Logan Shore was dialed in on Friday night.
Fresh off of being named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week and the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week following his complete game outing against Miami, Shore was dominant and efficient against Dartmouth, tossing seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and tying his career-high with eight strikeouts as the No. 1 Gators won 7-0.
The Coon Rapids, Minnesota native, threw just 76 pitches, 53 of them for strikes, in the win.
“(I) threw pretty well last weekend and just tried to come out and get another ‘W’ this week against a pretty good team from up North,” Shore said. “I made some pitches early in the count and kept my pitch count down and really just tried to attack and let my defense play for me again.”
Kyle Holbrook was the only Big Green hitter to come close to hitting Shore when he hit a soft liner that fell in front of center fielder Buddy Reed in the fifth inning. After that, Dartmouth (0-4) got nothing as Shore (3-0) breezed through its lineup, including a six pitch inning to end his night.
“That’s what (Kevin O’Sullivan) preaches,” Shore said. “I’m not someone who is going to overpower you. I gotta pitch and part of me pitching is that I gotta go deep into ballgames and save our bullpen for the rest of the weekend.”
Shore hasn’t allowed a run in his last 17.1 innings and has a 0.32 ERA this season.
Florida (10-1) gave Shore early run support in the first inning. After Reed reached base on an infield single and promptly stole second, Peter Alonso drove him home with an RBI single through the right side to give the Gators a 1-0 lead.
“It was a good offensive count and got a pitch to hit and I wanted to capitalize and set the tone for the game and kind of get us going a little bit in the right direction,” Alonso said.
UF added one more run in the third inning, but blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman Deacon Liput hit a leadoff triple and then fellow freshman Jonathan India hit a comebacker to Dartmouth pitcher Duncan Robinson and fired home. Liput found himself in a pickle, but the freshman was able to dart back to third and slide under the tag of third baseman Steffen Torgersen, allowing India to advance to second.
Dalton Guthrie — who went 2-for-4 — drove both of them home with a two-run single. Guthrie now has a career-high nine-game hitting streak. JJ Schwarz capped off the three-run inning driving in Guthrie with an RBI single.
“I thought we did a nice job,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “... I thought we had some really good at-bats. I thought we had some really good two strike approaches. We had multiple hits with guys in scoring position with two strikes.”
In his last two starts, Shore has tossed 16 scoreless innings, striking out 16 while throwing just 171 pitches. His ability to stay in the strike zone made things easier for his defense.
“He pitched a hell of a game. He’s a horse,” Alonso said. “There’s really nothing you can say. He just dominated. … It’s really fun to watch, especially on defense.”
Dartmouth and the Gators play Game 2 of the series Saturday at 4 p.m. Florida will start A.J. Puk, who is looking to bounce back after a sub-par start against Miami last weekend.
Contact Luis Torres at ltorres@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.
Logan Shore pitches during Florida's 4-2 win against Florida Gulf Coast on Feb. 19, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.
