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Friday, March 29, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

Florida coping with abrupt end to College World Series run

<p>Kent State closer Josh Pierce reacts after Justin Shafer flied out to right field for the final out in Florida’s 5-4 loss Monday. The game marked the Golden Flashes’ first-ever College World Series victory.</p>

Kent State closer Josh Pierce reacts after Justin Shafer flied out to right field for the final out in Florida’s 5-4 loss Monday. The game marked the Golden Flashes’ first-ever College World Series victory.

Last week, Brian Johnson was not thinking about life after Omaha.

“You avoid it by you want to win a national championship,” he said last Tuesday. “The whole team has worked so hard, and you’ve got goals to accomplish before you have the next one.”

Now, Johnson and eight of his teammates will likely move on to professional baseball. They leave Florida with three straight College World Series appearances, but no national championship.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Preston Tucker said.

Six days ago, the top-ranked Gators had just arrived in Omaha with the ultimate prize in sight. As the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Florida had won five straight games to sweep both the NCAA Regional and the Super Regional.

However, the Gators’ demise in Omaha was surprisingly quick.

Florida opened the College World Series against two-time defending national champion South Carolina on Saturday with Johnson on the mound. Johnson had a 2.40 ERA in two of the Gators’ three wins in four tries against the Gamecocks this season.

But shutting down South Carolina for a third time proved too tall of an order for Johnson, who lasted just four-plus innings and surrendered five earned runs in a 7-3 defeat.

The Gamecocks’ offensive outburst occurred right after a mound visit from O’Sullivan. South Carolina had loaded the bases with no outs, but O’Sullivan decided to leave Johnson in the game.

“We had a two-run lead,” O’Sullivan said. “Once again, you’ve just got to tip your cap. I thought they had some really good at-bats that inning, obviously.”

Facing elimination against Kent State, Florida sent ace Hudson Randall to the mound Monday. However, weather finally got the best of the Gators after a rain-plagued Super Regional victory against N.C. State.

On-field temperatures rose to 104 degrees according to ESPN and forced UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan to pull an overheated Randall, and errors took care of the rest. Randall and Jonathon Crawford, who pitched three innings of relief, gave up four combined unearned runs due to fielding miscues.

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“We made a couple errors in the first and second, and they capitalized,” O’Sullivan said. “That was the difference in the ball game.”

Errors, heat and a historic postseason winning streak aside, the common thread in both Florida losses came down to untimely hitting. The Gators stranded 21 runners on base in Omaha, and they tallied just two runs in four bases-loaded opportunities.

“We’ve had plenty of opportunities and the other team has played better, it’s as simple as that,” O’Sullivan said. “I’m not going to point fingers at one thing or the other as why we lost.”

Moving on to next season, a depleted Florida roster will look to some of this season’s key underclassmen for leadership and production.

Rising sophomores Casey Turgeon, Justin Shafer and Josh Tobias were all key cogs in the Gators’ lineup down the stretch this season. Taylor Gushue will attempt to fill the spikes of catcher Mike Zunino behind the plate.

Upcoming juniors Jonathon Crawford and Karsten Whitson will top a formidable starting rotation assuming Crawford builds on his late-season progress and Whitson pitches like he did during his freshman campaign in 2011.

UF also anticipates the return of senior center fielder Tyler Thompson to the lineup in 2013. Thompson, who was batting .319 through 16 games this season, received a medical redshirt after suffering an ACL tear in his right knee against Vanderbilt on March 16.

Regardless of what Florida accomplishes moving forward, the Gators’ crop of upperclassmen notched three consecutive College World Series appearances in arguably the most successful run in UF baseball history. Their feat will be inscribed on the right-field wall next season at McKethan Stadium.

“They’ve set a standard that following teams will have to live up to,” O’Sullivan said.

The last three years mark the best results achieved by any Florida baseball team. Despite their recent run, the Gators have yet to win a national title.

“It’s going to take a while to hit me,” Zunino said. “I’m sure it hit the other people. But it’s disappointing at the time. I’m sure it will hit harder later.”

Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.

Kent State closer Josh Pierce reacts after Justin Shafer flied out to right field for the final out in Florida’s 5-4 loss Monday. The game marked the Golden Flashes’ first-ever College World Series victory.

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