Baseball Opens With Tulane At NCAA Regionals
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | Baseball
Florida will make its 24th NCAA Tournament appearance beginning on Friday at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. The Gators (34-22) are the second seed at the double-elimination event and will meet third-seeded Tulane (37-20-1) of Conference USA at 1 p.m. on the first day of action. Host Florida State (48-10) drew the top seed, fourth nationally, and will tangle with Patriot League Champion Bucknell (29-22-2) at 7 p.m.
Junior left-hander Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (5-2, 3.07) will take the hill for the Gators against Tulane junior righty Shooter Hunt (9-3, 2.45). Locke's last outing came on May 16 versus Vanderbilt, when he went seven innings (10 H, 3 R) and notched UF's 5-4 win. The southpaw has seen action in 20 games, with 11 starts, and has 43 strikeouts and 13 walks in 76.1 innings. Locke is 5-1 with a 2.52 ERA as a starter. The Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, Hunt has registered 119 K in 91.2 innings and held foes to a meager .156 batting average. He is among the national leaders in strikeouts and fewest hits allowed per nine innings.
In his initial year at the helm, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan has guided the Gators to their first Regional appearance since 2005. He became the fourth UF skipper to lead the Orange and Blue into NCAA action in his debut season, joining Jack Rhine (1982), Joe Arnold (1984) and Pat McMahon (2002). O'Sullivan is the seventh individual to take Florida to NCAAs.
Considering past history, it wasn't much of a surprise that the Gators will begin the NCAA Tourney in their home state. In its 23 previous Regional appearances, UF had been placed at sites within Florida 17 times (Gainesville-7, Coral Gables-7, Tallahassee-3). The squad has also traveled to North Carolina (1958, 1960, 1962), Minnesota (1977), Texas (2000) and Oklahoma (2004).
Although this year marks the fourth time that Florida has competed at a Regional hosted by Florida State, it is the first time it has happened since 1988 - the 20th anniversary of the Gators' first NCAA College World Series team. In 1979, UF was the fourth seed and was 2-2 before being ousted by Delaware. As the number two seed in 1984, Florida was 0-2 after defeats to Miami (Fla.) and South Alabama. All the pieces lined up in 1988, as the top-seeded gang from Gainesville posted a 4-1 mark and blanked Stetson in the championship game, 8-0, to punch its first ticket to Omaha.
All 64 teams preparing for NCAA Regionals have the same destination in mind: Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series. The Gators have reached the "Promised Land" five times - 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2005.
The Southeastern Conference matched its own record by placing nine squads into the 64-team NCAA field. Georgia and LSU are number one seeds who are hosting, Florida (Tallahassee), South Carolina (Raleigh) and Vanderbilt (Tempe) are seeded second and the quartet of Alabama (Conway), Arkansas (Stanford), Kentucky (Ann Arbor) and Ole Miss (Coral Gables) are three seeds. The Tigers and Bulldogs are the seventh and eighth national seeds, respectively.
When the preseason votes were tallied, the Gators were picked to finish 11th overall and fifth in the SEC's Eastern Division by the league's coaches. With a 17-13 ledger, O'Sullivan's squad was the runner-up to Georgia (20-9-1) in the East and trailed only the Bulldogs and Western Division champion LSU (18-11-1) in the overall standings. Florida topped both teams during regular-season series and enjoyed its highest finish since capturing the conference title in 2005.
Florida boasts just three players with NCAA experience on its roster, senior DH Bryson Barber (Pensacola, Fla.), Locke and senior 1B Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.). During the magical 2005 season, the Gators swept through the Gainesville Regional and Super Regional on their way to Omaha, where they became the first team from the SEC to reach the CWS Championship Series. McArthur started all 11 postseason games at third base and batted .220 (9-for-41) with seven RBI and three runs, Barber made three appearances as a pinch hitter and went 1-for-3 (.333), while Locke drew the starting nod against Texas as a true freshman in game one of the final round and gave up five hits and four runs over four innings to endure the 4-2 setback.
According to statistics guru Warren Nolan, Florida's strength of schedule was fourth in the country, trailing the Atlantic Coast Conference trio of Clemson (31-27), North Carolina (46-12) and Wake Forest (25-31) that was ranked first through third. The NCAA site showed the Gators 13th in the Ratings Percentage Index. Against the NCAA Tournament's top eight national seeds, Florida registered an even 6-6 mark (1-2 vs. No. 1 Miami (Fla.); 1-2 vs. No. 4 Florida State; 2-1 vs. No. 7 LSU; 2-1 vs. No. 8 Georgia).
The Gators made their league-leading 28th appearance at the SEC Tournament held in Hoover, Ala., last week but went 0-2 at the event for the first time since 1995. Seeded third, UF dropped a 7-3 decision to sixth-seeded Vanderbilt and then were eliminated by seventh-seeded South Carolina, 11-3.
Sophomore shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) was a team-best 4-for-7 (.571), McArthur was 3-for-7 (.429) and sophomore Matt den Dekker (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) went 3-for-4 against South Carolina and matched a career-high with three runs. However, UF batted just .257 (18-for-70) as a team and its pitching staff surrendered 24 hits and 18 runs for a 6.35 ERA.
Junior RHP Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (8-1, 3.47) suffered his first loss of the year after allowing six hits and a career-high six runs over six innings to Vanderbilt, a game in which the Gators stranded 14 runners. Sophomore righty Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) (4-4, 4.69) was roughed up for six hits and five runs over 1.1 innings by the Gamecocks, who ended UF's stay in Hoover for the second-straight year.
UF is 106-for-128 on the basepaths, two thefts shy of the eighth spot on the school's single-season top-10 list. Junior Avery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) (26-for-29) is tied for the SEC lead with Dominic de la Osa of Vanderbilt and is attempting to become the first Florida player to pace the league in steals since Rory Alonzo in 1984. den Dekker is 20-for-20, Figueroa is 19-for-23 and freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) is 11-for-15.
In the most recent NCAA statistics released on May 18, Florida was tied for fifth in the nation with 70 double plays. At the time, the Gators were sixth with 1.20 turned per game, behind front-runner UL-Monroe (1.33). UF turned three double plays at the SEC Tourney and improved to fifth on the program's single-season list.
Gator Bytes
*The Gators are riding a six-game NCAA Regional winning streak after sweeping both the 2004 Oklahoma City and the 2005 Gainesville Regionals with three victories apiece.
*After a season-high stretch of seven-consecutive games with a homer from May 3-17, UF did not hit any big flies in Hoover. Entering NCAA play, there is no current player from Florida with double-digit dingers this season, marking the first time since 1990 that has happened. Figueroa is closest with nine round-trippers.
*Florida is batting .324 with two out and 160 of the club's 365 RBI have come with two down.
*Barnes' SEC-leading 26 stolen bases are the most by a Gator since Kevin Estrada swiped 35 in 2001.
*Tied for eighth in the SEC with 17 doubles, Adams has gone without a two-bagger for 17-straight games.
*den Dekker is a perfect 20-for-20 in stolen bases and has established career highs in batting average (.332), runs (52), RBI (47), walks (27), homers (eight), doubles (eight) and triples (two).
*With an SEC-best seven sacrifice flies, Figueroa is within two of tying the single-season school mark shared by Mark Kiger (2000) and Brad Wilkerson (1997).
*At 57 RBI entering NCAA action, Figueroa recently passed Kiger's single-season mark for runs driven in by a Gator shortstop (55, 2002). In his current eight-game hitting streak, Figueroa is 16-for-34 (.471) with 10 RBI, eight runs, three homers, a triple and a double.
*Since suffering a ruptured ACL on April 2 and missing nine games, McArthur is 27-for-70 (.386) and has driven in 19 runs. Only den Dekker (.395, 17 RBI, 9-for-9 SB) has a higher clip during that 19-game stretch.
*Before two-straight three-run outputs at the SEC Tourney, the Gators had scored five or more runs in 13-straight games (9-4).
*Locke has not allowed more than three earned runs as a starter all year.
*Over the past three games, senior Jon Townsend (London, Ky.) is hitting .500 (7-for-14) with one RBI, a double and a run and McArthur is 4-for-11 (.364) with three RBI, two doubles and a run.
*UF's bullpen is 13-12 with 10 saves and a 4.08 ERA and the starters are 21-10 with a 4.14 ERA through 56 games.
*Junior reliever Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) (0-1, 4.15) is first in the SEC with 32 appearances and has totaled 17.1 innings. He made seven appearances as a rookie, including four starts, and worked 17.1 innings.
*Florida has started three catchers throughout the season: sophomore Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) (31), sophomore Hampton Tignor (Sarasota, Fla.) (13) and junior Teddy Foster (Jacksonville, Fla.) (12).
*Before the SEC Tourney, the Gators had not dropped consecutive games since May 3-4 at South Carolina.
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