GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The most surprising detail when the Gainesville Regional teams and seeds were announced was that Bethune-Cookman, a regular visitor to McKethan Stadium over the years in the NCAA Tournament, was not the usual pegged-first-to-go-home fourth seed.

When the Gators and Wildcats meet up in June, it has always been a No. 1 vs. No. 4 matchup in the four-team regional. Not this year. These Wildcats have more teeth. No one should be surprised now, certainly not the Gators.

The two teams play Monday afternoon at 4 in the Gainesville Regional championship game.

To get there, Bethune-Cookman made history twice on Sunday.

First, the Wildcats stayed alive in the NCAA Tournament by upsetting South Florida to advance to a regional final for the first time in school history. A few hours later, the Wildcats pulled off another upset, this one to the chagrin of Gator Nation.

Bethune-Cookman (36-24) defeated fourth-ranked Florida for the first time in school history, 6-2, to force a winner-take-all Gainesville Regional championship game on Monday.

The Gators were 31-0 all-time against the Wildcats prior to the unexpected events that transpired on a muggy Sunday night in front of an announced crowd of 2,077.



"For us, the first win was big and this one is even bigger for our program,'' Wildcats coach Jason Beverlin said. "To beat somebody the caliber of Florida … to force it to the 'if necessary game' is huge. They are a great team every year.

"To beat anybody of their caliber, any of the big three in our state, is a big deal for us. I think we're finally getting to the point where they're starting to believe it doesn't matter what the name on the front of the jersey says. It's baseball. Anything can happen."

Bethune-Cookman showed from the start of its clash against the Gators (44-17) that it was not going to go quietly into the night. The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off Florida starter Brady Singer, who helped their cause by hitting Kyle Corbin with a pitch and then serving up a two-out RBI double to Nate Sterijevski. Singer's throwing error then allowed Sterijevski to score.

Sterijevski was a bad itch the Gators could not scratch. He went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs.

"We knew Brady Singer was going to come inside,'' said Sterijevksi, who grew up in Clermont, a short drive from Singer's hometown of Eustis. "His ball tails in a lot, so I was trying to get something over the middle of the plate that would come back in and try to drive it to left field. Having that approach helped me."

Florida tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the second on Deacon Liput's two-run single off Wildcats starter Donte Lindsay. Beverlin went to his bullpen after Liput's hit and reliever TJ Densmore (3 2/3 scoreless innings) silenced the Gators until giving way to starter Anthony Maldonado, who pitched four shutout innings in his first relief outing of the season.

Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan was not pleased the Gators managed only five hits and two runs against a pitching staff with a collective ERA of 4.57 entering the regional.

"We got beat by fastballs the entire night,'' O'Sullivan said.

After Sterijevski's RBI single put the Wildcats up 3-2 in the sixth, Florida's most promising opportunity came when JJ Schwarz led off the bottom of the inning with a single. However, Maldonado replaced Densmore and retired Nelson Maldonado, Austin Langworthy and Mike Rivera to end the inning.

Bethune-Cookman blew the game open with a three-run eighth, highlighted by a two-run single from – you guessed it – Sterijevski.

Bethune-Cookman entered the regional 2-30 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, but after two wins Sunday, the Wildcats are 3-1 at McKethan Stadium this weekend. Bethune-Cookman eliminated Marist on Saturday, USF on Sunday, and has a chance to end Florida's Omaha dreams on Monday.



"It's surreal, no doubt about it,'' senior Austin Garcia said. "It's something that ever since my freshman year when we had our second [NCAA Tournament] win in school history against Columbia, I just felt like that after that we just had unfinished business as far as putting Bethune on the map."

The Wildcats are clearly on Florida's radar.

Singer, who lasted 7 1/3 innings Sunday and struck out eight, said the Gators must be up for the challenge Monday.

"Hope our starter does the job and we've just got to hit to win,'' he said.

O'Sullivan and Beverlin both said they are not sure who will start Monday but that everyone should be ready if needed with the season on the line for both teams.

The key for Florida to advance might rest more at the plate than on the mound. The Gators are hitting just .204 (21-for-103) in three regional games.

"We've got to do a better job,'' Liput said. "I thought Brady did exactly what he needed to do to win and we didn't support him enough offensively."

O'Sullivan, still visibly frustrated by his team's approach at the plate, planned to speak to the Gators before leaving the ballpark about the task at hand on Monday.

The Wildcats were clearly the more enthusiastic team Sunday night, riding a wave of emotion by reaching new heights in the postseason. The Gators are veterans on this stage.

They seek to restore order on Monday.

"Just give Bethune all the credit in the world,'' O'Sullivan said. "They faced a really good pitcher tonight and did a really good job of battling with two strikes. We just didn't do enough offensively. That's the bottom line. We've got a chance tomorrow to win the game and advance. It boils down to one game. It's just that simple."