice fly from Towns.
Bader finished with a game-high four hits and Rivera recorded two, but the Gators hit just 3-for-13 with runners on base.
“We seemed to answer the bell every time we needed to when our backs were against the wall this season,” O’Sullivan said. “Tonight just didn’t work out for us.”
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
