Zack Powers found himself in the middle of a bench-clearing tussle against Florida State. A month later, he came a call away from hitting into a triple play. The bizarre sequence started in the second inning with Powers roping a line drive to Missouri first baseman Kendall Keeton who snagged the liner, stepped on first and fired to third to complete the rare trifecta.
Florida had runners on the corners with Taylor Gushue on third and Braden Mattson on first base. The inning-ending play brought UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan out of the dugout after he saw the ball hit the ground to which first-base umpire David Brown had no way of knowing with his obstructed view of the play. The umpires conferred and reversed the decision saying Keeton trapped the ball, which gave freshman Peter Alonso an early run-scoring opportunity and forced Gushue back to third.
Alonso’s two-run single up the middle off Missouri starter Brett Graves turned into the go-ahead runs as No. 6 Florida (28-15, 13-6 Southeastern Conference) defeated Missouri (19-22, 6-13 SEC) 7-1 in their series opener at McKethan Stadium on Friday night.
“It was probably the turning point of the game. I know it’s early,” O’Sullivan said. “I know it’s just the second, but you go down there and you don’t score after that then the next thing you know the momentum shifts towards Missouri.”
A Harrison Bader single and a Mattson sacrifice fly increased the UF lead to four in the third inning. Alonso drove in a career-high five RBIs with his third coming on a stand-up triple off the center-field wall in the sixth inning. He knocked in his last two on a double to left-center in the eighth.
Besides the triple play that wasn’t and Karsten Whitson coaching first base in place of coach Buddy Munroe who was attending a wedding, the real story was Logan Shore on the mound.
The freshman continued making his case for the freshman All-American team by tossing 7.1 innings and outdueling Graves, a junior, who had several scouts clocking his every pitch. The freshman from tiny Coon Rapids, Minn.—a city with a population of 61,931 in 2012—has gone at least five innings in all 10 of his collegiate starts.
“It’s hard for freshman to pitch on the weekend let alone on Friday nights. They don’t come around very often,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s one thing to pitch on the weekends, but it’s another thing to ask anybody let alone a freshman to go out there and give your team a chance on Friday nights.”
Shore retired 17 of his last 20 batters and allowed one runner in scoring position all night. A wild pitch by Bobby Poyner to score Eric Anderson in the eighth inning ruined the potential shutout for Shore who gave up a single to Anderson earlier in the frame. Three of Shore’s five hits allowed were leadoff singles.
“I really focused in my pen on Tuesday on locating my fastball. I located my fastball pretty well tonight and my secondary pitches worked off that. It felt pretty good,” Shore said. “Every inning you’re trying to get the leadoff hitter, because that’s a really good way to start the inning. Giving up singles is not what I wanted, but I guess how you come back from that is what makes the game go.”
Florida played its third game this week after dropping two in-state matchups to Jacksonville and Florida A&M on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Gators scored four total runs in those losses. A sudden run-scoring outage was surprising given Florida swept Georgia and outscored Jacksonville and Florida A&M a combined 25 runs in 2013 with 21 of those coming versus A&M.
Right-hander Aaron Rhodes starts Game 2 at noon with a shot at Florida’s third-straight SEC series win. The Gators disappointed with two head-scratching losses earlier in the week. As has been the case this season, their younger players stepped up when they needed them most.
“Baseball is awesome,” catcher Taylor Gushue said. “It stinks sometimes like (Wednesday) and the day before. It’s great tonight. We’re just moving forward now.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
