Gators & Seminoles Collide In NCAA Super Regional At McKethan Stadium
Friday, June 5, 2015 | Baseball
Florida's NCAA Super Regional Notes
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 4 national seed Florida (47-16) hosts Sunshine State rival Florida State (44-19) in a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional at McKethan Stadium starting on Friday night. The winner of the series will advance to the NCAA College World Series that begins on June 13 in Omaha, Neb.
In a meeting of sophomore right-handers, Logan Shore (8-6, 2.64) will face Boomer Biegalski (7-4, 2.80) in the series opener at 7:30 p.m. Sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (9-3, 3.80) will start Saturday's Game 2 at 5 p.m. against a Florida State pitcher to be determined, with a potential Game 3 to take place on Sunday at either 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. if necessary.
The game can be heard through GatorZone.com and on the Gator IMG Sports Network with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert, it will be carried on ESPN2 with Gabe Gross and Tom Hart and viewed through the WatchESPN app. Live stats for each game will be available on GatorZone.com and fans can also follow updates of each game on @GatorZoneBB, the official Twitter account of the Gator baseball team.
QUICK HITS ABOUT THE GATORS
- Florida has made the NCAA Tournament in all eight years of Kevin O'Sullivan's tenure, the longest NCAA run in school history.
- The Gators have been a national seed in six of the past seven seasons (No. 8 in 2009, No. 3 in 2010, No. 2 in 2011, No. 1 in 2012, No. 2 in 2014, No. 4 in 2015). They are the only team in the country who can make this claim.
- With a 3-0 mark last weekend, the Orange and Blue secured the 11th NCAA Regional title in school history, fifth under O'Sullivan.
- Over their three wins, the Gators batted .325 (37-for-114), yielded three runs for a 1.00 earned run average and did not commit any errors.
- UF is making its seventh Super Regional appearance in school history, fifth under Coach O'Sullivan and its first in three seasons.
- The 16 teams in the NCAA Super Regionals have the same destination in mind: TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series. The Gators have reached the “Promised Land” eight times - 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
- Florida brought home its seventh SEC Tournament Championship on May 24 with a 7-3 victory over No. 9 Vanderbilt. It was the squad's first crown since 2011 and they have defeated the defending national champions three times in four meetings this season.
- After dropping a 7-6 decision to No. 24 Arkansas, the Gators reeled off four consecutive wins over Auburn (11-2), No. 24 Arkansas (10-0 in 7 innings), No. 1 LSU (2-1) and No. 9 Vanderbilt (7-3). The Tigers and Commodores were the top two seeds at the event.
- Freshman catcher/designated hitter JJ Schwarz (.320, 66 RBI) was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Tournament after hitting .526 (10-for-19), with six RBI, five runs and three doubles and earned MVP of the NCAA Gainesville Regional with a .538 (7-for-13) clip.
- Sophomore left-hander A.J. Puk (9-3, 3.80) has consecutive seven-inning outings without allowing any runs to Arkansas and USF. Over his last five starts, he has notched 48 strikeouts in 30.1 innings and is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA.
- Junior righty Taylor Lewis (6-1, 1.27) earned SEC All-Tourney honors after eight shutout innings in Hoover, highlighted by a 4.1-inning stint versus top-ranked LSU in which he picked up the victory. Lewis has not allowed any runs in his last 10 appearances dating back to mid-April.
- Florida's bullpen is 21-3 with a 2.80 ERA and 14 saves, and has registered 227 strikeouts in 267 innings, with a .234 batting average against.
- UF is hitting .298 as team, has compiled a team earned run average of 3.19 and leads the nation with a .985 fielding percentage.
- Florida has played error-free baseball in 37 of its 63 games and is 30-7 (.811) in those games. The single-season school record for fielding percentage is .978, set in 2010.
- The Gators are 42-2 (.955) when out-hitting their opponent, 34-4 (.895) when scoring first, 29-5 (.853) when hitting a homer and 21-1 (.955) when scoring in the first inning.
- After 26 home runs in 63 outings last year, Florida has gone yard 55 times in 2015, led by Schwarz (15) and junior Harrison Bader (14).
SERIES NUGGETS
Florida State holds a 127-105-1 (.547) advantage in the all-time series, while Florida has a 55-47 (.539) edge in Gainesville.
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan is 13-15 (.464) against Florida State, 7-1 (.875) in Gainesville, 4-5 (.444) in Tallahassee and 2-9 (.182) at neutral sites.
The Gators had claimed five straight meetings between the Sunshine State rivals before suffering back-to-back losses in Jacksonville (8-3 on March 31) and Tallahassee (4-3 in 12 innings on April 14).
