Junior Ryan Larson and the Gators have their sights set on a return trip to the Promised Land.
Ryan Larson & the Gators Aiming For Memorable Season
Tuesday, February 23, 2016 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Thirteen Southeastern Conference Championships -- check.
Seven SEC Tournament titles -- check.
Thirty-one NCAA Tournament appearances – check.
Nine trips to the NCAA College World Series – check.
About all that's left to do for this Florida baseball program is win it all in Omaha.
You don't have to remind any player on the Gator roster of that. Most of them played on the team that made it to the College World Series last year, only to fall short in a season-ending loss to Virginia. "UVA 5, UF 4," scribbled on a whiteboard in Florida's batting cages when the team returned to Gainesville, is still there almost eight months later.
Ryan Larson will likely be the last Gator to forget how close Florida was to the CWS Championship Series. For the majority of last summer, he played in the Valley Baseball League for the Tom Sox of Charlottesville, the same city that's home to the University of Virginia – the 2015 NCAA Baseball National Champions.
"The first day there, I had media try to talk to me and say, 'How is it coming here?' and 'You guys obviously lost to Virginia, how do you feel about that?'" the junior outfielder said.
Two of his summer ball teammates played for Virginia's CWS-winning team as well, and, while Larson was happy that they had won a championship, he felt bitter about what could have been for Florida.
He might get another shot at it this season.
Many who are entrenched in the college baseball world believe that Florida is destined to check off "win a national championship" on its 2016 to-do list. UF is ranked first in every major preseason poll, and a handful of Gators, such as juniors A.J. Puk, Buddy Reed and Logan Shore have already received numerous accolades and been named to award watch lists. Florida has already swept Florida Gulf Coast in its opening series by a combined score of 24-9 in front of an Opening Weekend Series record crowd at McKethan Stadium.
Although every season is different, Larson believes that last year's trip to Omaha will benefit Florida in its journey to return.
"We've felt that pressure before, we've dealt with it, so we kind of know how to deal with it," he said. "We can help the younger guys deal with it. Hopefully, we can do that again and make it go flawlessly this time."
These younger guys, the 11 freshmen, are a highly-touted class, ranked first in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Along with sophomore transfer Nick Horvath, from Santa Fe College, they'll likely all make immediate contributions on the field and mound (some did already against FGCU, including second baseman Deacon Liput and third baseman Jonathan India), and, according to Larson, they've already established camaraderie with their older teammates.
"When we say we're close, I think that now the junior class and sophomore class are really, really close together from last year and going through all those things together," Larson said. "Actually, the junior class had not experienced any postseason success, so we kind of learned it all on our own, and now we're just trying to teach the freshmen."
Everyone will need to step up pretty quickly, as Florida lost some key contributors from 2015 to the Major League Baseball Draft, including outfielder Harrison Bader, relievers Taylor Lewis and Bobby Poyner and infielders Josh Tobias and Richie Martin.
No matter. Losing guys happens each and every year, and the 2016 players understand that they don't need to be the next Bader, Martin or Tobias to be successful.
"I feel like I know who I am and that I'm not going to hit home runs or make the amazing plays," Larson said. "Just because Harrison's gone and Tobias is gone and Richie's gone doesn't mean (Dalton) Guthrie has to try and be Richie and Buddy's got to try and be Bader. Let Buddy be Buddy and Dalton be Dalton, and we'll work it out."
Larson obviously wouldn't mind repeating his performance from last season, with a .305 batting average and 25 RBI, but he says he'd like to steal more bases and show that he's capable of putting up the same or even better numbers.
"I think I have a lot to prove," he said.
Every Florida player does. In practice, they've been working on perfecting little things and maintaining good defensive play -- UF's .984 fielding percentage last season ranked first in the nation and second in NCAA history.
But, practice gets old after a while. Larson says the Gators are itching to back up those preseason rankings and accolades and return to Omaha. They're off to a good start three games in.
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Seven SEC Tournament titles -- check.
Thirty-one NCAA Tournament appearances – check.
Nine trips to the NCAA College World Series – check.
About all that's left to do for this Florida baseball program is win it all in Omaha.
You don't have to remind any player on the Gator roster of that. Most of them played on the team that made it to the College World Series last year, only to fall short in a season-ending loss to Virginia. "UVA 5, UF 4," scribbled on a whiteboard in Florida's batting cages when the team returned to Gainesville, is still there almost eight months later.
Ryan Larson will likely be the last Gator to forget how close Florida was to the CWS Championship Series. For the majority of last summer, he played in the Valley Baseball League for the Tom Sox of Charlottesville, the same city that's home to the University of Virginia – the 2015 NCAA Baseball National Champions.
"The first day there, I had media try to talk to me and say, 'How is it coming here?' and 'You guys obviously lost to Virginia, how do you feel about that?'" the junior outfielder said.
Two of his summer ball teammates played for Virginia's CWS-winning team as well, and, while Larson was happy that they had won a championship, he felt bitter about what could have been for Florida.
He might get another shot at it this season.
Many who are entrenched in the college baseball world believe that Florida is destined to check off "win a national championship" on its 2016 to-do list. UF is ranked first in every major preseason poll, and a handful of Gators, such as juniors A.J. Puk, Buddy Reed and Logan Shore have already received numerous accolades and been named to award watch lists. Florida has already swept Florida Gulf Coast in its opening series by a combined score of 24-9 in front of an Opening Weekend Series record crowd at McKethan Stadium.
Although every season is different, Larson believes that last year's trip to Omaha will benefit Florida in its journey to return.
"We've felt that pressure before, we've dealt with it, so we kind of know how to deal with it," he said. "We can help the younger guys deal with it. Hopefully, we can do that again and make it go flawlessly this time."
These younger guys, the 11 freshmen, are a highly-touted class, ranked first in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Along with sophomore transfer Nick Horvath, from Santa Fe College, they'll likely all make immediate contributions on the field and mound (some did already against FGCU, including second baseman Deacon Liput and third baseman Jonathan India), and, according to Larson, they've already established camaraderie with their older teammates.
"When we say we're close, I think that now the junior class and sophomore class are really, really close together from last year and going through all those things together," Larson said. "Actually, the junior class had not experienced any postseason success, so we kind of learned it all on our own, and now we're just trying to teach the freshmen."
Everyone will need to step up pretty quickly, as Florida lost some key contributors from 2015 to the Major League Baseball Draft, including outfielder Harrison Bader, relievers Taylor Lewis and Bobby Poyner and infielders Josh Tobias and Richie Martin.
No matter. Losing guys happens each and every year, and the 2016 players understand that they don't need to be the next Bader, Martin or Tobias to be successful.
"I feel like I know who I am and that I'm not going to hit home runs or make the amazing plays," Larson said. "Just because Harrison's gone and Tobias is gone and Richie's gone doesn't mean (Dalton) Guthrie has to try and be Richie and Buddy's got to try and be Bader. Let Buddy be Buddy and Dalton be Dalton, and we'll work it out."
Larson obviously wouldn't mind repeating his performance from last season, with a .305 batting average and 25 RBI, but he says he'd like to steal more bases and show that he's capable of putting up the same or even better numbers.
"I think I have a lot to prove," he said.
Every Florida player does. In practice, they've been working on perfecting little things and maintaining good defensive play -- UF's .984 fielding percentage last season ranked first in the nation and second in NCAA history.
But, practice gets old after a while. Larson says the Gators are itching to back up those preseason rankings and accolades and return to Omaha. They're off to a good start three games in.
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