Rutgers baseball: Richie Schiekofer transfers to Florida

Rutgers baseball lost a star outfielder in the transfer portal to Florida.

Richie Schiekofer, one of the stars last season for Rutgers baseball, has officially transferred to SEC powerhouse Florida. The outfielder was an important part of a Scarlet Knights program that showed incredible consistency in finishing second in both the Big Ten and the Big Ten Tournament last season.

Last season as a redshirt junior, the left-handed hitter batted .330 with four home runs. He struck out 26 times in 179 plate appearances.

Losing Schiekofer is certainly significant for a Rutgers baseball program that was very solid a year ago. The Scarlet Knights went 44-15 last season including a 17-7 record in conference.

Florida is getting an instant impact-player in the former Rutgers outfield.

 

Between finishing behind Maryland in the regular season and losing to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament’s championship game (the only loss for the Scarlet Knights in the conference tournament), it was a big surprise to not see the program make the NCAA Tournament.

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Schiekofer’s new team is one of the best programs in the strongest conference in college baseball. They went 44-24 (15-15 SEC) and advanced to the championship game of the SEC Tournament.

They won three of their five games in the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma Sooners heading to Gainesville for regional round of NCAA tournament

The Oklahoma Sooners earned a No. 2 seed and will head to Gainesville for regionals along with Florida, Liberty, and Central Michigan.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ run to close the season didn’t earn them an opportunity to host a regional in the NCAA tournament. However, after five straight series wins to close out the Big 12 regular season and a Big 12 tournament title, Oklahoma received a No. 2 seed and will be heading to Gainesville, Fla. for the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

The Florida Gators earned the right to host and will be joined by Oklahoma, Liberty, and Central Michigan.

Florida comes in with a record of 39-22 and went 15-15 in the SEC. Despite their average record in conference play, the Gators head into the national postseason with the 14th best RPI.

Oklahoma is No. 20 in the RPI and as the No. 2 seed will take on third-seeded Liberty who boasts a record of 37-21 and opened the season with a series win over Florida. Liberty was ranked 31st in RPI.

Central Michigan owns a record of 42-17 and won the MAC tournament title after going 30-7 in conference play during the MAC regular season.

Oklahoma looks to stay hot on the road. The Sooners won three straight Big 12 series on the road, including a sweep at Kansas and taking two of three at TCU (who won the Big 12 regular-season title) and Texas Tech (who is the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the RPI).

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Five players that will have the greatest impact on Florida football’s identity in 2021

Despite the fact that not all of these guys are among the most famous or talented the program has to offer, their performances will dictate a lot about this season.

Much has been made of the remodeling Gators football underwent this offseason, and rightly so. The offense was a raging success under the stewardship of draft-eligible players who went pro and the defense was so tragically overmatched that a touch-up is necessary to field a passable team this year.

That being the case, the identity of this Orange and Blue squad is still fluid. A single matchup against a much weaker non-conference opponent is hardly educational about how they’re going to fare in the choppier waters of the SEC.

One of the oddities of football, though, is that because of the intrinsically co-dependent nature of play, the best players aren’t always the most important in defining the identity of a team. To that end, let’s take a look at the players on the 2021 Florida roster who have the potential to radically shift the way this team functions for better. Despite the fact that not all of these guys are among the most famous or talented the program has to offer, their performances will dictate a lot about this season.

Will Kevin O’Sullivan leave Florida baseball for LSU?

After Florida’s early exit in NCAA regionals, the rumors of Kevin O’Sullivan are swirling. Here are some reasons why we think he stays put.

The college baseball rumor mill picked up major steam after South Alabama eliminated Florida in a 19-1 beatdown Saturday.

Media outlets reported that LSU had serious interest in Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan to fill their vacancy after the Tigers coach Paul Mainieri announced his retirement after 15 seasons with the program. With the Gators’ early exit, the potential move has gone ablaze again.

This isn’t the first time O’Sullivan has been named as a top candidate for another program. In 2016, there were reports that Texas wanted to steal O’Sullivan from Gainesville. But plans for a new stadium and a contract extension that made him the highest-paid coach in college baseball kept O’Sullivan in orange and blue.

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Kendall Rodgers, a writer for D1Baseball.com, outlined some of the pros and cons of each program.

The biggest negative he cited for Florida that fan support for baseball isn’t as strong as it is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Yes, the fan support at the new Florida Ballpark wasn’t great this weekend. They averaged only about 3,500 fans over the two games that can hold up to 10,000. But the weather was terrible. It was muggy and humid, and both games endured rain delays, however, this is nothing new to Rainesville. People in Gainesville also were still adjusting to lift without COVID-19 restrictions.

And yes, the Gators will lose a slew of talented players to the draft, but that isn’t new, either. O’Sullivan hasn’t had difficulty reloading his roster and having his team compete at a high level.

Finally, Florida’s 2021 baseball season was the most disappointing one in Gators athletics in a long time. But this year was different because of COVID-19. If the season wasn’t upended, the Gators seemed poised to make a run for another title at the College World Series. They went undefeated until FSU knocked them off in the final game of 2020.

Personally, Gators fans should take a lesson from Aaron Rodgers and R-E-L-A-X. O’Sullivan won’t be going anywhere this offseason.

Florida has owned the state on the recruiting trail and just opened a gorgeous new ballpark. It has all the pieces for the program to stay in the hunt for more championships.

O’Sullivan would be foolish to leave for another program, even a powerhouse like LSU, with all the resources available to him. UF has also been traditionally better than the Tigers over the last decade, including a win over LSU for its first title in 2017. It would also be difficult to leave his family behind and make his children move away from their friends in Gainesville.

Because of all these factors, I’d be surprised if O’Sullivan ditched the Gators.

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