Right-hander Tommy Mace is scheduled to start Friday's NCAA Tournament opener against USF. (Photo: Tiffany Franco/UAA Communications)
Gators Focused On Making Postseason Statement
Thursday, June 3, 2021 | Baseball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It's a story Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan has shared before, but after practice this week, he told it to a new audience.
The 2021 UF baseball team.
Prior to O'Sullivan's first trip to the College World Series at Florida in 2010, he and assistant coach Craig Bell continued with a business-as-usual approach in June, staying busy on the recruiting trail while prepping for Florida's opponents in Omaha. The heavy workload and early exit at the CWS prompted O'Sullivan to rethink his strategy.
In subsequent trips to Omaha, he retooled his methods. This is the time of year when attention has to be on the current team and players – not the future ones – to maximize the opportunity.
"This is why you do this,'' O'Sullivan said Thursday. "Our whole focus has got to be on South Florida."
The No. 1-seed Gators (38-20) host the No. 4-seed Bulls (28-27) in the opening game of the Gainesville Regional at Florida Ballpark on Friday at noon. The winner faces the Miami-South Alabama winner on Saturday.
Florida enters the NCAA Tournament coming off an impressive performance at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Gators won their first three games before losing to SEC East rival Tennessee in the semifinals.
The Gators rebounded from being swept at No. 1-ranked Arkansas in the final regular-season series by beating Kentucky, Mississippi State and Alabama by a combined score of 24-4 in Hoover. Their stay ended with a 4-0 loss to Tennessee, which lost to Arkansas in the championship.
O'Sullivan said Thursday the Gators are in a good place entering the NCAA Tournament, playing with the type of intensity and focus needed at this time of year. Despite losing three in a row to the Razorbacks to end the regular season, O'Sullivan said he felt comfortable in what he saw on the field.
"That might have been one of the best series we played all year long, in a really hostile environment," he said. "I know that kind of sounds weird because we lost all three games, but when you look at it, the starting pitching was solid. Every game was won or lost in the seventh or eighth inning. I think our team responded extremely well in Hoover."
As O'Sullivan and his staff turned their attention to the postseason, he didn't feel the need to tinker with the starting rotation the way he did during the regular season. Fourth-year junior Tommy Mace (6-1, 4.32 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday against USF. Redshirt freshman right-hander Jack Jasiak (6-7, 2.92) is scheduled to take the mound for the Bulls, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Mace said the Gators, who opened the season ranked the consensus No. 1 team in the country, have steadied themselves after an up-and-down season. The Gators opened the season by losing two of three against Miami at home and they started 6-6 in the SEC.
However, since April 1, Florida is 22-12 and that includes a four-game losing streak prior to their run in Hoover. The Gators did not play USF during the regular season.
"I think we had a little bit of growing pains early and kind of figured out who we needed to be as a team to be successful," Mace said. "That comes from what coaches see and what players see."
What many outside the clubhouse see is a talented team that could cause trouble in the postseason if Mace and fellow starters Hunter Barco and Franco Aleman pitch the way they did in the SEC Tournament.
The Gators held a players-only meeting after the Arkansas series as a way to reboot and refocus on playing their best at the most important time.
That time has arrived.
"Everybody's made jumps,'' said freshman infielder/catcher Nathan Hickey said. "That's something that just needed to happen. It just brought us all closer together. We're playing for each other. We've just got to take that momentum we had in the first three games [in the SEC Tournament]."
A good place to start would be a win over USF on Friday. For the Gators to fulfill the lofty expectations at the start of the season, they have to win the Gainesville Regional in the program's first postseason games at Florida Ballpark. The Gators are 28-7 at home this season and expected a livelier atmosphere with no COVID-19 restrictions in place on crowd size.
"I'm really excited and I know our players are too to have full capacity,'' O'Sullivan said. "We've already had really good atmospheres, but I'm really looking forward to this weekend and having full capacity. It should be a lot of fun.
"I feel really good about our team. I really do. I think we're playing as good as we've been playing all year long."
The 2021 UF baseball team.
Prior to O'Sullivan's first trip to the College World Series at Florida in 2010, he and assistant coach Craig Bell continued with a business-as-usual approach in June, staying busy on the recruiting trail while prepping for Florida's opponents in Omaha. The heavy workload and early exit at the CWS prompted O'Sullivan to rethink his strategy.
In subsequent trips to Omaha, he retooled his methods. This is the time of year when attention has to be on the current team and players – not the future ones – to maximize the opportunity.
"This is why you do this,'' O'Sullivan said Thursday. "Our whole focus has got to be on South Florida."
The No. 1-seed Gators (38-20) host the No. 4-seed Bulls (28-27) in the opening game of the Gainesville Regional at Florida Ballpark on Friday at noon. The winner faces the Miami-South Alabama winner on Saturday.
The stage is set.
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 4, 2021
Show time. 🔥 #GoGators // 🐊⚾️ pic.twitter.com/q4VmXuLe2J
Florida enters the NCAA Tournament coming off an impressive performance at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Gators won their first three games before losing to SEC East rival Tennessee in the semifinals.
The Gators rebounded from being swept at No. 1-ranked Arkansas in the final regular-season series by beating Kentucky, Mississippi State and Alabama by a combined score of 24-4 in Hoover. Their stay ended with a 4-0 loss to Tennessee, which lost to Arkansas in the championship.
O'Sullivan said Thursday the Gators are in a good place entering the NCAA Tournament, playing with the type of intensity and focus needed at this time of year. Despite losing three in a row to the Razorbacks to end the regular season, O'Sullivan said he felt comfortable in what he saw on the field.
"That might have been one of the best series we played all year long, in a really hostile environment," he said. "I know that kind of sounds weird because we lost all three games, but when you look at it, the starting pitching was solid. Every game was won or lost in the seventh or eighth inning. I think our team responded extremely well in Hoover."
As O'Sullivan and his staff turned their attention to the postseason, he didn't feel the need to tinker with the starting rotation the way he did during the regular season. Fourth-year junior Tommy Mace (6-1, 4.32 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday against USF. Redshirt freshman right-hander Jack Jasiak (6-7, 2.92) is scheduled to take the mound for the Bulls, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Mace said the Gators, who opened the season ranked the consensus No. 1 team in the country, have steadied themselves after an up-and-down season. The Gators opened the season by losing two of three against Miami at home and they started 6-6 in the SEC.
However, since April 1, Florida is 22-12 and that includes a four-game losing streak prior to their run in Hoover. The Gators did not play USF during the regular season.
"I think we had a little bit of growing pains early and kind of figured out who we needed to be as a team to be successful," Mace said. "That comes from what coaches see and what players see."
What many outside the clubhouse see is a talented team that could cause trouble in the postseason if Mace and fellow starters Hunter Barco and Franco Aleman pitch the way they did in the SEC Tournament.
The Gators held a players-only meeting after the Arkansas series as a way to reboot and refocus on playing their best at the most important time.
That time has arrived.
"Everybody's made jumps,'' said freshman infielder/catcher Nathan Hickey said. "That's something that just needed to happen. It just brought us all closer together. We're playing for each other. We've just got to take that momentum we had in the first three games [in the SEC Tournament]."
A good place to start would be a win over USF on Friday. For the Gators to fulfill the lofty expectations at the start of the season, they have to win the Gainesville Regional in the program's first postseason games at Florida Ballpark. The Gators are 28-7 at home this season and expected a livelier atmosphere with no COVID-19 restrictions in place on crowd size.
"I'm really excited and I know our players are too to have full capacity,'' O'Sullivan said. "We've already had really good atmospheres, but I'm really looking forward to this weekend and having full capacity. It should be a lot of fun.
"I feel really good about our team. I really do. I think we're playing as good as we've been playing all year long."
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