Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida baseball team is back where it started.

 

A good thing in this case.

The Gators reclaimed the top spot in the national polls Monday after Miami supplanted them two weeks ago. However, the Hurricanes dropped two of three over the weekend to Virginia while Florida, which won two of three at Miami in late February, took two of three against Southeastern Conference rival Georgia.

If not for a weak offensive performance against the Bulldogs in Thursday's 2-1 extra-inning loss, the Gators would have cruised past Georgia. Of course, they likely would have swept any team in the country if they could have mustered another run Thursday.

If that seems a bold statement, check out what Florida's starting pitchers did in three games against Georgia: 21 1/3 innings, seven hits, one run (earned), four walks and 22 strikeouts. That's a collective ERA of 0.42.

Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan chuckled when asked if that was what he had in mind for the starting trio of A.J. Puk, Logan Shore and Alex Faedo. O'Sullivan has been around long enough to know what the Gators' starters did against Georgia is rare.

"I'm just looking for W's and quality starts,'' he said.

On Thursday, Puk retired 18 consecutive batters during one stretch and struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings. Shore followed that by pitching a two-hit shutout on Friday by facing the minimum 27 batters. And on Sunday, Faedo pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings while surrendering only two hits.

The series victory over Georgia provided a lift heading into finals week for the players. The Gators don't play again until they open a three-game series at South Carolina on Friday night.

"Any time you win a series at home, it's a big deal, especially against your rival Georgia,'' outfielder Ryan Larson said. "It was big to come back [from Thursday's loss]."
 

The Gators have won 36 of their first 42 games for the best start in school history. In O'Sullivan's nine seasons, the latest Florida has ever lost its seventh game of the season was on April 8 in 2011 when the Gators won a school-record 53 games and lost to the Gamecocks in the College World Series best-of-three championship.

That record is already shattered by three weeks.

However, the Gators will play nine of their final 12 SEC games on the road and other than a three-game series against Vanderbilt on May 13-15, Florida only has two mid-week home games remaining. The Gators host Bethune-Cookman on May 3 and USF on May 10.

That's why O'Sullivan was in a good mood after Saturday's 4-1 win over the Bulldogs to clinch the series.

"It was an important game for us,'' O'Sullivan said. "This is the time of the year when you get to the second half of the season where everybody's fighting for their lives. Everybody is fighting to get into the tournament.

"It was good to get a series win and get a couple of days off. They have earned it. They need it. I look forward to the homestretch here. The one thing it will do is make us battle-tested. We will be ready for postseason, I know that."

The Gators have SEC road series remaining at No. 6-ranked South Carolina (33-8), Tennessee, and No. 8-ranked LSU (27-13). Meanwhile, Vanderbilt (30-10) is ranked No. 11 in the latest Baseball America poll.

Staying on top won't be easy. Then again, the Gators have loftier goals.