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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan, left, and South
Carolina coach Ray Tanner pose with the College World Series
trophy. The Gators and Gamecocks will play a best-of-three
championship series starting Monday at 8 p.m.</p>

Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan, left, and South Carolina coach Ray Tanner pose with the College World Series trophy. The Gators and Gamecocks will play a best-of-three championship series starting Monday at 8 p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. — Ray Tanner can tell a story. But if he turns out to

be a distant relative of Nostradamus, Florida fans will dance in

the streets. 

“Last year, when we got home, I got a nice note from Mr. [Jeremy]

Foley, very, very nice note congratulating us,” South Carolina’s

coach said.  “I wrote back and said, ‘Your team is outstanding,

your coach is the best and you will win a national championship in

baseball sooner rather than later.’”

Then he paused and joked, “Be careful what you say.” 

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We’ll see. 

In

a Southeastern Conference grudge-match, the Gators (53-17) and the

defending national champion Gamecocks (53-14) will square off

tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN in the best-of-three championship series

at the College World Series.

For

the third straight season, baseball’s championship trophy will find

itself back in football country. 

LSU

captured the crown in 2009, while the Gamecocks won it last season,

but with a new engraving on the 2011 trophy, the Gators hope

they’re the one’s to bring it home. 

“There’s going to be a team at Florida that wins it for the first

time. Hopefully this is the one,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

“It would be awfully special to be the first team at Florida to win

the national championship in baseball.”

The

Gators and Gamecocks both endured rollercoaster seasons with the

bulls-eye squarely on their backs, but despite it all, the Eastern

division rivals reached the title round, thanks in large part to a

grueling conference slate.  

“It's kind of ironic that two SEC teams get a chance to go

head-to-head here in Omaha,” O’Sullivan said. “But all year we felt

like the SEC is certainly the best conference in the country. I

think playing the SEC schedule has certainly prepared us for this

opportunity.”

Tanner agreed saying, there’s no easy weekends because “everybody

is good.”

“I

think one of the coaches coined it a long time ago… I’ll never

forget he said, ‘Our league is tremendously exciting but very

dangerous.’ And that’s what it is.”

The

recent history between Florida and South Carolina has been riddled

with excitement, as the Gators dogpiled in Columbia last season

after winning the SEC regular season, only to see the Gamecocks

close out Rosenblatt Stadium with an even rowdier celebration. 

“We

were able to go up there and take two out of three from them, but

they got the last laugh,” UF catcher Mike Zunino said. “They got to

hold up the championship trophy.”

In

late March, the Gamecocks stole the series in Gainesville,

sandwiching a pair of victories between Hudson Randall’s (11-3,

2.24) — tonight’s Game 1 starter for Florida — trilling complete

game.

“I

see him in my sleep a lot,” Tanner said. “He’s special. He’s fun to

watch.”

The

Gamecocks will start freshman Forrest Koumas (6-1, 3.07), who made

his first career start against the Gators and tossed six sharp

innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits. 

Entering tonight, both teams are confident, hitting their strides

at the right time of the year. 

O’Sullivan said the turning point for Florida was hurdling the

mental hump of a devastating Super Regional loss to Mississippi

State. 

THe

Gamecocks, who won the title with a walk-off hit a season ago, have

continued their flair for the dramatics, winning two more contests

at the CWS in the last at-bat variety.

“It's swag versus swag,” O’Sullivan said. “Both teams are playing

very well.” 

Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan, left, and South Carolina coach Ray Tanner pose with the College World Series trophy. The Gators and Gamecocks will play a best-of-three championship series starting Monday at 8 p.m.

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