Tag: Kris Armstrong

2023 Baseball Season Preview: First Basemen

Florida’s talent pool is deep at first base heading into the 2023 season and could wind up being one of Florida’s most improved positions this year.

Florida has at least three players that could see significant time at first base this season, and it could end up being one of the stronger spots on the team in 2023.

The Gators lost [autotag]Kendrick Calilao[/autotag] to graduation and [autotag]Kris Armstrong[/autotag] to the transfer portal (Jacksonville), leaving catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] as the only returning player with significant time at the position. Riopelle played a decent amount of first base in the second half of the season, partially to get some rest but also because of a surging [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag], who isn’t with the team this year.

Riopelle won’t be the main cornerman this year at Florida, though. At least he shouldn’t be if the rising talent lives up to some lofty expectations set over the offseason. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], who primarily served as a designated hitter in 2022 after a relatively swift return from Tommy John surgery, will play the field this year, and he’ll also pitch.

The other major player in this rotation will be Sante Fe transfer [autotag]Tyler Shelnut[/autotag]. He could wind up elsewhere by the end of the season, but Kevin O’Sullivan is eyeing first base for him to start the season out. [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] is also an option, but he’s another guy who could see time at multiple positions.

What’s next for Florida baseball: A post-mortem of the 2022 season

Buckle in, Gators Wire’s 2022 Baseball Season Recap is finally here. We dive into all 35 players one by one and go over where they stand after the season.

The Florida Gators’ 2022 baseball season ended Monday with a 5-4 loss in the regional finals of the NCAA Championship Tournament against Oklahoma. The year was filled with ups and downs, but being six outs away from a Super Regional berth isn’t too shabby for a team with 16 new players on the roster.

Pitching was a bit of a disappointment early on, but a few freshmen started to stand out from the bunch. That depth allowed the Gators to make a deeper run than most expected in the playoffs and finish the year 42-24.

Conference play was a bit of a struggle. UF finished the regular season .500 against the SEC, including series losses to Georgia (sweep), LSU, Tennessee (sweep) and Vanderbilt. A 9-3 finish against the weaker members of the conference (Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina) allowed Florida to finish with a respectable record, but things didn’t really turn around until Texas A&M beat them via the mercy rule.

After that 10-0 loss, Florida played like the team it needed to be all year. It even got legendary performances from the likes of Carsten Finnvold, a freshman who hadn’t seen game action since April when he got the start against Tennessee in theSEC Tournament.

Then there’s the offense. At times, the veteran group didn’t back up the young pitching staff as it was expected to. Jud Fabian was a disappointment down the stretch, hitting just .185 against the conference and going 1-for-30. To his credit, Fabian struck out 10 times less than he did a year ago in about 40 more plate appearances. Walks were also up considerably, so his eye definitely improved despite the low average.

On the other side of things, Wyatt Langford made a complete transformation over the offseason and became one of the best leadoff guys in baseball. He led the team in most major offensive categories and tied Matt LaPorta’s 2005 school record of 26 homers in a season.

There’s a lot to celebrate about with this team, and a lot to address moving forward. Many of them have played their final games in the Orange in Blue, and others are just starting to tell their story.

What will the team look like next year? There’s only one way to properly answer that question and it’s long-winded. Feel free to jump to the sections that interest you the most as we break down the team position by position.

Finnvold hurls full 9 innings to force regional final rematch with Oklahoma

Florida baseball is one win away from a Super Regional berth after Carsten Finnvold led the Gators to victory over Oklahoma.

True freshman [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag] pitched the game of his life Sunday to give Florida another chance at extending their season on Monday. The lefty came in relief for the Gators during the very first inning, but he’d close out the game for the Orange and Blue, throwing 116 pitches along the way. UF came out on top, 7-2, and will play Oklahoma again on Monday to decide which club heads to the Super Regionals.

[autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] got the ball to start the game after proving himself against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] pulled him before he recorded an out Sunday night. In Sully’s defense, Manning loaded the bases on 11 pitches (hit by pitch, two walks) and losing this game would mean an end to the Gators’ 2022 campaign.

“I knew this had the potential to be our last game,” Finnvold said. “So, I just really wanted to give my team a chance to win and try to keep the score close and strand the runners where they were.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Finnvold came out and worked his way out of the bases-loaded jam by forcing three-straight balls in the air. Pop-ups and flyouts would become a theme in this one for Finnvold, who recorded just one strikeout through six innings of work. That didn’t matter much though as he stayed perfect through the next four innings.

Trouble came in the sixth, but Finnvold had a lead to work with after [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] hit a home run (No. 23) in the fourth and Jac Caglianone drove in [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] in the fifth. Oklahoma strung together four-straight hits (three singles, one double) against him but it was all weak contact that scored just two runs. That’s one of the benefits of topping out in the mid-80s, opposing batters have less velocity to turn around.

[autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] drove in Thompson to give Florida the lead right back in the top of the seventh, and, surprisingly, Finnvold returned for the final three innings of the ball game. He cruised through those nine outs and even managed to rack up three more strikeouts to bring his total to four on the evening.

“To (Oklahoma’s) credit, they’re a really great ball club,” Finnvold said. “A really great swinging team, a really great pitching team. I just needed to hit my spots and execute pitches in big situations.”

Fabian kicked off a four-run eighth that effectively put the game away with another home run (No. 24 for Jud). [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag], [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] scored thanks to some sloppy defense by the Sooners.

Finnvold closed it out, and thank god he did because [autotag]Kris Armstrong[/autotag] was warming up in the bullpen, according to Nick de la Torre. He hasn’t pitched since his freshman year in 2019 and Florida already blew one five-run lead earlier in the day.

Florida faces one more elimination game on Monday at 1 p.m. with a Super Regional berth on the line.

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Gators’ power surge runs USF Bulls out of Gainesville

Florida unleashed the beast tonight and got revenge for the loss in the regionals last year.

It has been a disappointing season for Florida baseball as the schedule winds down into the final weeks, with the Gators severely underperforming their projections due to a dearth of reliable pitching and some untimely cold streaks by the bats. With just 12 games remaining until the start of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, UF is in dire need of a jumpstart if the Orange and Blue has any hopes of making the postseason.

On Tuesday night, Florida got that jolt of power from its bats against the South Florida Bulls in an 18-3 victory at Condron Family Ballpark to avenge a shocking loss in the opening round of the regionals last year. [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] got the start on the bump and looked strong despite a few blemishes, tossing four innings of two-run ball while the bats caught fire.

The Bulls struck in the top of the first with a solitary run but the Gators began to show their fury in the bottom half of the frame, with [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] launching a two-run home run to make it a 2-1 score. After a scoreless top of the second, Florida unleashed the beast with a trio of home runs — a solo shot by [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag], then a grand slam for Fabian immediately followed by a back-to-back knock by [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] to push the lead to 8-1.

USF plated a run thanks to a throwing error attempting to gun down the leadoff hitter, who made it across on a sac fly to add to the 8-2 score. But the Gators were not complacent with a six-run lead and pushed across a pair of runs on a [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] double and a [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] sac fly to make it a 10-2 game.

Pogue clicked on cruise control for the next couple of innings while the Gators added a six-spot on a Guscette fielder’s choice, followed by a bases-loaded bloop single by Thompson with two outs, and then Fabian’s third dinger of the day immediately following in the fourth that launched the score to a 16-2 blowout. His three homers and eight RBI were already career highs for the elder Fabian before the game was even halfway over.

[autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] took over in the fifth along with a few other fielding adjustments and shut down USF in order, and the Gators did the same in the bottom half of the frame. Florida tacked on another in the bottom of the sixth on a sac fly that followed [autotag]Kris Armstrong[/autotag]’s triple and nearly padded the lead even more but failed to capitalize further for a 17-2 tally.

[autotag]Karl Hartman[/autotag] took over in the seventh, and after striking out the first batter on a full count, hit the next one followed by a base-on-balls but escaped damage thanks to a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to close out the inning. The Gators made some noise in the bottom half but failed to score. [autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] came in for the eighth and gave up a run after surrendering a leadoff single along with a walk followed by another single and a fielder’s choice to make it a 17-3 game.

Florida scored its 18th run — more than any other game this season — on a [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] solo home run and threatened to score more before going down in the bottom of the eighth. Ursitti came back out to close things out, retiring the first two batters he face before an error by [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] unmercifully prolonged the inevitable. A wild pitch and a walk strung things along further before a strikeout finally clinched the game.

The Gators hit the road this weekend for a weekend series against the Mississippi State Bulldogs starting on Friday at 8 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network and can be heard on ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF.

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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.