Florida Gators

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Florida baseball team, after arriving here Thursday afternoon, took the field for the first time at TD Ameritrade Park on Friday.  

The Gators took batting practice and participated in an autograph session on College World Series Fan Day, and later attended the CWS opening ceremonies. The No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Florida (52-14) faces Coastal Carolina (49-16) on Sunday night (8 p.m., ESPN2). 

The UF-Coastal Carolina game is a classic pitching vs. power matchup. The Gators have the deepest pitching staff in the field and the Chanticleers the most impressive offensive profile. Coastal Carolina leads the country with 94 home runs and four Chanticleers – Zach Remillard (19), G.K. Young (17), Connor Owings (16) and Michael Paez (15) -- each has more homers than Florida's leader, first baseman Peter Alonso (13). 

Coastal Carolina's Spring Brooks Stadium plays cozier than McKethan Stadium – 320 feet down the lines, 365 in the power alleys and 390 to center – but the Chanticleers showed off their power in the Super Regional win at LSU by hitting three home runs in Game 1 at Alex Box Stadium.

"We don't have a superstar on our team,'' CCU coach Gary Gilmore said Friday. "We don't have a first-round draft pick guy. We're just a bunch of good country ballplayers that show up and compete. 

"And that's kind of how our lineup is. We just scrap you in the batter's box, and our offense and stuff is built around being able to do multiple things." 

Meanwhile, Florida's pitching staff has surrendered only 30 home runs in 66 games and shut down Florida State's potent offense in the Gainesville Super Regional by pitching 22 consecutive scoreless innings and overcome a Game 1 loss. 

Junior right-hander Logan Shore will start Sunday. A sinker-ball pitcher, Shore has given up just four home runs in 100 1/3 innings, an average of 0.36 per nine innings. 

"We've pitched fairly well and played really good defense,'' Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "In that regard, we feel really good about where we're at." 

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Oklahoma State faces UC Santa Barbara in the opening game of the CWS on Saturday afternoon. For the Gauchos, who upset Louisville in dramatic fashion to advance, this is the first CWS appearance in school history.

Twenty-one years ago, fifth-year UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts was a member of the Gators' starting rotation. Checketts moved cross-country in 1995 to play for Gators coach Andy Lopez, who was in his first year in Gainesville. 

A native of Portland, Ore., Checketts finished 6-5 with a 3.79 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) for the '95 Gators. Homesick, he transferred to Oregon State to finish his college career with a 30-12 record. 

Now Checketts is in the spotlight as a coach of perhaps the best story in the tournament. The Gauchos claimed their spot in Omaha on a walk-off grand slam home run. 

"It's been a whirlwind for us to get to this point,'' Checketts said. "It's been a fantastic experience. This is my first time to Omaha. So 20 years of coaching and playing, and my first opportunity to be here as a player, coach, or even fan. We're trying to soak it all in and enjoy it." 

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QUOTE OF NOTE I 

"One of the things the first year out, I probably spread myself too thin. Tried to do some recruiting stuff. The biggest thing for me was to totally commit 100 percent to our team after the super regional. The players in that locker room deserve every ounce of focus and energy that our staff has, and I didn't want to spread ourselves too thin.'' -- Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan, at the head coaches' press conference, on biggest lesson he has carried over from his first trip to the CWS (2010) to his fifth this season 

QUOTE OF NOTE II 

"The whole deal about Sully saying he's not recruiting while he's in Omaha, by the way, he doesn't stop recruiting. Don't even think that for a second." -- Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock
 

QUOTE OF NOTE III 

"Regardless of how many times you come, I mean, this is the pearly gates of college baseball. It never gets routine.'' -- TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle 

QUOTE OF NOTE IV 

"It's been 21 years of sweat and toil at a small mid-major trying to build a program and watch these guys [the other coaches in UF's bracket] from afar. Coached against Sully [when he was at Clemson]. What a fantastic opportunity and experience for my kids." -- CCU coach Gary Gilmore 

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EXTRA BASES 

Alonso's 421-foot homer in last year's CWS remains the longest in TD Ameritrade Park history … Fans will be able to purchase beer and wine throughout the stadium for the first time under a pilot program approved by the NCAA … Gators freshman pitcher Jackson Kowar (3-0, 3.37 ERA) has an opportunity to return for the CWS. Kowar has not pitched since suffering a non-baseball medical emergency (collapsed lung) on the team's road trip to Tennessee in late April … The Omaha World-Herald goes all in during its CWS coverage, including this CWS hits tracker for every game in the history of TD Ameritrade Park.

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PLAYER INTERVIEWS