College baseball has been missing the long ball the last few College World Series.
Well, the Florida Gators changed all of that in nine innings on Wednesday against Miami.
UF had already crushed the Hurricanes 15-3 to open up CWS play for both teams, and the Gators were out to do it again, setting a TD Ameritrade Park record by hitting four home runs in a game on their way to a 10-2 win, eliminating Miami.
Florida started with the long ball right out of the gate, as leadoff hitter Harrison Bader crushed a ball to centerfield, which was the first home run ever hit out of TDAP in center.
LEAD-OFF BOMB!!
Harrison Bader becomes the first to EVER hit a HR to CF in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha! #CWS http://t.co/WKEw4kxNFO
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 18, 2015
And it only got worse from there for Miami.
Florida hit a second home run in the first inning, taking an early 3-0 lead off of Miami starter Enrique Sosa.
ANOTHER BIG FLY!!
Buddy Reed blasts Florida's 2nd homer of the 1st inning! #CWS http://t.co/t1YrvdBm22
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 18, 2015
This forced the Canes to bring in star pitcher Andrew Suarez, who held Florida scoreless for the next three innings.
Then in the fifth, three-straight hits to start the inning chased Suarez, and all three of those runners would score. A fourth run would also score, and that would just about do it for Miami.
Gators using the LONG BALL! Richie Martin with Florida's 3rd HR of the night! #CWS http://t.co/rK6W6J3al4
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 18, 2015
That third home run would tie the total amount of home runs hit throughout the 2014 College World Series, which had 16 games. It was also the first time a single game in the ballpark yielded three long balls.
And then there was a fourth.
WOWOWOWOWOW!!!
Peter Alonso SMASHES Florida's 4th HR of the night! #CWS http://t.co/q5dUPHozTU
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 18, 2015
Florida is the first #CWS team with 4 homers in a game since Texas had 5 (and lost!) to LSU on 6/22/09. #Rosenblatt
— Rob Anderson (@_robanderson) June 18, 2015
Florida moves on to face Virginia, needing two wins to advance to the Championship Series. Their first game will be Friday afternoon at 3 PM. TCU and LSU face each other in an elimination game in the other half of the bracket Thursday night at 8 PM ET.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
