Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan talks to closer Ryan Slater during the eighth inning of Monday night's season-ending loss to Oklahoma. (Photo: Chloe Hyde/UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: Gators Kept It Interesting Until Very End
Tuesday, June 7, 2022 | Baseball, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The story ends the same way every year other than for the team that hoists the national championship trophy at the end.
Kevin O'Sullivan is among the fortunate ones. He has experienced the joy of holding that trophy after the final out. It has been five years since the Gators won the program's only national championship, a magical postseason run anchored by the pitching of ace Alex Faedo in 2017.
Many people wrote off the 2022 Gators at midseason. Said they were too young, too one-dimensional. Once No. 1 starter Hunter Barco was lost to Tommy John surgery, they appeared destined for irrelevance.
No one told the Gators. They kept showing up at the ballpark and eventually started to grow up. They started winning, too. Florida advanced all the way to Monday's Gainesville Regional championship game against Oklahoma, a heartbreaking 5-4 loss that turned out the lights at Condron Ballpark.
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 7, 2022
"It hurts,'' O'Sullivan said afterward. "You could see it in the dugout. You're sitting there, and there's guys that were obviously upset. But it was real. They were real, raw emotions."
The Gators led 2-1 in the top of the seventh inning when a weather delay halted the game for 5 hours, 33 minutes. When play resumed, reliever Ryan Slater replaced starter Brandon Neely with two out. To end the inning, Slater struck out the regional's Most Outstanding Player, Sooners left fielder Kendall Pettis. The Gator tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-1 lead.
Six outs were all that stood between the Gators and an improbable trip to the Blacksburg (Va.) Super Regional. Slater could only get two of those six outs, and when you are the closer, that usually spells trouble.
"No one feels worse than he does,'' O'Sullivan said. "He competed, but sometimes the other team beats you. Ryan has been our guy. When you get to this part of the season, I'm not going to second-guess any decision we made."
In the wake of the loss, D1Baseball.com reported Tuesday afternoon that longtime assistant coach Craig Bell, who has been at Florida with O'Sullivan for the past 15 seasons, will not return next year. The Gators are sure to look different next season in the transfer portal era and the rapidly expanding NIL era.
ASSISTANT SCOOP: @GatorsBB will have one new assistant in 2023 as the #Gators have parted ways with highly accomplished assistant Craig Bell. Bell spent the last 15 seasons on Kevin O'Sullivan Florida staff.
But before turning our attention to the future, let's review the season past and a brutal end:
1. THE TOUGH END
A redshirt freshman coming off Tommy John surgery, Slater emerged as the late-inning reliever in a bullpen that evolved over the season. His trouble started Monday when John Spikerman doubled to lead off the eighth. Five pitches later, Sooners shortstop Peyton Graham cranked Slater's 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall to tie the game.
Slater walked Blake Robertson after Graham's homer, and Tanner Tredaway doubled. Robertson scored the go-ahead run on Wallace Clark's ground out to short, and Tredaway scored what proved to be the winning run on a single by Jackson Nicklaus. After hitting Blake Squires with a pitch, O'Sullivan brought it Fisher Jameson to get the final out of the inning.
First baseman/catcher BT Riopelle contemplates the end of the season after the final out Monday night. (Photo: Gabriella Whisler/UAA Communications)
Slater (6-4, 6 saves, 5.34 ERA in 57 1/3 IP, 25 BB, 48 SO) figures to be a key piece of the pitching staff next season despite the turn of events Monday. A 6-foot-3 right-hander, Slater has ample motivation to continue his development and put the disappointment of his final outing of the season behind him. Slater earned a save and a win in his two previous outings in the regional, but he learned that life as a closer can be cruel in his third appearance.
"He saved a lot of tough games down the stretch for us,'' O'Sullivan said. "I'm proud of the progress he's made."
2. SPECIAL GROUP
A night after a celebratory tone following the unlikely 116-pitch relief outing from Carsten Finnvold, O'Sullivan was reflective in his postgame press conference on Monday. The Gators were 23-17 after 40 games and a long shot to make the NCAA Tournament, much less earn one of the 16 national seeds to host a regional. But the Gators played their best baseball down the stretch to win 19 of their final 26 games.
O'Sullivan milked the pitching staff for everything it was worth after losing Barco and freshman left-hander Pierce Coppola (one start) to season-ending injuries. He tweaked the lineup by moving second baseman Colby Halter to third, right fielder Sterlin Thompson to second, and inserting freshmen Ty Evans (right field) and Jac Caglianone (designated hitter) into the lineup. He also used catcher BT Riopelle at first base in place of the struggling duo of Kendrick Calilao and Kris Armstrong.
The moves paid off because the players accepted their roles.
"They were selfless. They paid attention. They were a close-knit group,'' O'Sullivan said. "This is one of the most enjoyable years I've had coaching. We're making major moves to make our team better, but there was never any kickback from anybody.
"I think this is a big step in building that culture back and getting to where we want to be — playing for a national championship."
3. FABULOUS FABIAN
Center fielder Jud Fabian could have spent the 2022 season as a multi-millionaire playing in the Boston Red Sox organization. Instead, Fabian returned to UF for another season and an opportunity to play with his younger brother, Deric Fabian, a freshman who opened the season as the team's starting third baseman.
Jud Fabian and younger brother Deric Fabian share an embrace following Monday night's game. (Photo: Chloe Hyde/UAA Communications)
Fabian slumped near the end of the season. Still, the Ocala native hit .239 with 24 homers and 55 RBI, joining Matt LaPorta and Brad Wilkerson as the only players in program history to hit at least 20 home runs in two different seasons. Later this summer, Fabian is expected to be a high-round draft pick again in the MLB amateur draft, leaving everything he had on the field at UF.
In Monday's loss to the Sooners, Fabian made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Robertson of extra bases in the fourth inning and saved a run with a diving catch in the sixth inning. Fabian departs as one of the best ever to play center field for the Gators.
"This guy made a decision that probably most people in this room wouldn't make,'' O'Sullivan said. "How can you not appreciate that? He will be missed."
4. SPROAT SPECULATION
A primary question with the season on the line was whether O'Sullivan would turn to starter Brandon Sproat in relief if the opportunity presented itself on Monday night against the Sooners. It did, but the answer was no.
Unlike Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson, who used Sooners ace Jake Bennett for the final two innings after Bennett threw 112 pitches two days earlier against Liberty, O'Sullivan did not give in to temptation despite Sproat making himself available.
A 6-foot-3 third-year sophomore who upped his draft stock significantly late in the season, Sproat threw 114 pitches on Friday night in UF's victory over Central Michigan. The scenario is a no-win situation for coaches, who are susceptible to criticism for over-usage, especially if the outcome is negative.
Pitcher Brandon Sproat hugs teammate Brandon Neely after Florida's season came to an end with a loss to Oklahoma in the Gainesville Regional championship game. (Photo: Chloe Hyde/UAA Communications)
O'Sullivan is known for protecting the arms of top pitching prospects and didn't stray from his philosophy.
"He was not going to throw in this ballgame. When a guy's got a chance to be a high draft [pick] in the very near future … he's got a future beyond Florida,'' O'Sullivan said. "I do appreciate him running him down to the pen, but he was not going to throw in the game. For us, that's just something I would really have a hard time ever doing, just because of the consequences if something were to happen.
"I want to protect kids and their futures."
5. FUTURE FORECAST
In the eyes of most knowledgeable observers, the Gators exceeded expectations, undoubtedly when viewed from where they stood at midseason. They were a young team with an unproven pitching staff that suffered growing pains at the start of the Southeastern Conference schedule. Still, they continued to improve, parlaying a three-game sweep at Mississippi State in early May into hosting a regional for the 11th time in O'Sullivan's tenure.
The most notable development was the emergence of left fielder Wyatt Langford, a former catcher who moved to the outfield after batting only four times as a freshman. Langford blossomed into one of the most promising players in the country, leading the team in batting average (.355), home runs (26), RBI (63), slugging percentage (.719) and on-base percentage (.447). He also dislodged two teeth on a slide into second base and had to make an emergency trip to the dentist during the lengthy weather delay on Monday.
"That's just toughness,'' O'Sullivan said.
Colby Halter races around third base in Monday's game as assistant coach Craig Bell, in reportedly his final game, waves him home. (Photo: Gabriella Whisler/UAA Communications)
Langford's ninth-inning home run trimmed Oklahoma's lead to one run and tied him with LaPorta (26 in 2005) for the school single-season home run record. He gives the Gators a talented building block heading into next season.
O'Sullivan said Thompson is among the best hitters he has ever coached, and the numbers back him up. Thompson hit .354 with a team-high 16 doubles. He added 11 home runs and 51 RBI. Thompson can do it all. He led the team with 10 stolen bases, and his defense at second was superb in the postseason, highlighted by some nifty glove work in the regional. Thompson, who just finished his sophomore season, is eligible for the draft due to turning 21 within the allotted time period around the draft. If he returns like Fabian did this season, it would be a huge boost for Florida.
Young players like Evans and Caglianone should continue to improve with experience, and who can forget the performance turned in by Finnvold in the postseason. After a solid start against No. 1-ranked Tennessee in the SEC Tournament championship game, Finnvold pitched one of the most improbable games in program history in the Sunday night victory over the Sooners.
If the Gators can make it to a winner-take-all regional championship game with a team like this year's, there is no reason to think they can't do it again or advance deeper next season with what we know now.
"In the end, what can you say, fell one run short," O'Sullivan said. "I wish we had a couple more left-handers that could have helped us. It's tough. It's part of the game. It's part of life. We threw three freshmen.
"In a couple of days, we'll step back from this; I'm proud of the team. Simple as that."
