The Gators are fired up after a three-run homer by Deacon Liput, No. 8, in the fourth inning of Tuesday's win over Louisville. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Staff Photographer)
These Gators Believe in Winning and Having Fun
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | Baseball, Scott Carter
Florida is off to a 2-0 start in Omaha after Brady Singer shut down Louisville and Austin Langworthy and Deacon Liput homered.
However, with a five-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Singer began to feel the effects of pitching in the College World Series on a 92-degree night at TD Ameritrade Park. McKay led off the inning with a double and later scored Louisville's first run on a two-out single by Colin Lyman.
Singer then allowed a single to Josh Stowers and walked Jake Snider. Suddenly, the bases were loaded and Cardinals leadoff hitter Logan Taylor represented the tying run.
Gators catcher Mike Rivera had seen enough after Singer started with a pair of balls to Taylor, so he made a quick trip to the mound.
What did he say?
"Dude, just throw it down the middle,'' Singer said. "If they can hit it, let them hit it. If they are going to ground out, they are going to ground out. And he grounded out and got out of it, and that was it."
Sage advice from Florida's junior catcher, who for the second consecutive game here caught a gem by one of UF's starters – seven scoreless innings from Alex Faedo on Sunday, and on Tuesday, in Singer's first career CWS start, one run and nine strikeouts over seven innings.
Two pitches after their brief exchange, Taylor grounded into an inning-ending force out and Singer's night was done. So was Louisville's.
The 5-1 victory kept the Gators in the winners bracket, just the third time in 11 all-time trips to Omaha that UF has won its first two games. The other two times, 2005 and 2011, the Gators made it all the way to the championship series.
Few gave this Florida team much of a chance at contending for the title considering that of the six teams Coach Kevin O'Sullivan has brought here over the past eight years, this one is perhaps the most flawed.
Rivera has been to Omaha three consecutive seasons and hears the comparisons of the 2017 Gators to those of the past, including the 2016 UF team that stepped onto Nebraska soil considered the favorite.
"Team on paper,'' Rivera said.
The Gators had the talent to win it a year ago, but not the mindset of this year's group.
"We just kind of said we're going to take it one game at a time, a little different approach,'' Rivera said. "Relax, do our thing. Whatever happens, happens. We're just having fun right now. I just feel our whole team is enjoying it."
While Rivera feels it, the rest of us see it. The signs are everywhere. Outfielder Nelson Maldonado dancing on the field prior to the game. Finn O'Sullivan, the 4-year-old son of the head coach, playing catch with Faedo. Graduate assistant trainer Aaron Hoeing getting ice water dumped on his head in the dugout after Deacon Liput's three-run homer Tuesday.
This is not your older brother's Gators baseball team.
"I stay out of their way,'' O'Sullivan said. "I mean, we don't check curfew. I trust them. It's a total trust factor. We've got some really good kids."
O'Sullivan admits in years past he has tried to control some of the uncontrollable, deep diving into strategy and matchups so far ahead that at times it overshadowed the experience. The more relaxed approach is evident and in the first two games, paying off nicely.
Still, don't mistake the more laid-back approach for a lack of awareness of what's at stake. The Gators are on a mission.
"We're in the back of the pack and we're here to prove everybody wrong,'' Singer said.
The Gators plan to have a light practice on Wednesday and then turn their attention to the TCU-Louisville winner. Florida will face the winner of that game on Friday night. If the Gators win, they will play for the national title.
But first, it's time for some fun.
Rivera plans to take it easy on Wednesday and enjoy himself.
"I can rest my legs and hips,'' he said. "I'm probably not going to do much other than walk around the zoo and watch baseball."
Freshman right-hander Tyler Dyson took over in the bottom of the eighth after Nick Horvath replaced Singer. Horvath retired the first two batters he faced before McKay connected for his second double of the game.
That brought Ellis to the plate, only the second time in eight plate appearances for McKay or Ellis the Cardinals had a runner on base. Dyson got Ellis to foul out to first to end the inning, and then he retired the order in the ninth.
Dyson had just arrived at UF last summer for Summer B classes and watched the Gators' quick exit from the CWS on television.
A year later, he is focused on having fun in Omaha and getting to work when it's time. So far, the Gators' newfound recipe for success is undefeated.
"We put ourselves in good position to try and make the championship round,'' Dyson said. "Brady and Alex did a great job. We've just got to go finish it out. We can't make it there, start 2-0, and then be happy with that. We're trying to become that first Florida team to win it."
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