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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Buddy Reed runs toward home plate during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium. Reed is hitting .154 in his first five college games.</p>

Buddy Reed runs toward home plate during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium. Reed is hitting .154 in his first five college games.

Kevin O’Sullivan went against the grain recruiting center fielder Buddy Reed and right-hander Logan Shore. The two freshmen, from Rhode Island and Minnesota, respectively, aren’t the typical Gators.

They couldn’t play baseball year-round in sunny North-Central Florida. Instead, they satisfied their sports fix with something else — hockey.

“We talk it up a little bit,” Shore said. “It’s good competition. I know he was pretty good. I wish we could play each other. That would’ve been fun.”

Reed starred at Middletown (R.I) St. George’s School in baseball, hockey and soccer. He wasn’t just a highly touted baseball prospect — Providence recruited him to play hockey.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound outfielder displayed his athleticism in his first few games, scoring from second after Maryland third baseman Jose Cuas’ toss home trickled away from catcher Kevin Martir in the Gators’ home opener on Feb. 14.

Shore pitched 5.1 scoreless innings against UCF on Tuesday in his collegiate debut.

O’Sullivan favors multi-sport athletes. He thinks there is an edge to them.

Right-hander Johnny Magliozzi, now with the New York Mets, went 8-5 in his two-year Florida career. Magliozzi, from East Milton, Mass., skated for the East Miltion (Mass.) Dexter School hockey team.

“As far as recruiting is concerned, you like guys that play different sports. It’s athleticism. It’s competitive spirit. It’s teamwork,” O’Sullivan said. “If you ask most people on the recruiting side, they’ll probably tell you the same thing.”

Kish staying as student assistant: Although junior right-hander Keenan Kish will miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, he won’t be far from the program.

O’Sullivan is keeping Kish on as an assistant coach. The redshirt junior missed all of last season because of a hip injury.

O’Sullivan described this latest setback as disappointing for such a well-liked player in Kish.

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Florida made Kish’s injury public on Sunday.

“He is going to be with us the entire year. He is going to be used in a lot of different capacities,” O’Sullivan said. “No one feels worse for him than we do. His teammates have rallied around him. It’s a shame, but he’s a vital part of our program and we’re going to use him in every way possible.”

Rotation staying put: O’Sullivan has elected to use the same starting rotation that threw 10.2 innings against Maryland last weekend.

Junior left-hander Bobby Poyner will pitch the opener at Mark Light Stadium on Friday against No. 16 Miami (2-2). while right-handers Brett Morales and Karsten Whitson will pitch Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s too early in the year to change. I don’t want to have any knee-jerk reactions,” O’Sullivan said.

“There’s a reason why we set the rotation. Those guys have pitched well for a long period of time before the season started. It’s not fair to people to start making changes after the first weekend. I don’t think that’s right.”

Lefty trio powers Hurricanes: It’s been two years since No. 23 Florida visited Miami. The Gators, with players like Fontana, Johnson, Tucker and Zunino, swept the Hurricanes in 2011.

The in-state rivals continue their yearly weekend series tradition on Friday at 7 p.m. in Mark Light Stadium. Game 2 starts at the same time Saturday night and the Sunday finale begins at 1 p.m.

Miami features three left-handed starters in its rotation—junior Chris Diaz (1-0, 1.80) on Friday, redshirt junior Bryan Radziewski (0-1, 0.00) on Saturday and junior Andrew Suarez (1-0, 1.80) on Sunday. The Hurricanes have arguably one of the nation’s best rotations, O’Sullivan said following Florida’s win against North Florida on Wednesday.

“I’ve never been to Miami to play baseball or anything,” sophomore shortstop Richie Martin said. “I heard it’s a great city, so I’m excited to go there. Miami is good competition.”

Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus

Buddy Reed runs toward home plate during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium. Reed is hitting .154 in his first five college games.

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