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Florida 10, Miami 2: Gators use thunder to eliminate 'Canes from College World Series

Boomstick activation.

By Andy Hutchins
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

The first bomb was the deepest.

But with apologies to Yusuf Islam and Sheryl Crow — and all of you — it was the fourth and final home run the Florida Gators hit in a 10-2 rout of Miami on Wednesday, the new deepest one ever hit at TD Ameritrade Park, that really tore the 'Canes apart.

Peter Alonso's seventh-inning blast traveled 421 feet to the centerfield bleachers at notoriously cavernous TD Ameritrade, and, like that, Florida had the four longest home runs in the history of the stadium, which dates to 2011.

Alonso's shot eclipsed the leadoff swat by Harrison Bader in the first (414 feet) and the two-run shot by Buddy Reed (412 feet) that followed it. Florida had already previously owned the record for longest homer at TD Ameritrade, thanks to a 407-foot homer by Preston Tucker in 2011 — but, on Wednesday, the Gators smashed the three longest homers in the park for good measure.

Sandwiched between those shots was one by Richie Martin in the sixth. Florida's lone first-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft came into the night hitless in Omaha, but finished with three hits, and showed stunning power of his own with an opposite-field bomb.

The four home runs were the most in a College World Series game at TD Ameritrade Park, and more than all eight teams in the CWS field hit combined in each of those years. Bader's homer was the first hit to center in the park's history, and Alonso's the second. Florida now shares the record for home runs hit in a College World Series by a single team at TD Ameritrade, and could still play as many as five more games there this year.

And when the thunder, which produced six of Florida's 10 runs on the night, finished rumbling, and the ink had begun to dry in the history books, Florida had its second win over Miami of this College World Series — its eighth straight against the Hurricanes in NCAA Tournament play — and safe passage to a Friday showdown with the Virginia team that shut it down on Monday.

Gators starter Alex Faedo did a fine job of shutting Miami down. Faedo scattered one hit and struck out eight over the first five innings, including all three batters in the first inning, without allowing a run, and was lifted in the sixth after yielding two singles.

Both of those runners would score, thanks to a wild pitch from reliever Kirby Snead and a comically bad throw from Martin on a routine fielder's choice, but the runs came partially from Miami's only sustained bit of offense on the night — the 'Canes got a runner to third in just one other inning — and mostly from Florida's own errors.

Of the five runs Miami scored against Florida in Omaha, just three were earned. And Florida's 25 runs against the 'Canes are more than 15 more than any other team in the CWS field has put up.

Clearly, Florida has proven that it is emphatically better than Miami. Now it must prove it can beat Virginia — and twice in as many days — to move on to the CWS championship series.