Nelson Maldonado’s second home run in four days gave the No. 1 Florida Gators (18-1) a lead and Pete Alonso’s two-run shot an inning later provided the exclamation point in the Gators’ 6-0 win over No. 11 Florida State (13-4). This was Florida’s first shutout of Florida State at home since March 3, 1994.
Maldonado entered last weekend’s series against Harvard hitting just 2-of-26 (.076 on the season. The freshman was inserted into the starting lineup against Harvard and his coaches’ confidence in him is paying off. Maldonado is hitting 5-14 (.357) with five runs scored, six RBI and two home runs in the past four games.