Tag: Hunter Barco

Series Preview: Florida baseball set to renew rivalry with Georgia in Athens

Florida baseball has one job this weekend: Beat. Georgia.

The No. 14 Florida Gators baseball team will be in Athens this weekend to face the No. 23 Georgia Bulldogs in a series that starts on Thursday night.

Florida’s pitching staff struggled last weekend against LSU aside from [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag], and the Gators don’t have starters listed for Friday or Saturday this weekend. Barco is getting the Thursday start which means there won’t be an ace-versus-ace matchup in this series with Georgia’s Jonathan Cannon, a top-100 MLB draft prospect, throwing on Friday.

The Gators did bounce back from their series loss to the Tigers with a 6-3 win over No. 5 Florida State on Tuesday. Getting the bats going midweek should translate into a better hitting performance over the weekend. UF hit under .200 as a team in the LSU series.

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] used many of his top bullpen arms in the win over the Seminoles, but Barco is typically good for six or seven innings at a minimum. Getting guys rested such as [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag], who threw 44 pitches in 2 2/3 innings of relief on Tuesday, is crucial if Florida wants to win this series.

It’s no secret that the bulk of the Gators’ pitching staff is unproven after Barco. Anything can happen after he leaves the mound, and most teams are just waiting for that very moment to get hot. Georgia saw what worked for LSU last week and they’ll be looking to hand Florida another conference series loss.

Florida baseball meets up with FSU for midweek game in Jacksonville

Florida baseball is hoping to bounce back against FSU after a tough series against the LSU Tigers.

After dropping the weekend series to LSU, No. 14 Florida baseball has a chance to bounce back against the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday.

It’s supposed to be the second meeting of the season between the two clubs, but the March 15 game was postponed due to weather. That means the in-state rivalry will kick off at a Financial Ballpark in Jacksonville where neither club has home-field advantage. Last year’s two-game series was split with each team earning a win in their home stadium.

[autotag]Garrett Milchin[/autotag] is the starter for Florida. His last start came against Florida A&M when he pitched five solid innings, but this will be a much more difficult outing to navigate safely. It also comes at a time of pressure for UF.

The Gators hit below .200 as a team over the weekend, and they’re at No. 23 Georgia for the upcoming weekend series. This team relies on its veteran lineup to work the young pitching staff out of jams, but it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Florida can’t play that style with a shaky starting staff aside from [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag].

Milchin’s experience against Florida State (four starts against the Seminoles in his career) should come in handy. He’s given up a 7-spot and also cruised through six innings of one-run ball against FSU, so he knows he’s capable of taming them.

If he can get some run support early, Florida could take the momentum and use the few solid pieces it has in the bullpen to close it out. The Gators haven’t dropped three games in a row all year, so look for them to give their all to avoid it happening on Tuesday.

The first pitch is at 7 p.m. EDT.

Florida baseball loses rubber match against LSU

The Gators couldn’t get much of anything going on Sunday as LSU took the series with a one-sided victory.

Florida baseball dropped its rubber match against the LSU Tigers on Sunday, 11-2, and losing a series against a ranked conference rival should be enough to knock UF out of the top 10 in most college baseball rankings.

UF entered the weekend ranked No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll and LSU came in at No. 21. Those rankings appeared accurate after a solid performance from the Gators on Friday with [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] on the mound. As the series continued on and Florida worked deeper into its pitching staff, LSU began to take control and proved to be the better ball club.

Right-hander Ryan Slater got the start for the Gators after going five innings in relief in each of his last two appearances. He lasted just four innings this time around, allowing four earned runs on four hits and four hit batters. Prior to this game, Slater had plunked just one batter on the season. Things did get chippy as this series went on, but Slater’s shaky command is to blame for most of the hit batters today.

The bullpen didn’t fare much better. Phillip Abner and Brandon Neely hit four more batters and gave up six of the seven runs surrendered in relief. Nick Ficarrotta, Tyler Nesbitt and Blake Purnell all had strong outings, though. Tigers designated hitter Brayden Jobert led the way with two long balls that drove in five.

Despite the pitching issues on Sunday, Florida’s bats might have been worse. The Gators only had one hit through the first five innings of the game and only managed to score two runs in the sixth. LSU needed only the duo of Samuel Dutton and Grant Taylor on the mound.

Strikeouts are typically the glaring number for UF in a loss like this, but the Gators only K’d five times in the series finale. LSU pitching held the Gators to a sub-.200 batting average over the weekend, and this is a club that came into the weekend batting .309 as a team.

It’s not the first time the Gators struggle at the plate this year, but the feeling is that a veteran offense should be able to correct most of the issues that pop up over the course of a season. The long-term concern is the lack of depth on the mound, as Florida doesn’t seem to have found a reliable starter after Barco.

Brandon Sproat and [autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] have both had their ups and downs, which leads the team to turn to its best bullpen guys. Slater deserves another shot as does Nesbitt, but Florida needs to figure out the weekend rotation quickly as the season nears its halfway point.

LSU gave Florida a wake-up call this weekend. The Gators responded after dropping the first series of the season to Liberty, and now they’ll have to do it again. There’s no midweek tune-up game before traveling to No. 14 Georgia. UF will face No. 10 Florida State on Tuesday before kicking off the series with the Bulldogs on Thursday.

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Explosive fifth inning boosts Florida baseball past LSU in series opener

The fifth inning was a difference-maker again for the Gators.

The fifth frame has been the friendliest out of all nine for Florida baseball’s lineup this season and was so again on Friday night versus LSU. The Gators used the four runs they scored in the inning to knock off the Tigers at Florida Ballpark, 7-2.

Florida second baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] and catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] smacked two solo shots in the first and fourth innings, respectively, to give their team the early lead.

Then came the fifth inning when Florida’s bats caught fire once again as it has done throughout most of the season. Center fielder [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] grounded out to shortstop to score designated hitter [autotag]Khris Armstrong[/autotag]. Right fielder [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] then singled to send third baseman [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] home. Left fielder [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] followed, blasting a two-run shot to left field to give the Gators a 6-0 advantage.

Their large outburst increased their season total to 32 in the middle inning. The team as a whole has recorded 164 runs, so 20% of their production has come in that fifth frame.

Coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s team piled on one more run in the sixth, and LSU posted two late runs in the eighth and ninth innings to get to the final score of 7-2.

The Gators’ ace [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] excelled as per usual. He went seven innings, only allowing two hits and zero runs while walking three and hitting two Tigers and striking out eight. The only inning that Barco had trouble was when he walked back-to-back hitters in the fourth, but he escaped a batter later when LSU hit into an inning-ending double play.

Florida’s hitters tallied an efficient seven runs on seven hits and only left six runners on base, while also demonstrating patience in the batter’s box by drawing seven walks. Langford led the way individually, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Florida will try to take the series versus LSU Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network+.

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Here is Florida baseball’s complete 2021 summer league roundup

Here’s how all nine Florida baseball players participating in the college summer leagues fared in wooden bat competition.

As August quickly consumes the calendar, the collegiate baseball summer leagues are winding down leaving a short season’s worth of stats to pore over for baseball enthusiasts. For fans of the Florida Gators, there were nine current members of the Orange and Blue in action over the past few months, including a pair of pitchers representing the Gator Nation with the USA Collegiate National Team.

UF players also saw action in the various leagues across the country, namely, the prestigious Cape Cod League, Valley League, Coastal Plains League, and close to home in the Florida Collegiate Summer League. Among them, three Gators earned all-league or all-star honors as a result of their standout performances. Here is a look at how all nine Gators fared this summer in wooden bat competition.

Hunter Barco could be Florida’s ace in 2022

Barco had an all-around solid season in 2021, but he may need to be much more than solid in 2022 if he takes over the Friday starter role. If Tommy Mace departs, Barco will likely be the Gators’ top pitcher in 2022.

Name: Hunter Barco

Number: 12

Position: Left-Handed Pitcher

Class: Junior (COVID-19)

Height: 6’4″

Weight: 210 lbs

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

High School: The Bolles School

Twitter: @hunter_barco

2021 statistics:

G GS W-L IP H R BB K ERA WHIP
16 16 10-3 83 77 43 26 94 4.01 1.24

Overview:

Many didn’t expect Barco to end up at UF. He was considered by some to be a first-round talent coming out of high school in the 2019 MLB draft, but he slid to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 24th round, and he turned down a multi-million dollar signing bonus that didn’t meet his requirements. He enrolled in Gainesville instead.

He had an electric true freshman season despite it being shortened due to COVID-19. He made four starts and one appearance in relief, notching a 2-0 record and a 1.40 ERA. Heading into the 2021 season, he was expected to be the Sunday pitcher, behind Tommy Mace and Jack Leftwich.

His first start of the season in the opening series to Miami was rough, as he allowed six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, and he took the loss. Barco eventually worked an ERA that was bloated to start the season down to 4.01 with some very solid games in SEC play. He ended up with a 10-3 record, and his best performance came against eventual CWS finalist Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament when he pitched a complete game in a 13-1, run-rule victory.

But Barco’s occasional blowups like he suffered against the Hurricanes persisted, even as he eventually solidified himself as the Day 2 starter. Heading into his “COVID” sophomore season in 2022, he’ll have to improve a lot. Assuming Mace departs for the minor leagues, Barco is the leading candidate to be UF’s ace next season.

Video:

O’Sullivan named pitching coach for 2021 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team

Kevin O’Sullivan will have the opportunity to coach two of his players this summer with Team USA as the squad’s pitching coach.

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Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan has been named the pitching coach for the 2021 USA Collegiate National Team this summer. The team announced the news on Wednesday.

O’Sullivan, who just finished his 14th season as the Gators head coach, will make his debut coaching for USA Baseball when the team takes part in a series of 11 scrimmages July 2-15. Two of O’Sullivan’s players, pitchers Hunter Barco and Brandon Sproat, are on the roster.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as the pitching coach for the 2021 USA Collegiate National Team and to work with some of the top student-athletes in our game today,” O’Sullivan said in a release. “I look forward to helping the players on this year’s team develop their game for the next level and want to thank USA Baseball for this great opportunity.”

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O’Sullivan is one of the nation’s top coaches, especially when it comes to coaching pitchers. He was the National Coach of the Year in 2017 when the team captured the first national title in school history, and he has been named the SEC Coach of the Year on three occasions.

“We are honored to welcome eight tremendous coaches to assist the Collegiate National Team this summer,” USA Baseball General Manager of National Teams Eric Campbell said. “This year will be unique for the collegiate program as we welcome in 48 athletes to represent Team USA. As we constructed this season for the athletes, the need for an experienced and versatile coaching staff became a priority to heighten the overall development experience, and we are confident we have done just that. These coaches bring a wealth of knowledge that will impact every single athlete who will wear the red, white and blue in a positive way now and for many years to come.”

Though he has never coached the national team before, he has sent 14 players to it in the past, including Alex Faedo (2016), Dalton Guthrie (2016), Mike Rivera (2016) and Tommy Mace (2019). Now, O’Sullivan is properly a part of the team and will look to coach a pair of his players to success this summer.

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