O'Sullivan Deserves Credit -- And a Baseball -- For Retooling Gators Back Into a National Title Threat
Sunday, June 7, 2015 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- When outfielder Harrison Bader smothered the final out in his glove, he raced toward the infield to join Florida's dogpile after defeating Florida State on Saturday to clinch a trip to the College World Series.
Bader immediately found Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan and handed him the baseball.
“He just puts so much into this team,'' Bader said. “The ball has some sentimental value to some extent. I thought he deserved having the ball. I wanted to give it to the person who deserves it the most.”
In his eighth season, Florida's sweep of FSU in the Gainesville Super Regional earned O'Sullivan his fourth trip to Omaha. He led the Gators there back-to-back-to-back from 2010-12.
The Gators advanced to the championship series in 2011 before getting swept by South Carolina. And in 2012, with arguably the most talented roster in school history, the Gators lost their first two games and quickly returned to campus and parted ways.
In some ways, they were at a crossroads.
Players like Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker, Nolan Fontana, Brian Johnson and Paco Rodriguez just don't show up every year. The Gators entered a rebuilding mode and made the NCAA Tournament the next two seasons, but until this postseason, Florida had not won an NCAA Tournament game in three years.
They had lost six in row, starting with losses to South Carolina and Kent State that forced their quick exit from Omaha in 2012. Getting back was a challenge.
“It is very, very difficult to get to this point,'' O'Sullivan said Saturday. “The first three times we went in '10, '11 and '12, you don't really realize how difficult it is to get there. You just kind of get this momentum. And then you miss in '13, and you miss in '14, and you start thinking, 'boy, this is not easy.' I think this one I appreciate probably a little bit more.
“Not only do you have to be good, things have to kind of go your way.”
There's no doubt things are going the Gators' way currently. Florida enters next Saturday's game against Miami with a nine-game winning streak, its longest since the 2012 team reeled off a school-record 18 consecutive wins.
In the immediate aftermath of Saturday's victory, listening to the dean of Sunshine State baseball coaches, FSU's Mike Martin, you realized how impressive O'Sullivan's run as the dugout boss at UF really is.
The Gators made five trips to Omaha in more than 90 years as a program prior to his arrival in the summer of 2007 following nine seasons as an assistant at Clemson. In his first season O'Sullivan led the Gators to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, where their season ended in Tallahassee at the hands of the Buster Posey-led Seminoles.
FSU clearly had the stronger program at the time. The Gators clearly have the stronger program today.
They proved it by outscoring the Seminoles 24-9 in the Super Regional.
“We ran into a buzzsaw,” Martin said. “I'm very impressed with the way Florida played. They are certainly a team that can take this momentum to Omaha and come back with a championship. They showed me a lot this weekend.
“I think they could very well be the team to beat in Omaha.”
Martin knows the difficulty of reaching the CWS -- and winning once you get there -- more than anyone.
In his 36 seasons as FSU's head coach, the Seminoles have made the NCAA Tournament every year. They have advanced to Omaha 15 times but have been unable to win the national title.
The 71-year-old Martin signed a two-year contract extension this week that runs through 2017. With time running out on winning that elusive title, Martin conceded that losing is always painful this time of year.
“Obviously everybody is disappointed,'' he said. “You get beat and your season ends.”
As the Seminoles packed their belongings for the two-hour bus ride back to Tallahassee, the Gators' celebration was just getting started. They have the day off Sunday and return to practice Monday focused on what they have focused on from the first pitch of the season.
“I couldn't be more excited,'' said senior pitcher Bobby Poyner, who tossed five scoreless innings in relief of starter A.J. Puk on Saturday. “We've been talking all year about the ultimate goal of winning the national championship. This is one of the major steps.”
The next step is winning in Omaha.
“There's no reason we can't win five more games and win a national championship, which is the ultimate goal,'' Bader said.
Once the Gators arrive in Omaha, the pressure will be turned up a notch. Every decision looms as possibly a make or break one.
If the Gators play like they have been -- Florida is 5-0 in the NCAA Tournament -- O'Sullivan could have something Martin doesn't.
Another commemorative baseball, this one the most special of all.
“Five more wins,'' said Poyner, who along with senior third baseman Josh Tobias are the only Gators to have played in Omaha. “We've got to do what we did against Florida State, and do what we've done all season. If we do that, I think we will have success.
“We've gotten hot at the right time.”
They certainly have.
