Tag: Kevin O’Sullivan

Gators drop series opener to Vanderbilt in walk-off fashion

Florida’s pitching woes continue in a heartbreaking walk-off loss to Vanderbilt on Friday.

Florida baseball kicked off the Passover-Easter weekend series against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville on Friday night with a heartbreaking 5-4 walk-off loss. The Gators held an early advantage but simply could not hold on for a full nine innings.

[autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] got things started early with a two-run homer following a lead-off full-count walk drawn by [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] to open the game. The round-tripper was the center fielder’s 14th of the season and fifth in SEC play, giving the Gators an early lead.

[autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] took the rubber for Florida and could not keep the ‘Dores off the board in the bottom of the first frame, allowing three straight singles that plated a run after striking out the first two batters he faced. He escaped further damage by sending down the sixth batter he saw swinging.

The second inning went quietly for the Gators, as [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] drew a walk after a leadoff lineout by [autotag]Kendrick Calilao[/autotag] that was erased by a double play grounded into by [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag]. Vandy, however, tied things up in a 1-0 count with a deep drive to left by Calvin Hewett. Barco buckled down afterward to get the next two outs before a walk and an error on a pickoff attempt put the pitcher in peril but he escaped the jam with a groundout.

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] said that Barco was coming off being sick and looked “a little run down” early, so he put [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] in to start the third. A harmless single was all the Commodores could muster, and Florida reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth. Calilao drove in [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag], who opened the inning up with a double and moved over to third on a [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] fly ball to right.

Vanderbilt’s starter, Chris McElvain, was pulled after a [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] single in the top of the fifth for sophomore right-hander Patrick Reilly. Langford eventually brought Fabian home on a single, but Reilly kept Florida quiet through the remainder of the frame.

Ficarrotta came back out for the sixth but four innings of relief was too much to ask for. A four-pitch walk was followed by a single and a sacrifice bunt, and then O’Sullivan brought in [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] to face a single batter. A sac fly to center brought the score to 4-3, and in came [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] to close things out with a strikeout. Unfortunately, Riopelle let a ball go under his legs and to the backstop allowing the tying run to come in without a base hit.

Each team left two runners on base in the seventh, and Florida made yet another pitching change. This time it was the Gators’ ace-in-the-hole [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] for his 20th appearance of the season. The Commodores brought in junior Thomas Schultz in the eighth to counter.

The game threatened to go into extras, but Sully once again leaned too hard on one of his best relievers. Purnell didn’t get single out in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a throwing error by Rivera. An intentional walk loaded the bases, and Jack Bulger sent the fans home happy with a game-winning single into right-center.

The loss isn’t Purnell’s fault and it’s not the first time he’s been left stranded on the mound with no options to bail him out. Pitching depth continues to be a huge problem for this club and Sully continues to misjudge the stamina of his top bullpen arms.

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4 things Florida baseball needs to do to turn the season around

Florida baseball is playing well beneath expectations this season, but it’s not too late to make some changes.

Florida baseball (21-12) seems to take two steps back for every one step forward it makes this season. Coming off a series win over No. 2 Arkansas, the Gators put up a measly two hits against FSU on Tuesday and have little time to correct things before a weekend series with Vanderbilt kicks off over the weekend.

Conference play, in particular, has been rough for Florida with the Gators holding a losing record (5-7) against SEC foes. If the Gators are going to climb back up the rankings and turn into a top-10 team before the postseason, a few things need to change.

UF’s young pitching staff is the main area of concern with question marks in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. The offense is less problematic with a .292  team batting average and top-five ranking in homers, but there are still things to clean up as made evident on Tuesday.

A little more consistency at the plate should allow for some leniency on the mound, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] hasn’t found the right formula to go with just yet.

Here’s a look at four areas that Florida needs to improve on if they are going to be competitive down the stretch:

Florida baseball: Pogue’s shaky start dooms Gators against FSU

One step forward, two steps back. The Gators lose an ugly one to FSU after taking two of three from Arkansas.

Florida had a shot to take the season series from Florida State on Tuesday night, but the Seminoles rode a five-run first inning to a 5-0 victory in Tallahassee.

[autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] got the start for Florida but struggled to get just one out. After giving up back-to-back homers and allowing another man to hit safely, Pogue’s night was over after just 23 pitches. [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] brought in [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] as a long reliever, but it took a while for him to settle in. Two more singles brought in another run to make it 4-0 and the final one came in as catcher [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] threw out a runner attempting to steal second. At that point, trading outs for runs seemed necessary.

Normally, a five-run first means a high-scoring affair, but both clubs stayed quiet for the rest of the night. That’s good news for the Gators’ struggling bullpen and bad news for a veteran offense that should’ve been able to fight back. Instead, Florida managed just two hits all night and struck out 14 times.

Nesbitt worked through the third and then let [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag] come in to eat 2 2/3 innings. [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] pitched through the seventh, and [autotag]Karl Hartman[/autotag] impressed with a two-strikeout eighth. Ficarotta has been solid all year for the Gators, but Abner and Hartman could stand to become a bit more consistent. An outing like this against a club like FSU should earn them some favor in Sully’s book.

Vanderbilt is up next over the weekend as Florida returns to a more typical Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule over the next few weeks. The Commodores are no joke but have a similar record to Florida and recently dropped out of the top 25. It’ll be a test run of sorts for the squad before hosting Tennessee the following week.

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Recapping Florida’s series-winning weekend over No. 2 Arkasnas

Pat Dooley gives his review on a winning weekend for the Orange and Blue.

Blake Purnell admits he was confused.

Florida assistant coach David Kopp came to him in the fall and told him they were going to revamp his pitching motion.

“I was confused at first,” Purnell said. “But I’d never second guess it.”

Florida made Purnell a sidearmer and hoped the walk-on might be effective enough to give the Gators an inning here or there.

They didn’t expect this.

They certainly did not expect him to be the key to what may be a Florida turnaround for this baseball season.

On Friday night, Purnell pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief to get the save against No. 2 Arkansas.

On Saturday, with the wind blowing mightily to right field, he came into a tie game and got five straight outs as Florida scored twice in the eighth to win again.

“He’s a great story,” said Florida coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag].

And it was a feel-good weekend for a team that hasn’t had a lot to feel good about.

After losing the opener Thursday, O’Sullivan had a heart-to-heart with his team.

“I tried to put things in perspective,” he said. “When you go through life there are things you have to go through.

“We were resilient this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we may not have hung in there.”

On Saturday, Florida blew a pair of leads that were built on three-run homers by [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag]. Tied at 7-7 after an Arkansas homer by Zack Gregory, Purnell entered the game to get out of the inning.

[autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly on an 0-2 pitch and his brother Jud singled home an insurance run.

“Deric’s at-bat was huge,” said O’Sullivan. “For a freshman to step up in a situation like that…”

Purnell finished the ninth to get his third win to go along with three saves and a 1.19 ERA. He has pitched in 19 of Florida’s 32 games and was mobbed by his teammates after getting the last out.

“It’s the greatest feeling ever,” Purnell said. “Hopefully, it will put us in the right direction.”

That will be the question going forward. Florida made it through the first series of a Murderer’s Row schedule with two wins in three games and the Gators are now 21-11 and 5-7 in the conference.

“This weekend was fun,” said Riopelle. “It was the most fun series I’ve ever played in.”

It may propel Florida back into the rankings – as if they matter – but the Gators have a road game against FSU and a road series at Vanderbilt before a series against No. 1 Tennessee.

“When things have gone bad, we’ve not been able to stop the bleeding,” O’Sullivan said. “Today, we helped them back in (with a crucial error), but we were able to move on to the next play.

“But we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. As good as we feel now, if we don’t play well next weekend, we’ll go back to feeling bad.”

Arkansas Razorbacks stifles Gators bats in series opening loss

Arkansas ace Connor Noland had the Gators’ number in an 8-1 Florida loss on Thursday.

Arkansas ace Connor Noland stifled the Florida baseball bats for seven effortless innings. He gave up one hit to second baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] to lead off the game and then didn’t allow another. Gators’ hitters only managed one hit and a walk while striking out seven times against Noland. His bullpen allowed two hits and a walk in the final two frames but hung on to beat the Gators, 8-1, Thursday night at Florida Ballpark.

Noland and Florida’s [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] cruised effortlessly through the first three frames.

Barco then ran into trouble in the top of the fourth inning, though. He caught Razorbacks‘ third baseman Cayden Wallace to lead off the frame. Second baseman Robert Moore walked following a Barco strikeout. Right fielder Chris Lanzilli struck out but Florida catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] couldn’t corral it, allowing Wallace and Moore to advance to scoring position. Catcher Michael Turner singled to shortstop, giving Arkansas the 1-0 lead.

The Razorbacks pushed across another run in the following two innings. Barco led off the inning, hitting a batter that eventually came around to score via a Wallace RBI single. Lanzilli hit a lead-off solo home run in the sixth.

Coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] pulled Barco later in the inning after he gave up a single and another walk. Barco finished his outing after five innings, giving up four hits and three earned runs while striking out seven and walking three.

Meanwhile, Noland continued to breeze through Gators’ hitters. He went seven innings only allowing a hit and a walk along with zero earned runs while striking out seven.

Florida finally got a runner in scoring position after first baseman Kendrick Calilao singled and shortstop Joshua Rivera earned a walk with only one out. However, the Gators popped out and flew out to end their eighth-inning threat.

Arkansas exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth, and Florida broke the shutout in the bottom half to get to the final score of 8-1.

Florida and the Razorbacks return for the second game Friday at 6:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network+.

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Florida baseball looks to right ship versus No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks

Florida baseball needs a heroic effort from its pitching staff if it wants to pull the series upset versus No. 2 Arkansas.

Florida baseball plummeted out of the D1Baseball top 25 rankings this week after getting swept by the No. 23 Georgia Bulldogs this past weekend despite defeating No. 5 Florida State in Jacksonville in a mid-week matchup. The road doesn’t get much easier this upcoming weekend or next as the Gators are set to host the No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks and the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.

Florida rebounded nicely and beat Florida A&M on Tuesday, 13-3, after it lost three straight to the Bulldogs. Center fielder[autotag] Jud Fabian[/autotag], third baseman [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] and first baseman [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] all homered in Tuesday’s game.

The Razorbacks enter Gainesville, holding a 22-5 record. They grabbed two out of three games versus Mississippi State before dropping the series finale, 5-3, in extra innings.

The Gators are in a critical part of their season and in the final stretch where they play five straight SEC weekend series against top 25 teams. Its SEC schedule will then get easier as it finishes the season out playing against four teams that aren’t ranked.

If coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] has any hopes of salvaging this season and making a serious run in the NCAA tournament, he has to find a No. 2 and 3 starter for his weekend rotation. His starters outside of [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] have struggled mightily in SEC play.

Gators looking to complete season sweep of FAMU Tuesday

Last time it was 17-0 in favor of the Gators and things shouldn’t be much different in Tuesday’s rematch against FAMU.

Coming off a sweep on the road at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Florida Gators baseball team is hoping to rebound against Florida A&M University on Tuesday back at home.

The Gators took the last matchup against the Rattlers easily, 17-0, behind six home runs. UF is expected to run away with this one again but FAMU could put up a few runs this time around with [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] on the mound for the Gators. Pogue has been extremely limited since returning from Tommy John, and starting him against a team [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] his squad can hit against should give him a stress-free day.

There’s also the matter of FAMU’s starter Dallas Tease coming into the game with a sky-high ERA. Tease was the only Rattler pitcher to get through a hitless inning the last time around against Florida, but he’s had his share of poor starts throughout the season.

If Florida can produce even half the runs it did last time against FAMU, then the Gators should be able to cruise to a victory. It’s been tough lately for UF, especially on the mound, so getting the pitching staff its confidence back is order of business No. 1 for this team. A loss on Tuesday would be devastating for the Gators, but all of the numbers point to an easy win.

Gators can’t prevent Georgia from sweeping weekend series

That’s five Ls in a row to conference foes for the Gators. Something needs to change.

The Florida Gators looked like they were going to leave Athens with at least one win, but terrible pitching late in the game Saturday cost UF the game and gave Georgia the series sweep with a 14-8 victory.

The game figured to be a high-scoring affair with [autotag]Garret Milchin[/autotag] on the mound for Florida and Nolan Crisp getting his first for the Dawgs. Crisp won the battle lasting 4 1/3 innings and giving up three runs. Milchin was pulled before he could record an out in the first inning.

Brandon Neely came in relief of Milchin and worked a solid five innings. He was in line for the win after Florida took advantage of a Georgia error in the fifth and jumped out to a 6-2 lead on a [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] home run. Neely gave up one more run in the fifth before turning the ball over to [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag]. He pitched a clean sixth but was pulled quickly after walking the first two batters in the seventh.

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] came to regret that decision as [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] gave up eight runs in the inning (two of them were charged to Abner). The Bulldogs hit back-to-back homers and took a five-run lead that Florida couldn’t cut into with just two innings left to play. [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] tried his best with a two-run dinger of his own in the eighth, but Georgia responded with another three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Jud Fabian could only watch the final strike of the ballgame go by him as Florida dropped its fifth-straight conference game.

The sweep will knock Florida out of the top 15 in next week’s update and it’s time to start asking how long this team will be ranked if it keeps giving away wins like this.

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Gators baseball drops series opener to Georgia in walk-off fashion

Well… Florida almost came back and held on to win this one. Dawgs take Game 1 on a walk-off double.

Everything fell apart for Florida in the ninth inning against Georgia on Thursday night.

The Gators entered the final frame of the evening with a two-run lead courtesy of a Jud Fabian two-run homer in the top of the inning, but that lead would be short-lived. [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] turned to [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] for the final out of the game and Georgia’s bats came to life. Garrett Blaylock singled home a run to cut the lead to 6-5 before Josh McAllister ripped a double down the left-field line that brought in the winning run. Gators lose, 7-6.

UF played catch-up all night after Hunter Barco allowed two first-inning runs on four consecutive hits, including a leadoff home run. He settled down after surrendering the early lead and managed to rack up six strikeouts before turning the ball over after five innings. Barco was in line for the loss but wound up getting a no-decision after [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] lifted his own two-run shot over the fence — the first homer of his career.

[autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] took over for Barco in relief and went 3 2/3 innings. He was charged with two of the three runs that scored in the ninth, but Purnell eats the loss on the stat sheet.

The Orange and Blue have now dropped three-straight games against conference opponents dating back to the LSU series and it’s clear that UF’s pitching is being stretched thin right now. Purnell threw 44 pitches against FSU on Thursday, which would normally earn him two days of rest at a minimum. Florida found itself in a jam late against Georgia and called his name one too many times.

It was good to see the Gators fight back from being down 2-0 and 4-2, but they couldn’t hold on to a series-opening win that would have meant a lot to the program. On Friday, the Bulldogs have Jonathan Cannon on the mound, a top-75 MLB draft prospect, so things aren’t going to get any easier for the Gators.

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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.