In The (Gator) Zone: Respect Pours In for Gators Baseball, Pineiro Kicking It, More Tidbits

The UF baseball team enters the 2016 season with an eye toward the program's first national title. (Tim Casey/UAA)

In The (Gator) Zone: Respect Pours In for Gators Baseball, Pineiro Kicking It, More Tidbits

Sunday, January 17, 2016 | Baseball, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Florida team that advanced to Omaha last June was good enough to win the program's first national title.

The coaches knew it. The players knew it. The media knew it. And Virginia, the eventual national champion, definitely knew it. The Cavaliers had to hold off the Gators in a pair of one-run battles at TD Ameritrade Park.

Florida's stay in Omaha mostly came down to the little things in the end. The Gators missed key scoring opportunities in a season-ending 5-4 loss to the Cavaliers with a berth in the championship series on the line.

The Cavaliers, who finished .500 (15-15) in the ACC during the regular season, went on to defeat Vanderbilt in the best-of-three championship series. That's baseball in a nutshell. Perhaps more than in any other sport, the best team doesn't always win, a lesson the 2012 Gators experienced as well.

As the Gators prepare for the 2016 season opener on Feb. 19 against Florida Gulf Coast University, opinions on where Florida stacks up with the best in the country have not changed.

In recent weeks Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com, and PerfectGame.org - three media outlets that cover the college game in-depth throughout the year - have tabbed the Gators No. 1 in their preseason polls.

No surprise there.

26174 — Logan Shore anchors a strong Gators rotation returning. (Tim Casey/UAA)

Entering his ninth year at UF, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan considers this year's team one of his best. The Gators' roster is talented, deep and well-balanced.

The Gators lost outfielder Harrison Bader and the left side of their infield in third baseman Josh Tobias and shortstop Richie Martin, but first baseman Peter Alonso (.301, 5 HR, 32 RBI), second baseman Dalton Guthrie (.287, 2, 26), outfielders Buddy Reed (.305, 4, 47) and Ryan Larson (.305, 1, 25), and the catching tandem of JJ Schwarz (.332, 18, 73) and Mike Rivera (.271, 3, 48) provide plenty of firepower in the lineup.

And then there's the pitching. The Gators are loaded with lively arms, the primary reason so many analysts see them as the team to beat.

Junior right-hander Logan Shore (11-6, 2.72 ERA), junior lefty A.J. Puk (9-4, 3.81), and right-handers Dane Dunning (5-2, 4.03) and Alex Faedo (6-1, 3.23) form as deep a starting rotation as there is in the nation.

O'Sullivan also added another top-ranked recruiting class, highlighted by 6-foot-5 freshman pitcher Brady Singer, a second-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in last summer's draft.

The distance between being ranked No. 1 in the preseason and hoisting the championship trophy in Omaha is significant, but if the Gators conquer the quest, don't be surprised.

"The bottom line is, this roster is overflowing with winning players, not just prospects,'' wrote Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball.com. "They should be mentally tough enough to handle the extra scrutiny that comes with a preseason No. 1 ranking."

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2017 SCHEDULE

The Florida football team has added another nonconference game to its 2017 schedule.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, which disbanded its football program after the 2014 season, is restarting the program in 2017. UAB announced it will travel to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Nov. 18, 2017. UF and UAB have met twice previously, both Florida wins (2002, 2011).

The Gators open the 2017 season in a much-anticipated nonconference game against Michigan in the Cowboy Classic. The game will be held at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and provides Florida an opportunity to avenge a 41-7 loss to the Wolverines in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1.

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NOAH FACES CROSSROAD

There has been a lot of speculation about the future of former Gators standout Joakim Noah in Chicago. The chatter about Noah's place in the Windy City was renewed on Saturday when it was announced Noah would undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. Noah was hurt in Friday's game against Dallas.

A free agent at the end of the season, Noah lost his spot in the Bulls' starting lineup earlier this season and is having the worst season statistically of his nine-year NBA career. Noah has spent his entire professional career in Chicago and has endeared himself to the Bulls fans and community leaders for his contributions on the court and in the city's crime-pierced neighborhoods.

Joakim Noah will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, casting doubt on his future in Chicago. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Veteran Chicago NBA writer Sam Smith, who covered the Bulls before, during and after Michael Jordan redefined the franchise's status on the American sports landscape, offered his take on Noah's situation Sunday in a column for ChicagoBulls.com:

The Joakim Noah story in Chicago hasn't necessarily reached its final chapter. Meanwhile, it has been one of the great Chicago stories ever told.

No, not the celebrated Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson story of championships and NBA history. Maybe not even the sustained but short-circuited success of the first great Bulls team with Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier, Bob Love, Chet Walker and Tom Boerwinkle.

Though in his way there's never been anyone in Chicago like Joakim Noah, who arrived with more panache, produced so many highlights and spoke to the community like no one else ever did.

Here is to Noah's NBA story continuing in Chicago or elsewhere for the rest of us to enjoy.

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KICKING IT

Gators kicker Eddy Pineiro is arguably the most intriguing recruit Florida coach Jim McElwain has added to the program in his short tenure.

If you follow Pineiro on social media, you know what I'm talking about. A former soccer player, Pineiro is well-schooled in the modern-day age of self promotion and fan interaction. He is certainly not shy with his iPhone.

But beyond Pineiro's accessibility and fondness for the spotlight, he fills a major position of need for a Florida team that missed 14 kicks (10 field goals, four PATs) last season.

Pineiro enrolled earlier this month and has shared some of his first kicks at Florida on his Twitter account @eddypineiro1.

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GATOR BITS

Former UF linebacker Jelani Jenkins is back on campus this spring serving an internship in Florida's weight room. Jenkins left school after his junior season in 2012 and recently completed his third season with the Miami Dolphins. The 23-year-old Jenkins started 13 games in 2015, finishing with 71 tackles. Jenkins is working toward completing his degree and plans to graduate in May. "I'll finally be able to walk,'' Jenkins told MiamiDolphins.com. "I'm excited about that." ... Former UF tight end Mike Mularkey was named head coach of the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, marking the third time Mularkey has led an NFL team. Mularkey took over as Tennessee's interim head coach midseason. He previously served as head coach of Buffalo and Jacksonville. ... Florida volleyball player Ziva Recek, who recently completed her eligibility by helping Florida advance to the Elite Eight, is finishing her degree by serving an internship as an event planner for UF's Levin School of Law this semester ... Recek isn't the only UF volleyball player already making plans for the future. Teammate Mackenzie Dagostino is set to join her father, Randy, as an assistant coach at Tampa's Berkeley Prep next season. Randy Dagostino retired as Berkeley Prep's head coach in 2012 but the school announced his return last week. He coached Mackenzie during his first stint at the school. ... Former Gators coach Billy Donovan has reached the midway point of his first season in charge of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder is 29-12 halfway into the season and NewsOK.com analyzed what Donovan has learned in his first 41 games as a professional coach after 19 seasons at UF.