It was back in mid-January, when Florida was still gelling after a full workload of fall baseball, and hadn’t developed the chemistry that they pride themselves on now.
For this reason, and several others, it was surprising to hear Florida’s returning players give their pre-season superlatives, less so because of the content of their predictions, but more so because of the confidence and consistency in which they were spoken.
Outfielder Buddy Reed named catcher JJ Schwarz as the player who was most ready for the season to start.
Senior Bobby Poyner named the freshman class as the group that would have the largest impact at the plate.
First baseman Peter Alonso, in a couple sentences, predicted everything else.
"We’re gonna really show everyone what we can do," the sophomore said.
"This year we’re gonna snap that 0-4 regional record and we’re gonna do big things."
He mentioned Omaha, Nebraska, several times, which, of course, wasn’t surprising — you’d be hard pressed to find a single college team that wasn’t salivating at the prospect of a College World Series berth in June.
No, the surprising tidbit of Florida’s pre-season predictions was their accuracy.
Indeed, Florida’s freshmen have had arguably the biggest production at the plate.
And the Gators didn’t just snap their 0-4 Regional record.
They shattered it.
No. 4 national seed UF (49-16) went 3-0 in Regionals, then swept Florida State in what FSU head coach Mike Martin labeled a "whipping", and is now set for an early-season rematch with No. 5 national seed Miami (49-15), a team it took two out of three games from in February.
The cause of Florida’s success?
That would be the seamless integration of the new, incoming players with the old, the chemistry that has been built — game by game, series by series — and the team’s drive.
Their want.
Their hunger.
"We’re here to win a national championship, not just beat Miami," Alonso said. "We’re here to beat everyone."
• • •
Somewhere between Gainesville and Hoover, Alabama, a day after they hoisted the polished, pointed Southeastern Conference trophy, Schwarz and Mike Rivera walked off Florida’s team bus in search of lunch.
Kevin O’Sullivan watched.
"The way those guys get along, the way they support each other, the way they help each other," the coach said, pausing to reflect. "It’s a unique situation, but it’s kind of neat to watch."
Rivera and Schwarz — two freshmen, both relied upon in important moments, and both catchers — formed a bond.
Their relationship serves as a microcosm of the Gators as a whole.
"This year is the closest team I’ve ever been on," junior shortstop Richie Martin said. "When you have younger kids that care and older kids that care, then it comes together and makes a great team."
Florida’s chemistry has been most apparent in its defense.
Of the eight teams in the CWS, Florida has the fewest errors (37), the highest fielding percentage (.985), and is the only team in which six of its nine starters have just three or fewer errors.
Martin, second baseman Dalton Guthrie and third baseman Josh Tobias have made difficult plays look routine all season, and the Rivera-Schwarz catching duo has been one of the best, albeit youngest, pairings in the country.
"I think that a lot of our personality is that we’ve got some baseball players and a lot of guys who don’t like to lose," O’Sullivan said.
"I think when you combine that with ability, which I know we have that as well, you have a chance to do something special in the postseason."
Bovada, a sports betting website, agrees. At 5/2 odds, UF is the favorite to win the CWS, followed by LSU (11/4), Vanderbilt (4/1) and Miami (9/2).
But defensive ratings and odds are the only areas in which the Gators lead the CWS field.
UF ranks third out of the eight-teams in batting average (.299), on base percentage (.383), RBIs (409), and runs (450), fourth in strikeouts (522) and sixth in ERA (3.22).
The Gators have only three players that have been to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha — Tobias and Poyner as freshmen in 2012 and Logan Shore as a high-schooler watching from the stands in 2011.
Miami also finds itself with little Omaha experience — its last trip to the CWS was in 2008.
When the Gators face the Hurricanes in the first round, it’ll be a duel between both club's aces: UF’s right-hander Shore and UM’s lefty Andrew Suarez.
Neither had the opportunity to face each other when their two teams collided in February — Suarez was scratched from the lineup after straining his oblique minutes before the game, and Shore lasted just nine pitches before suffering a hip injury in the first inning.
"We definitely are a lot better of a team now than we were at the beginning of the year and so are they," Shore said. "It’s going to be a battle."
• • •
Just before the bottom of the ninth inning, before the smiles, cheers and laughter that would erupt, before a Reed backflip and a Schwarz dog pile that would signal the end, Florida huddled outside the first base dugout.
Chants of Omaha rained down from the stands.
It wasn’t until after the 11-4 win over FSU that O’Sullivan fully realized the magnitude of what his team had accomplished.
He had taken UF to three previous World Series appearances, but it took a two-year drought for him to finally place the past in perspective.
"It’s hard. The first three times we went, '10, '11, '12, you know, you don’t really realize how difficult it is to get there," O’Sullivan said.
"And then you miss in '13, and then you miss in '14. And then you start thinking, boy this is not easy. It’s not easy."
He appreciates this year’s trip more, if not for his previous failures, then for the players who came together to succeed with him.
The sophomore Reed, who went un-scouted in high school and hadn’t seriously considered playing college baseball until Florida made him an offer, the only one he received.
Shore and A.J. Puk, two pitchers from the Midwest who trekked more than 2,700 miles combined to play college ball for O’Sullivan.
Schwarz, the prized recruit of the class of 2015 that far exceeded expectations in his first year.
Martin, Tobias, Alonso, Bader — the list continues.
Florida owes a large portion of its success to its unselfish play, to the older players willing to make way for the younger, rising stars, to its pool of talent, and to its work ethic all year long.
"These kids are hungry to win, and I’ve never seen kids like that, that want to win that bad," Martin said.
So far, their will to win has paid dividends — Florida is riding a season-best nine game winning streak into the World Series, a stretch that includes wins over almost half of the current field.
"Having the opportunity to play in Omaha, it’s a dream come true," Shore said.
"But we’re not done yet."
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb.
The Gators baseball team huddles prior to Florida's 14-3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks on April 11, 2015 at McKethan Stadium.
