Reed is Right: Gators-Vanderbilt Series Should be Fun
Thursday, May 7, 2015 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Gators outfielder Buddy Reed mentioned a word that seems to get lost much of the time when the hype machine cranks up.
The Florida-Vanderbilt series that opens tonight at Hawkins Field in Nashville has a big-stage aura around it.
The first game tonight is live on ESPNU. The two starting pitchers -- Florida's Logan Shore (6-4, 3.01 ERA and Vanderbilt's Carson Fulmer (9-1, 1.74 ERA) -- are two of the best in the country. And then there are those SEC East implications on the line.
The defending national champion Commodores (35-14, 17-7) own a two-game lead over the No. 9-ranked Gators (36-13, 15-9) in the SEC East with six to play. Both are vying for not only the SEC East title, but a likely national seed as an added bonus.
Back to Reed and his three-letter word: f-u-n.
“That's what this game is all about,'' he said.
There is a lot at stake for both teams, but when Reed arrives at the ballpark, he plans to focus on why he enjoys moments like these rather than complicate matters by thinking about the consequences.
“I always like playing on the road in front of other people's fans,'' Reed said. “It's exciting. Hopefully going into Vandy we play as well as we can and give it our all.”
How much fun the Gators actually have the next three days is likely to be determined by how well they hit Vanderbilt's starting pitchers.
“They are always known for their pitching,'' junior shortstop Richie Martin said. “Whatever they throw at us, they are going to throw their best.”
Fulmer is expected to be one of the top-10 picks in next month's MLB amateur draft and after he takes the mound tonight, Commodores coach Tim Corbin will send lefty Philip Pfeifer (3-3, 3.88) and right-hander Walker Buehler (3-1, 2.86) to the hill as Vanderbilt seeks to win its 20th weekend home series over the past three seasons.
Eighth-ranked Vanderbilt has won 19 of 22 series at Hawkins Field since 2013 but in his eight seasons at Florida, Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan (17-11) has the edge against his good friend Corbin.
The Gators enter with a three-game win streak that includes a 5-1 win over USF on Tuesday night at McKethan Stadium. Martin's two-run homer provided Florida with some breathing room and a nice going-away gift for the road trip to Nashville.
“You always want to have momentum going into a series like this,'' Martin said. “We try and not to make it bigger than it is, but it's very important. We need to play well this weekend. We know in the back of our minds that it's important, but at the same time we're going to try and stay calm and just go up and play like we're playing at home.”
Florida won last season's SEC regular-season title and then watched as Vanderbilt went on to win the program's first CWS.
So while O'Sullivan wants his team to play well, he has tried to keep it in perspective for his young team, one that features only two seniors.
“We know how good Vanderbilt is,'' O'Sullivan said. “I don't want our guys to put more stock into this weekend than any other because they're all important, but things get magnified on national TV with a national seed, the SEC race and all, but they're all important. I don't want them to try to do more than they think they need to do to be successful.
“I do think we are in a good place and I feel good."
O'Sullivan expects to have first baseman Pete Alonso available for the series. Alonso suffered a broken nose in the batting cage prior to Tuesday's game and did not play. He did make the trip to Nashville.
Meanwhile, O'Sullivan said lefty A.J. Puk (6-3, 5.08) will start Friday and righty Alex Faedo (4-1, 3.27) on Saturday.
National TV. SEC East implications. Two teams in the top 10. National seed up for grabs. Add it all up, and this series has a little bit of everything.
Reed is right. Sounds fun.
