A lot to like as Gators get back into win column in NCAA Tournament
Saturday, May 30, 2015 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- For a brief moment -- and we're talking very brief -- you wondered if there was something to all the talk about the Gators not facing many soft-tossing lefties like Florida A&M starter Ricky Page.
Would that make Florida's NCAA Tournament opener on Friday more interesting than the Gators would like?
As one of the season's biggest crowds at McKethan Stadium continued to file in, Page struck out the side in the first inning on an assortment of 70-mph breaking balls.
“I thought we were overswinging at first,'' Gators skipper Kevin O'Sullivan said. “We don't see many of those types of guys. That was the main concern I had.”
Hmm, this could be trouble. About an hour later you realized how silly that stray thought was.
So did Florida A&M head coach Jamey Shouppe, who rolled out eight different pitchers in Florida's 19-0 win in the Gainesville Regional.
“Florida is hot right now,'' said Shouppe. “They kept coming at us and coming at us. As the game wore on, it was like the tide coming in. Too much orange and blue.”
Too much everything for the Rattlers in their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Gators, meanwhile, played about the way they envisioned after that shaky first inning.
Florida scored a run in the second, five in the third, and then continued to batter FAMU into submission the rest of the way for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2012.
“To come out with this team and do what we did tonight is a special feeling,” junior outfielder Harrison Bader said. Bader went 1-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs as the Gators pounded 17 hits.
But that was just part of the story.
The most important element for the Gators was they didn't let up after a stirring comeback in the SEC Tournament. After losing their opener in Hoover, the Gators won four consecutive games to claim their first SEC Tournament title in four years.
They talked this week about coming out Friday and playing with an edge, unlike the past two regionals when they went 0-4.
After the shaky first inning against Page, O'Sullivan told the Gators to relax and play ball. They obviously listened.
“As long as we stay out of our own way and we can play relaxed and do our thing and play like we've been playing, we're going to be tough to beat,'' he said. “I think this team has a chance to make a deep run here.”
Others think so, too.
The reason is that Florida is a team built for success. The Gators can pitch, led by starter Logan Shore's five scoreless innings Friday. They can play defense. If you haven't seen Buddy Reed's highlight-reel catch against FAMU, find it. And they can hit.
JJ Schwarz had four hits and five RBIs, Jeremy Vasquez had three hits, and the rest of the lineup produced from top to bottom.
There's a lot to like about the Gators. O'Sullivan certainly knows that.
“This whole thing is about how you are feeling as a player and a club,'' O'Sullivan said. “When you get more players feeling good about themselves, the club plays better. We came off of a very, very difficult and intense SEC Tournament, and I thought we did what we needed to do.
“We played great defense, we got a chance to get everybody in the game to get some experience, and we had great pitching. In all three phases, we were good. We stayed the course, we stayed focused for nine innings. We should feel going going into tomorrow.”
The Gators face USF on Saturday night in the winner's bracket. Lefty A.J. Puk is on the mound. He has been dominant of late.
Yes, there's a lot to like about this team. If one game into the NCAA Tournament is any indication, expect this Florida team's fan club to grow over the next three weeks.
