O'Sullivan Urges Gators to Step Into Future, Not Look Back

Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan enters his 11th season and has tunnel vision toward 2018 rather than what the Gators accomplished in 2017. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

O'Sullivan Urges Gators to Step Into Future, Not Look Back

Monday, January 29, 2018 | Baseball, Scott Carter

Coming off the program's first national championship, Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan wants this year's team to embrace a fresh start.

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The sights, sounds and smells of another college baseball season are beginning to tease the senses. Underneath his crisp ball cap, Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan's mind is churning toward Feb. 16, the day of the season opener against Siena.

When the first pitch is thrown at McKethan Stadium, 234 days will have passed since Jackson Kowar threw the final pitch of the 2017 season, a gem that provoked a joyful celebration and clinched Florida's first national championship.

Following nine consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, five June visits to Omaha and a level of consistent success unknown in the program's history, O'Sullivan capped a decade at Florida by leaving TD Ameritrade Park in the early hours of June 28 on top.

An offseason of awards and recognition followed.

As he prepared for Florida's first practice of the season on Friday, O'Sullivan and his coaching staff took a trip back to the final game of the College World Series, a 6-1 victory over Southeastern Conference rival LSU seven months ago.

They had no interest in reminiscing on a trip down memory lane. Instead, they prepared for class.

"We still won the ballgame and we made about eight to 10 mistakes, whether it be offensively or pitching-wise or whatever,'' O'Sullivan said. "We don't have to be perfect."

O'Sullivan planned to use video clips of the mistakes in the game as a teaching tool. While O'Sullivan has a gained a wealth of experience in his time at Florida, the 2018 season – his 11th in charge of the program – adds a new twist.

O'Sullivan has never coached a team that is the reigning national champion. He has spent a large bulk of the past seven months learning how.

"We have talked a lot about it,'' he said. "I knew we were going to have a good team back. The biggest thing for us is to be able to turn the page."

The Gators are a favorite to win this season's national title and they will start the season ranked No. 1 in multiple national polls.

The team's biggest loss from last season was its biggest star in Omaha, right-handed starter Alex Faedo. Faedo was dominant in the CWS, tossing 14 1/3 shutout innings in a pair of victories over Texas Christian that earned the Gators a spot in the best-of-three championship series against LSU.

Still, no one is feeling sorry for the pitching-rich Gators. The four pitchers who threw against LSU – Brady Singer, Michael Byrne, Tyler Dyson and Kowar – all return.

"I think our rotation is going to be one of the best," said Singer, a junior right-hander who is projected as a high first-round pick in June's draft. "We've kind of had a really good rotation the last few years. I'm excited to see things get going."

Singer on Friday, Kowar on Saturday, and Dyson on Sunday is the way O'Sullivan has the rotation planned. Byrne, who emerged a season ago as the closer, returns after earning a school-record 19 saves.

The Gators return five of their regular starters in the field, losing only outfielder Ryan Larson, shortstop Dalton Guthrie and catcher Mike Rivera. All three played important roles, but O'Sullivan is confident in a talented freshman class and the returning veterans.

50068 — JJ Schwarz raises the NCAA Championship trophy after the Gators swept LSU in the best-of-three championship series at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)

Senior JJ Schwarz and outfielder/pitcher Nick Horvath are the only two seniors. The 2015 SEC Tournament MVP, Schwarz has led the Gators in RBIs for three consecutive seasons and gives UF one of the most dangerous hitters in the country to anchor the lineup.

"I think anybody in the country would welcome a guy like JJ back for his senior year,'' O'Sullivan said.

Junior second baseman Deacon Liput is unavailable for an unspecified amount of games to start the season due to off-the-field issues. He is working out with the team and O'Sullivan said that Blake Reese is likely to play second until Liput can play.

The Gators are eager to start carving out a path back to Omaha.

"What happened last year was awesome, but that's in the past,'' sophomore outfielder Austin Langworthy said. "We're looking for another one."

Schwarz, named the team's captain by O'Sullivan, has the same view.

"This is a new team. Last year's team is the one that won it,'' Schwarz said. "This is a completely new team. New dynamic. That's something we've been preaching this year."

O'Sullivan is the guy at the pulpit.

The Gators can make more history this season by becoming the first UF team to make four consecutive trips to the CWS. That seems a long way off for now.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we struggled a little early, and it wouldn't surprise me if we played great," O'Sullivan said. "I just don't know what to expect."

What does he know?

"We're not defending a national championship,'' O'Sullivan said. "We've got different players, it's a different team. I want this team to write their own chapter, their own book."