Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – There was still hope Sunday afternoon when freshman Jacob Young stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the tying run 90 feet away.

The Gators still had a chance. A chance to win. A chance to keep their season alive. A chance to return to Omaha. Of course, none were meant to be.

"The beginning just got us,'' head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Gave up seven runs with two outs and couldn't quite stop the bleeding. That's been our MO the entire year. The way the game went, kind of a fitting ending to the way the season went."

For the first time since 2014, Florida's final out of the season was recorded somewhere other than TD Ameritrade Park, home of the College World Series.

The Gators made their final game an unlikely nail-biter, falling behind in the Lubbock Regional by seven runs when Dallas Baptist erupted for a nine-run fourth inning. They clawed back to within a run in the ninth with Young up and fellow freshman Kendrick Calilao on third in a one-run game, before losing 9-8.

This was a UF team that showed signs of trouble from the start, primarily the inability of junior right-hander Tyler Dyson to secure his spot as the Friday night starter the way former teammates Brady Singer (2018) and Alex Faedo (2017) had the previous two years.

Dyson has arguably the best arm of the trio – he hit 100 mph on the radar gun during his college career – and made what is expected to be his final college appearance with a scoreless inning Sunday. Dyson's inconsistency prompted O'Sullivan to move him to the bullpen in April, and prior to his outing against DBU, Dyson had not pitched since April 20 at LSU.

Much like Dyson, the Gators flashed potential at times in 2019 but were done in by inconsistency as they now turn their focus to 2020 and the final season at McKethan Stadium.

"We need to grow up on the mound in a hurry,'' O'Sullivan said. "There's a lot of pieces, but I think the biggest takeaway, when you're really young in the bullpen with freshmen, it just makes it a little bit difficult."

Here is a trip around the bases as we take a closer look at the Gators with their season over:
  STARTING PITCHING
 
Normally an area of strength for O'Sullivan's teams, the Gators used 12 different starting pitchers this season with sophomore right-handers Tommy Mace (team-high 16 starts) and Jack Leftwich (13) moving into the top two spots in the rotation following Dyson's demotion. Overall, Florida's starters finished 22-19 with a 5.47 ERA and surrendered 278 hits in 269 2/3 innings, not a typical performance for a program that has produced seven first-round pitchers this decade. Mace (8-5, 5.32 ERA) led the team in innings (89 2/3) and wins. He struggled in his final start of the season, able to record only four outs in Friday night's loss to DBU. Still, the Gators like Mace's competitiveness and he figures to open next season as the Friday night starter. Leftwich (6-5, 5.31) pitched well in his final two starts (16 IP, 3 H, 1 R) in wins over Missouri and Army to regain the form he showed during his promising freshman season in 2018. With both back next season and another year of experience, the Gators have a talented veteran duo to build around. Meanwhile, Dyson (3-2, 4.95) was drafted in the fifth round of the MLB amateur draft on Tuesday by the Nationals and will likely begin his professional career in the coming weeks. While his junior season was not what the Gators envisioned, Dyson's place in Gators baseball history is secure with his victory over LSU to clinch the Gators' first national championship as a freshman in 2017. The Gators received a huge boost on Tuesday when Jacksonville Bolles 6-foot-5 lefty Hunter Barco, ranked the 32nd-best prospect in this year's draft by Baseball America, tweeted his intentions to enroll at Florida rather than enter the professional ranks. Meanwhile, 6-foot-5 freshman right-hander Nick Pogue emerged late in the season as a strong contender to open next season in the rotation.
 

Excited for my next step and to be a part of @GatorsBB !! Road to Omaha starts now #GatorNation pic.twitter.com/EPTkY4zvBO

— Hunter Barco (@hunter_barco7) June 4, 2019

 
  BULLPEN
 
The Gators relied heavily on seven freshmen pitchers and the results reflected their inexperience. Florida's relievers finished the season 12-7, 14 saves and a 5.26 ERA (253 IP, 279 H, 175 R, 148 ER). As O'Sullivan mentioned in his postgame comments Sunday, the final game of the season and the Lubbock Regional as a whole offered a good snapshot of the Gators' season. The UF offense scored 29 runs in the three games, but the Gators finished 1-2 for their earliest postseason exit in five years. The bullpen surrendered 20 hits and 14 runs (13 earned) in 14 innings at Rip Griffin Park. Still, there are some talented arms coming back next season. Freshman Ben Specht threw a career-high 4 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday's loss. Specht and fellow freshman right-hander Christian Scott tied for the team lead in appearances with 22 apiece. Freshman right-hander Nolan Crisp (4-4, 6.41 ERA, 8 saves) showed promise as a closer early in the season but struggled when pressed into a starting role and situational reliever, creating questions about where he best fits. David Luethje, Hunter Ruth (injured late in season), Kris Armstrong and Pogue each received valuable experience and perhaps can solidify roles with strong offseasons and continued development at the collegiate level. Of course, the restriction of having to rely primarily on just one lefty in the bullpen, sophomore Jordan Butler (1-1, 5.76), also hampered the Gators and is an area expected to be addressed. The hope is that this is a group that took its lumps in 2019, often unable to quiet opponents at crucial times, for the betterment of the future. "That's the thing we've been preaching the entire year, is you give up one, just battle like heck not to give up a second,'' O'Sullivan said. "You give up two, don't give up a third. Because you never know which one is going to come back to hurt you or help you. Unfortunate that we weren't able to stop it."
  INFIELD
 

Shortstop Brady McConnell, coming off a freshman season in which he played just nine games due to a wrist injury, blossomed into a second-round pick of the Kansas City Royals. McConnell hit a school-record for home runs by a shortstop (15) and led the Gators in all three triple crown categories until the final weekend of the season. The Gators will certainly feel his loss but thanks to a talented trio of freshmen that includes Calilao at first, Young at second and Cory Acton at third, the future is promising. Calilao (.276, 5, 49) led the team in RBI, Young (.311, 3, 26) unseated senior Blake Reese in the starting lineup, and Acton (.251, 6, 30) got better as the season progressed after starting the season at second base and moving to third when Young replaced an injured Reese early in the season. The Gators have signed Lake Brantley (Fla.) High shortstop Isaac Nunez to possibly fill the void left by McConnell and freshman Christian Flint flashed an impressive glove defensively when he got on the field. While questions remain about specific roles next season, O'Sullivan will have a group of returning players who proved they could produce.
  OUTFIELD
 
The Gators are expected to have to replace right fielder Wil Dalton, selected in the eighth round by Boston in this week's MLB amateur draft. Dalton (.262, 8 34) is a fiery presence in the lineup whose numbers dropped off his second season at UF due to the departure of some talented hitters around him. Still, his passion for the game was on display following Sunday's loss when the Gators nearly came back from a 9-2 deficit. "I had to keep myself in check after my second at-bat,'' said Dalton, who refocused to go 2-for-2 with a homer, single and walk in his final three at-bats of the season. "I was a little fired up and a little mad at what our pitching staff had done. I had to remind myself that, hey, we are one of the best offenses in the country and we can relax and do our thing." Offense was not the problem in 2019 as the Gators hit .284 as a team – 10 points higher than the previous season – and averaged 6.8 runs, a slight increase over the 6.6 runs they averaged in 2018 with SEC Player of the Year Jonathan India and senior JJ Schwarz batting around Dalton. Freshman center fielder Jud Fabian (.232, 7, 26) needs to improve offensively but for a player who was supposed to be a senior in high school, Fabian is already one of the best defensive center fielders in the country. Meanwhile, if junior left fielder Austin Langworthy (.283, 10, 43) returns for his senior season, he will give the Gators a veteran presence in the lineup the way senior designated hitter Nelson Maldonado (team-high .343, 10, 43) did this season. Maldonado and Dalton will be missed, but Young and Calilao have experience in the outfield and are options should any signees O'Sullivan expects on campus opt to play professionally.
  CATCHER
 
Sophomore Brady Smith started so slow that O'Sullivan batted him ninth in the lineup during a stretch early in the season. A former shortstop, Smith also continues to learn the defensive nuances of playing behind the plate. By season's end, Smith was hitting cleanup and finished the season hitting a respectable .270 and finishing second on the team to Maldonado (.408) with a .392 on-base percentage. With Smith back, the Gators have an anchor behind the plate to help the young pitching staff and to provide a production in the batting order. Senior Jonah Girand departs and will forever be remembered by Gators fans for his unlikely role as 2018 Gainesville Regional Most Outstanding Player for his three home runs.
  FINAL WORD
 
Yes, after a school-record four consecutive trips to Omaha, it felt strange to drive across desolate West Texas from Lubbock to Dallas on Sunday night knowing the season was over. Still, for those plugged into the UF baseball team on a daily basis during the season, it should not have been too surprising. The Gators were good enough to extend their streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances under O'Sullivan to 12, but they lacked the pitching to make a deep run in the postseason. The offense was better than expected. "This is probably the most resilient offense I've had,'' O'Sullivan said. The pitching was not so resilient. After losing starters Singer and Jackson Kowar last season in the first round of the draft and closer Michael Byrne, it was a safe bet to expect some growing pains on the mound. Did I expect the Gators to finish last in the Southeastern Conference in team ERA? No. Still, with so many young arms forced into action and Dyson unable to recapture his freshman form, by midseason it was obvious the Gators were going to be entertaining but not necessarily a great team. A 34-26 finish and regional exit seems about right. In the end, 2020 shapes up to be a memorable season. The Gators should be better on the field as they say goodbye to McKethan Stadium in preparation for their move to Florida Ballpark in 2021.