If you remember how important Taylor Gushue was for Florida last season, you would say the same thing about him now in the minors.
Logan Shore earned plenty of hardware in his freshman season.
Since right-handed pitcher Justin Shafer signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on June 10, two more Gators have decided to go pro.
After a disappointing ending to an otherwise successful season, Florida had six of its 11 eligible players selected in the MLB Draft – two on Friday and four on Saturday.
For more than 1,200 high school and college baseball players across the United States, Thursday could potentially mark one of the biggest days of their lives. The 2014 MLB First-Year Draft begins Thursday evening and will continue through Saturday.
In the end, Florida (40-22) just couldn’t get timely hits after stranding 13 on base, and its season came to a waterlogged end against North Carolina (35-26) losing 5-3.
In the end, they had nobody to blame but themselves. Not the rain that delayed them three hours and fifteen minutes, not the opposing pitchers that let them twice have the bases loaded in consecutive innings, and not the NCAA selection committee that gave them the hardest regional of any national seed.
So you probably think Florida’s NCAA baseball regional is a bit difficult for a two-seed, and if that’s the case, you’re most certainly right.
The phrase “defense wins championships” proved ever so true on Sunday afternoon as LSU won the Southeastern Conference Tournament in a 2-0 victory over top-seeded Florida.
And on to the championship they go.
Mississippi State (37-22) entered its Southeastern Conference Tournament fourth-round tilt against No. 1 seed Florida (39-20) with a .981 fielding average, good for seventh in all of Division 1. In the 5-1 loss, the Bulldogs looked anything but stout defensively team behind its pitchers.
UF played with its back against the wall on Thursday.
During a midgame interview with ESPN, coach Kevin O’Sullivan credited UF’s success late in the regular season to its ability to hit in the clutch.
Florida’s quest for a seventh Southeastern Conference tournament championship begins this week as the top-seeded Gators descend upon Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
With the 13th Southeastern Conference championship clinched the day before, Florida (37-19, 21-9 SEC) failed to sweep eastern division foe Tennessee (31-22, 12-18 SEC) losing 7-5 to close out the 2014 regular season.
Florida decided it was as good of a time for a dog pile as any after a 6-5 victory over Tennessee in the 11th inning to open the season’s last weekend series with a win on Thursday.
In a season where non-conference midweek matchups have proved to be potential pitfalls for Florida, coach Kevin O’Sullivan needed a strong performance from the top of his lineup to turn the tide Tuesday night against USF.
There was a hot pitcher on the mound at McKethan Stadium Friday night, perhaps even better than UF’s Logan Shore to open the series.
On Thursday night in the ESPNU showcase game, pitcher Logan Shore did what he does best for No. 4 Florida (34-16, 19-6 Southeastern Conference) in its 1-0 win over No. 18 Vanderbilt (36-14, 14-11 SEC).
For the third time in a row, No. 4 Florida (33-16, 18-6 Southeastern Conference) fell in a midweek game, dropping 4-2 to No. 24 Mercer (35-11, 16-5 Atlantic Sun) on Tuesday.
Solutions by The State News
