Column: Crawford deserves rotation spot over Whitson in postseason
By JOE MORGAN | May 28, 2012Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan is playing the waiting game and it’s time to stop. The Gators can no longer wait for Karsten Whitson to find himself.
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan is playing the waiting game and it’s time to stop. The Gators can no longer wait for Karsten Whitson to find himself.
This weekend the Gators had 21 athletes qualify for 19 events at the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
Allie Will’s run in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships came to an end on Sunday when she fell to Stanford’s Nicole Gibbs in three sets.
After competing for the first time since the Tom Jones Memorial Classic, senior Jeff Demps had another strong outing during Thursday’s race. However, due to a troublesome hamstring, Demps didn’t compete on Friday causing him to miss out on going to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Vanderbilt shortstop Anthony Gomez stole home in the top of ninth, but he took more than just another run from Florida.
STONY BROOK, N.Y.- The Gators thought they were seconds away from advancing to the NCAA Championship game.
The Gators looked like they were off to a good start. Entering the NCAA Championships, they had already claimed two more top-five finishes than last year, as well as having a team average of 296.70, which ranked them as the third-best average in school history.
Coach Mike Holloway has only one goal for the NCAA Preliminary Round: finish in the top 12. On Thursday, that’s exactly what Stipe Zunic, Marquis Dendy and Florence Ngetich did.
Florida’s bats have returned to form, but Jonathon Crawford did not take that for granted against Auburn.
For the Gators, reaching the pinnacle of women’s lacrosse has been a quick ride, but the trip is not over yet.
In the last three NCAA Outdoor Championships, the men have placed in the top three falling just short of the title. However, coming of their third straight NCAA Indoor Championship win, they will be looking to finally grab the prize.
Steven “Paco” Rodriguez and Austin Maddox have been nearly unhittable out of the Gators’ bullpen this season. The duo has combined for a 1.82 ERA, a .193 batting average against and 15 saves in 103.1 innings pitched.
They took the hard way, but made it look easy.
For a minute, the Gators hopes at continuing on to the NCAA Championships looked like they were going to be crushed. The men’s golf team finished day one of the NCAA East Regional on Thursday at +11, putting them 16 strokes behind the leader in 10th place.
For sprinter Leonardo Seymore, change is nothing new. The junior’s first taste came when he transferred to Florida from Rend Lake College last year.
Florida defensive tackle Leon Orr was charged with a second-degree misdemeanor after violating the terms of his deferred prosecution agreement by knowingly driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license according to Alachua County court records.
Although the Gators didn’t win the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, they didn’t leave Baton Rouge, La., empty handed. Between the men and women, Florida claimed a dozen individual titles throughout the weekend.
The Gators’ first-round game in the NCAA Tournament did not go as planned, but they achieved the desired result.
Seventeen pitches and a Mike Zunino home run are all Austin Maddox needed to earn his third victory of the season.
For Evan Jensen and Andrea Watts, this year’s postseason couldn’t be more significant to them. The seniors have a chance to wrap up their collegiate career with an appearance in the NCAA Championships.