Florida Gators

2016 POST SEASON DIGITAL GUIDE

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- They opened the season ranked No. 1. They won 23 of their first 24 games. They led the Southeastern Conference with a school-record 44 regular-season wins.

The UF baseball team met expectations in the regular season, now it's time to see what the Gators do in the postseason. Florida (44-11) opens the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night against Tuesday's LSU-Tennessee winner.

After defeating LSU on Saturday to cap the regular season, the Gators went directly from Baton Rouge to Hoover, Ala., site of this week's tournament. Weather and an upset stomach played crucial roles in Florida dropping two of three to the Tigers.
 
Gators ace Logan Shore, named SEC Pitcher of the Year on Monday, pitched just 2 1/3 innings in Thursday's start. The game was delayed due to weather in the bottom of the third inning and resumed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, left-hander A.J. Puk lasted only two innings in Friday's start due to stomach illness. The Gators lost both games.

"When you look at it, playing as good a team as your playing at LSU on the road and you only get 4 1/3 out of your two starters, it makes it difficult," Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said Monday on a conference call.

If there is a positive in Puk's brief outing, it's that O'Sullivan can use him in the Gators' first game in Hoover on Wednesday. He said the plan is to start Puk on Wednesday, Shore on Thursday and Alex Faedo on Friday.

Meanwhile, O'Sullivan said first baseman Peter Alonso and freshman right-hander Jackson Kowar will rejoin the team at the SEC Tournament. Neither is expected to play, but O'Sullivan is optimistic if the Gators make a run to Omaha, both can contribute.

Kowar has missed the past two weeks after suffering a collapsed lung in a non-baseball issue during Florida's three-game series at Tennessee. He has been rehabbing and working toward a potential postseason return.

"We would not ask him to do anything competitively for us until he is able to able to get his strength and weight back, and I think he's close to doing that," O'Sullivan said. "It may take another week or two, but we would anticipate the longer we play, the better the opportunity he is going to have to pitch for us."

As for Alonso, who leads the team in average (.352), RBIs (47) and is tied with catcher Mike Rivera with a team-high nine home runs, O'Sullivan received a good progress report on Monday.

"I would anticipate, unless there are any hang-ups, that he would be OK for regionals,'' O'Sullivan said. "We have to let the trainers do their job and make that decision. The pain and swelling have gone down considerably."

The Gators, who won the SEC Tournament last season, remained No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll on Monday.