Gator Spring Sports
- Thread starter ocalaman
- Start date
Oh yes. I've been pretty zen since Butters got canned.
The baseball team is looking really sluggish vs. Miss. St. Up 3-0 Thursday night in the 7th inning, although they wasted several opportunities to expand that lead with poor baserunning and not getting clutch hits. Our 2-4-5 hitters went 0-10 with 5 K's. Jordan Butler relieves Tommy Mace, who pitched a great 6.1 innings, and proceeded to give up a 2-run Homer. Then Michael Byrne pitches the rest of the 7th and the 8th and gets blasted. Tonight we're down 6-2 in the bottom of the 3rd.
Just saw the box score. No Singer. No Kowar tomorrow. Gators just trying to stay healthy. They’ve got the No. 1 seed locked up.
I think that the Baseball team needs at least 1 win @ MsSt to lock up sole possession of the regular season SEC title. With 3 wins, the #2 team (Ark or UGA?) could still get a tie for SEC-C?
I haven't paid close attention to the other games/schools, so if someone knows the answer to that, let us know?
I haven't paid close attention to the other games/schools, so if someone knows the answer to that, let us know?
I thought they clinched against UGA but maybe that was just a tie? But even if they clinched a tie on Saturday against UGA, everybody else would have to win out to tie.
The game is on ESPNU. They said Singer tweaked his hamstring during warmups and was scratched at the last minute. Kowar IS scheduled to start tomorrow. Leftwich started tonight and was terrible. Gave up 6 runs in 3 innings. Baker had a clean 4th and then he was terrible in the 5th.
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They clinched a tie for the SEC title against UGA as well as the #1 seed in the SEC tournament because Arkansas was the only team that could tie us and we beat them 2-1 head-to-head. We clinched outright earlier today when Georgia beat Arkansas. So even if we get swept, we're the sole SEC champs. But that's not the issue. It's how the Gators have been playing of late. It's not just this weekend. They will only be 9-8 in their last 17 games after tonight. The defense has been shaky, baserunning has been terrible and the team as a whole has cooled off at the plate. You can't just flip a switch and turn it back on and they are going to head into the NCAA tournament kind of limping with a huge bullseye on the backs.
Thanks ocala...
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Do All Sports at UF really matter?
More than 1 million Gator fans have come through the turnstiles at Gator athletics during the regular season and thousands more will do so in the coming weeks as UF hosts NCAA Regional softball action this weekend, and will do the same for baseball when regional sites are announced May 27.
Baseball, gymnastics and volleyball all set single-season and various attendance marks during the year, while six Gator teams ranked in the top 11 nationally in total or attendance average. Overall, the Gators ranked 5th nationally in attendance, and 9th among all NCAA Division I women’s sports.
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I quit watching the baseball game full time when the Gator softball game started. Just checked in during commercials. But someone posted on another board that Schwarz took a foul ball off his throwing hand and had to come out of the game. Did anybody see that?
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UF softball beat Bethune-Cookman 8-0 in 6 innings as Jamie Hoover had 5 RBI's and Nicole DeWitt hit a walk-off 2 run homer. Kelly Barnhill threw 4 innings of no hit ball with 10 K's (running her record to 27-1) and Alicia Ocasio pitched the final 2 innings, also giving up no hits. Gators next play Ohio St. Saturday at 2:30 PM.
I don't know but Cal Greenfield took 2 abs at C, replacing Schwarz. Would be a big time bummer if he had to miss games.
Sully said Schwarz looked like a bruise and that he thought they dodged a bullet. They skipped Singer for a slight hamstring tweak. Kowar pitches tomorrow. Pretty big game really. Don’t want to go into the SECT losing 4 straight.
UF lacrosse just dropped their Elite 8 match to James Madison 11-8. The defense was pretty stellar, but the offense was out of sync the entire game. Way too many bad passes, turnovers and missed opportunities for a team that averaged over 16 goals per game. The sad thing is that in the Final 4 they would have faced North Carolina, whom they had already beaten this year. Oh well!!
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Winning a National Championship is always very difficult,,, in any sport.
The battle imo, is being good enough to get there for a chance at a title.
After that, you still need a little 'timely luck' to win it all...
I'm proud of the Gators for almost always 'being there' for a shot at a title
~ Virtually OWN the SEC All Sports Titles.
~ Lead the Nation in Consecutive Top 10 finishes (34) for the Director's Cup.
~ While maintaining their 'across the board' Academic Excellence.
Soccer got one pretty early in their history, while perpetual Conf. Champs Volleyball and Lacrosse, are still pickin' away at winning their first,,, but sooner or later....
Goooooo-GATORS!!!
The battle imo, is being good enough to get there for a chance at a title.
After that, you still need a little 'timely luck' to win it all...
I'm proud of the Gators for almost always 'being there' for a shot at a title
~ Virtually OWN the SEC All Sports Titles.
~ Lead the Nation in Consecutive Top 10 finishes (34) for the Director's Cup.
~ While maintaining their 'across the board' Academic Excellence.
Soccer got one pretty early in their history, while perpetual Conf. Champs Volleyball and Lacrosse, are still pickin' away at winning their first,,, but sooner or later....
Goooooo-GATORS!!!
(This is not really about you, it's a general fan thing.)
I've noticed that people get the jitters late in the year. If the team is hot, the worry is that they "can't keep up the pace, and you don't want to go cold in the postseason". If the team is slumping a bit, it's "you just can't turn on a switch and be hot".
So I want to know, what is the pace the team needs to be on for fans to actually feel good about things?
Look like the Lady’s are in trouble today in softball. Whenever they don’t hit well they ALL on that team don’t hit well not just the first 4 in the lineup. Hope they can overcome this!!!
That first Ohio St. pitcher threw a ton of off speed stuff and kept going for the corners. She battled and kept us off balance for 4 innings. Our girls just couldn't make solid contact until she got tired. We stranded 10 runners through 4 innings and only had 1 hit. We drew 14 walks today, but eventually broke it open. We have a fairly easy regional, then match up against the winner of the Texas A&M Regional in the Supers. We beat TAM 3 straight earlier in the year. So the path to the WCWS is there for us. But I agree that hitting has been an issue for us all year, along with giving up too many home runs. Lorenz & DeWitt have been the only dependable, consistent hitters and it's going to take several others stepping up to have any chance to win the title. Jamie Hoover has been big this weekend, but we don't have a true leadoff hitter, Kvistad, Ocasio and Reynoso have all had subpar years (compared to last year) at the plate.
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Valid observations, LG89. I'm 66 and have watched a ton of Gator baseball. Last year's team that won it all was one of the least talented of the O'Sullivan era and yet they had a knack for winning close games and did everything right once they got to Omaha. They made every clutch play, got key hits when they needed them and had a freshman pitcher (Dyson) step up big when they had to have him. We've had way more talented teams get to Omaha, some of them #1 seeds, and fell flat on their face. There's no doubt this year's team has the ability to win it all again. But there's also no doubt they've played very mediocre baseball the last month. 9-9 over that stretch after the loss today. Uncommon errors, mental lapses, numerous base running blunders, averages trending down for most of the players and pitching being shaky except for Singer. And after Michael Byrne's last 2 outings where Miss. St. absolutely slaughtered him, there's valid reason for concern heading to the post season.
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I can’t believe they didn’t catch on to the pattern Ohio St was doing on their pitching. They used the same pitch pattern every time a batter came to the plate. I feel they missed this big time.
All year long the Gator softball players look at change-ups over the heart of the plate. I can't remember a single time they swung at one. Then they get 2 strikes and hack at balls out of the strike zone. They have a tremendous on base percentage, but when they run up against teams that don't walk anybody they have trouble scoring runs because they don't get enough hits.
tOSU's #1 Pitcher had 106 walks on the season.
tOSU's #2 Pitcher had 108 walks on the season.
Coach Walton discussed that fact with the team prior to the game.
"Make them pitch to you."
All 4 Gator pitchers had a combined 96 walks on the season...
The positive was that the Gator's kept getting runners in scoring position, and eventually it paid off big time, as tOSU walked a total of 15 Gators.
LF Amanda Lorenz, SEC PoY -- "We don't mind taking a walk."
tOSU's #2 Pitcher had 108 walks on the season.
Coach Walton discussed that fact with the team prior to the game.
"Make them pitch to you."
All 4 Gator pitchers had a combined 96 walks on the season...
The positive was that the Gator's kept getting runners in scoring position, and eventually it paid off big time, as tOSU walked a total of 15 Gators.
LF Amanda Lorenz, SEC PoY -- "We don't mind taking a walk."
Florida left 8 players on base at the minimum. I understand what you are stating but that Pitcher and Pitching Coach kept throwing the same pattern to each UF player. Ohio State did a darn good job holding UF off the board until UF started swinging the bat in the latter innings. I think they run ruled OSU in 2 innings that shows me these ladys are very patient and whenever they get hot they get hot.
Looking at the radar I don't see UF playing their game today, maybe tomorrow if they start early, like around 10am.
I mean, that’s the nature of fans period, particularly baseball fans. I live in North Jersey and listen to Yankees fans bitch about the bottom of their lineup while they’re running up 16 out of 17.
Gators are still probably the No 1 seed. They’re certainly going to host a super, which is all that matters. But there’s no way you can say that the close of the season wasn’t concerning. First and foremost, Schwarz and Singer are dinged. They’re the two most important players on the team. If Schwarz is ok, then I’m not sweating the lineup, but it looks like there’s a book on Dalton at this point. If Schwarz is going to miss games then I’m sweating. Same with Singer. He and Kowar have to pitch at a high level. If they don’t, look at our Sunday record to figure out what happens.
I defer to Sully on everything, but I don’t love throwing Byrne into no win situations as we have a few times this year, yesterday probably being the worst. Lastly, we’ve been uncharacteristically sloppy on the bases and in the field. It’s not a problem if you’re scoring 10 runs a game, but in a close game, those are game losing plays.
We could go winless the rest of the year, and I would still be 100 percent proud of these guys and 100 percent behind Sully. I want them to win another chip because they deserve it with the work they’ve put in this season.
UF softball just won their regional with a 4-0 win over Ohio St. 6th straight year going to a Super Regional. Alicia Ocasio tossed a no-hitter with 12 K's. We only had 2 hits, as their pitcher walked 11 and hit 3 more. But now we await the winner between Baylor/Texas A&M.
#13 Gator Men's tennis team lost to Texas A&M today in the NCAA quarterfinals 4-3. Solid year for those guys.
#13 Gator Men's tennis team lost to Texas A&M today in the NCAA quarterfinals 4-3. Solid year for those guys.
Ocasio went to work like no Gator pitcher had ever done before in NCAA play. Not Stacey Nelson. Not Stephanie Brombacher. Not Hannah Rodgers. Not Lauren Haeger. Not even flame-throwing teammate Kelly Barnhill.
"Phenomenal," teammate Amanda Lorenz said. "And nasty." Lorenz was watching from left field, so imagine what Ohio State's batters were thinking as Ocasio mowed through their order, striking out a season-high 12 with only 3 walks, on the way to throwing the first seven-inning postseason no-hitter in UF softball history, a 4-0 shutout of at Pressly Stadium. Florida pitchers had thrown no-hitters in NCAA play before (Barnhill and Ocasio, in fact, combined for one Friday in five innings against Bethune-Cookman), but in mercy-rule games versus over-matched opponents. This was a Big Ten Conference foe, for a full seven innings. -- (too bad it wasn't for another National Championship over the schmuckeyes...)
For some 'sweet icing on her no hitter cake,' Lele also had 2 of the Gators 4 RBI's.
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Next Up: Texas A&M for a 'best of 3' Super Regional in Gainesville.
The SEC has placed 9 Teams in Supers.
"Phenomenal," teammate Amanda Lorenz said. "And nasty." Lorenz was watching from left field, so imagine what Ohio State's batters were thinking as Ocasio mowed through their order, striking out a season-high 12 with only 3 walks, on the way to throwing the first seven-inning postseason no-hitter in UF softball history, a 4-0 shutout of at Pressly Stadium. Florida pitchers had thrown no-hitters in NCAA play before (Barnhill and Ocasio, in fact, combined for one Friday in five innings against Bethune-Cookman), but in mercy-rule games versus over-matched opponents. This was a Big Ten Conference foe, for a full seven innings. -- (too bad it wasn't for another National Championship over the schmuckeyes...)
For some 'sweet icing on her no hitter cake,' Lele also had 2 of the Gators 4 RBI's.
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Next Up: Texas A&M for a 'best of 3' Super Regional in Gainesville.
The SEC has placed 9 Teams in Supers.
I hate the way the NCAA did the seeding, pairing up Texas A&M/Florida and Tennessee/Georgia in the Supers and then bracketing the winners to play each other their 1st game of the World Series. The other 5 SEC teams in the Supers are on the road playing at higher seeded teams: LSU & FSU, Kentucky at Oregon, Alabama at Washington, South Carolina at Arizona St. & Arkansas at Oklahoma. They reward the SEC by putting 13 teams in the tournament and then seed them to limit the number that make it to Oklahoma City. 2 are guaranteed to be there, but to get more there have to be on-the-road upsets.Ocasio went to work like no Gator pitcher had ever done before in NCAA play. Not Stacey Nelson. Not Stephanie Brombacher. Not Hannah Rodgers. Not Lauren Haeger. Not even flame-throwing teammate Kelly Barnhill.
"Phenomenal," teammate Amanda Lorenz said. "And nasty." Lorenz was watching from left field, so imagine what Ohio State's batters were thinking as Ocasio mowed through their order, striking out a season-high 12 with only 3 walks, on the way to throwing the first seven-inning postseason no-hitter in UF softball history, a 4-0 shutout of at Pressly Stadium. Florida pitchers had thrown no-hitters in NCAA play before (Barnhill and Ocasio, in fact, combined for one Friday in five innings against Bethune-Cookman), but in mercy-rule games versus over-matched opponents. This was a Big Ten Conference foe, for a full seven innings. -- (too bad it wasn't for another National Championship over the schmuckeyes...)
For some 'sweet icing on her no hitter cake,' Lele also had 2 of the Gators 4 RBI's.
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Next Up: Texas A&M for a 'best of 3' Super Regional in Gainesville.
The SEC has placed 9 Teams in Supers.
Well ocala, it kind of reminds me of how they distribute the bowls in football. Much the same kind of crap, but otherwise, the SEC would dominate even more than it already does. They have to stack the deck against the SEC, in an attempt to keep others interested in watching and/or attending the games.
But even then, the SEC still has,,, and will continue to be, the best and most awarded conference in the entire NCAA. (just as it should be...)
But even then, the SEC still has,,, and will continue to be, the best and most awarded conference in the entire NCAA. (just as it should be...)
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HOOVER, Ala.—After winning the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championship, six Florida baseball players earned recognition from the conference for their performances this season along with head coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
Junior third baseman Jonathan India was named the 2018 SEC Player of the Year and classmate Brady Singer was named the Pitcher of the Year. Coach O'Sullivan was named the SEC Coach of the Year, the third time he has earned the award (also 2010, 2014).
Florida is the second school in SEC history to have the Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year in the same season.
Find the full article here:
http://floridagators.com/news/2018/5/20/baseball-gators-dominate-sec-honors.aspx
Junior third baseman Jonathan India was named the 2018 SEC Player of the Year and classmate Brady Singer was named the Pitcher of the Year. Coach O'Sullivan was named the SEC Coach of the Year, the third time he has earned the award (also 2010, 2014).
Florida is the second school in SEC history to have the Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year in the same season.
Find the full article here:
http://floridagators.com/news/2018/5/20/baseball-gators-dominate-sec-honors.aspx
The best move of the Spring for UF's AD, Scott Stricklin, IMO....
Mike Holloway's distinguished career as the Head Coach of the UF's Track program reached another milestone this week when the 58-year-old Holloway signed a 10-year contract extension that runs through June 30, 2028.
Yeee-GADS, why would you ever give a coach a 10 year contract extension?
Here's why:
Holloway has led the Gators to 8 National Titles and 14 SEC-C's, in addition to 60 Individual National Titles, 159 Individual SEC Titles and 6 collegiate records (three still stand). Florida's 8 NCAA Titles on the Men's side lead all Division I programs by three since 2010 when the Gators broke through on the national stage under Holloway.
The Mike Holloway of yesteryear, the Ohio transplant who started out as an assistant coach at Gainesville High 35 years ago and at one time managed a fast-food restaurant to support himself and a young daughter, never imagined a long-term contract.
"I remember when I didn't have anything,'' Holloway said. "I remember when I didn't know how I was going to pay my bills. (been there - done that - iG) It's just been an incredible journey and I've been incredibly blessed." -- He took the conversation back to his days working in a McDonald's growing up in Ohio. "I was complaining,'' he said. "I remember my dad telling me you need to find another job and go do that one, but as long as you are getting paid, you show up every day and you do your job. You go to work every day, you give 100 percent, no questions asked." (JMOHO's here,,, but he took personal responsibility. He worked hard at whatever he had to do, while refusing to settle for being just another Welfare parasite - Being blessed is one thing, but I salute him for his own intestinal fortitude and his work ethic.)
Full Story Here:
https://floridagators.com/news/2018/5/23/scott-carter-holloway-gators-reach-long-term-deal.aspx
Mike Holloway's distinguished career as the Head Coach of the UF's Track program reached another milestone this week when the 58-year-old Holloway signed a 10-year contract extension that runs through June 30, 2028.
Yeee-GADS, why would you ever give a coach a 10 year contract extension?
Here's why:
Holloway has led the Gators to 8 National Titles and 14 SEC-C's, in addition to 60 Individual National Titles, 159 Individual SEC Titles and 6 collegiate records (three still stand). Florida's 8 NCAA Titles on the Men's side lead all Division I programs by three since 2010 when the Gators broke through on the national stage under Holloway.
The Mike Holloway of yesteryear, the Ohio transplant who started out as an assistant coach at Gainesville High 35 years ago and at one time managed a fast-food restaurant to support himself and a young daughter, never imagined a long-term contract.
"I remember when I didn't have anything,'' Holloway said. "I remember when I didn't know how I was going to pay my bills. (been there - done that - iG) It's just been an incredible journey and I've been incredibly blessed." -- He took the conversation back to his days working in a McDonald's growing up in Ohio. "I was complaining,'' he said. "I remember my dad telling me you need to find another job and go do that one, but as long as you are getting paid, you show up every day and you do your job. You go to work every day, you give 100 percent, no questions asked." (JMOHO's here,,, but he took personal responsibility. He worked hard at whatever he had to do, while refusing to settle for being just another Welfare parasite - Being blessed is one thing, but I salute him for his own intestinal fortitude and his work ethic.)
Full Story Here:
https://floridagators.com/news/2018/5/23/scott-carter-holloway-gators-reach-long-term-deal.aspx
Nice pitch ny Byrne there, getting that guy to foul off his dick and balls.
Best defensive play I’ve seen all year there from India. That’s Gator defense. Maybe that gets this defense headed in the right direction. Love to see some tough abs in the 9th. Get some guys on base and get us some breathing room.
Best defensive play I’ve seen all year there from India. That’s Gator defense. Maybe that gets this defense headed in the right direction. Love to see some tough abs in the 9th. Get some guys on base and get us some breathing room.
Great game from Mace. His emergence as our no. 3 is he only positive thing to happen to us since the UGA series.
Maybe that India play will get our heads right. And Byrne got back on track. I didn't like the Lipput steal with Dalton at bat. Let that guy swing the bat with a man on. I'd like to see Maldonado get going. I thought he was our best hitter coming into the season.
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