Tag: Nick Pogue

Tracking Florida baseball’s 2022 transfer portal movement

It could be a busy offseason for Florida baseball in the transfer portal. Here are the latest moves being made.

It could be a busy offseason for the Florida Gators in the transfer portal, including additions and subtractions from the 2022 team. A few players have made their intentions to depart known early and the Gators are expected to at least compete for some of the top talent in the portal (yes, Tommy White is still an option but FSU is the favorite).

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] tested the waters a year ago by bringing in catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] and that worked out beautifully. Riopelle was an All-SEC First Team selection and is now expected to return, according to Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre. It’s worth pursuing some more talent after a success like that, and Florida will have holes after losing [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] among others to the draft and graduation.

Florida did have 16 new faces join the team last year with all but one being freshmen, so some were bound to transfer out.ย Gators Wire will keep track of those roster movements as they come in and keep an eye on where they land.

It will be interesting to see just how much Florida utilizes the portal this offseason. The new rules changed the game immediately for football and basketball, but it seems that baseball is just now catching up.

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.

Game Preview: Florida faces off in regional rubber match against Oklahoma

These Gators sure have a flair for the dramatic, huh? Florida baseball faces off with Oklahoma for the third time in three days to determine which club heads to the Super Regionals.

Florida took care of both Central Michigan and Oklahoma on Sunday to force a third and final game with the Sooners on Monday to decide which team continues their season in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament.

The Gators won’t have [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag] on the mound Monday to go nine innings against OU, but the freshman’s clutch outing has the momentum firmly on UF’s side. At a certain point on Sunday, the Sooners looked perplexed as they continued to pop up Finnvold’s high 70s to low 80s stuff without changing their swings. That kind of funk carries over in a tournament like this, especially as pitching depth gets stretched further and further.

After using both [autotag]Timmy Manning[/autotag] and Finnvold on Sunday, Florida is essentially out of starters with decent experience. [autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] gave up six earned runs the last time he was on the mound against Alabama, and [autotag]Garrett Milchin[/autotag] hasn’t made a start since [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] took over the No. 3 spot. It might fall on one of them Monday, but the bullpen is sure to work most of the ballgame barring another miraculous pitching performance.

The good news is Florida’s best hitters are hitting. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] went yard twice in the late game Sunday, and [autotag]Wyatt Langford [/autotag]hit a pair of long balls in the early matchup. That puts Fabian at 24 homers for the year and Langford at 25, which is good enough for the Nos. 2 and 3 spots in the school’s single-season record book.

[autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] has been on another planet since regionals started, hitting 8-for-14 so far through the four games. It also comes right after a 4-for-25 slump in the conference tournament, so [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] is really enjoying having his bat back.

First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT at Condron Family Ballpark on Monday.

Florida scrapes by Central Michigan, advance to regional finals against Oklahoma

Florida pulled out the win late vs CMU after wasting a solid start from Nick Pogue. The Gators take on OU at 7 p.m. EDT.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Florida Gators baseball team lives to see another game in the 2022 season after taking down Central Michigan, 6-5, on Sunday. The win sets up a rematch with Oklahoma at 7 p.m. EDT that UF needs to win to force a third game in the series on Monday.

Early on, it looked like Florida was going to cruise to a victory with a 5-0 nothing and right-handed redshirt sophomore [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] on his way to a career day against the Chippewas. He finished the day with three earned runs after five innings, but the bullpen didn’t help him out too much after taking over with men on and a four-run lead in the sixth.

The Gators may have squandered a 5-0 lead, but all that matter is the final tally. Here’s how it went down.

Game Preview: Florida baseball faces elimination against Central Michigan

The Gators are now in do-or-die mode. One loss ends the season. One win gets them to the regional finals later on in the day.

After losing to the Oklahoma Sooners, 9-4, on Saturday, the Florida Gators baseball team needs to knock out Central Michigan in a rematch to advance to the regionals finals against the Sooners later on in the day. If Florida beats OU, then a third and final tiebreaker on Monday will be played to determine who advances to the Super Regional matchup. First things first, though, Florida needs to beat CMU again.

The Gators took down the Chippewas ace and bullpen last time around, and CMU is running thin on pitchers going this deep into the tournament. Florida will trust [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] with the ball and has already shown that it has better depth than most thought in its run to the SEC Tournament championship game. That said, Sully used up four relief guys on Saturday and their availability is up in the air.

Offensively, [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] has struggled in particular, going 0-for-9 with five strikeouts so far in regional play. Florida needs him to be a factor at the top of the order like he’s been all year to make a difference.

On the other hand, moving [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] into the four-hole and [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] back to the five seems to have worked. Evans knocked in two runs with a big fly Saturday and has been one of the better freshmen on the team along with [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], who appeared around the same time.

[autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag] also hit a solo shot on Saturday, which creates an argument to keep playing him at catcher and letting [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag]’s knees rest for at least one game. Having [autotag]Kendrick Calilao[/autotag] off the bench for a clutch pinch-hit is also nice to have in this kind of setting.

Game Preview: Florida takes on Alabama in SEC Tournament elimination game

The Gators got back on the sticks against Arkansas on Friday and held on to a lead to advance in the SEC Tournament. Next up is ‘Bama.

After managing just one hit against Texas A&M in the second round of the SEC Tournament, Florida baseball got back to business as usual and outscored the Arkansas Razorbacks, 7-5, on Friday. That sets up another loser-goes-home matchup with Alabama on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. EDT for the Gators.

[autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] have already pitched so the Gators are running thin on starting pitchers coming into the game. [autotag]Garrett Milchin[/autotag] was an option, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] is going with freshman [autotag]Anthony Ursitti[/autotag] on the bump Saturday. It’ll be the former Canterbury Cougar’s first start at the collegiate level after throwing 18 2/3 innings out of the bullpen over the regular season.

On offense, Sully’s switch-up of [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] in the lineup seems to be a winner. Fabian played longball for just the second time since hitting three out against USF on May 3, and Riopelle is just too hot to keep in the five-hole.

[autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] have also been red-hot, with the latter driving in the first three runs of the day against Arkansas. Halter, of course, delivered the walk-off against South Carolina in round one and went deep on Friday.

If the bats don’t fall quiet as they did against Texas A&M, the Gators should be able to fight their way into the conference semifinals. That would be a huge boost to the rรฉsumรฉ going into regional play regardless of the team’s finish in the SEC Tournament.

Florida baseball bounces back in SEC Tournament against Arkasnas

Florida lives to see another game in the SEC Tournament. The Gators looked better in just about every way imaginable on Friday against Arkansas.

In a surprising turn of events, Florida baseball went from being one-hit and mercy-ruled on Thursday in the SEC Tournament by No. 2 seed Texas A&M to looking pretty dominant against No. 3 seed Arkansas Friday. With both teams facing elimination, the Gators knocked out the Razorbacks by a final score of 7-5.

[autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] was strong for five innings but ran into some trouble in the sixth. He gave up back-to-back home runs to Cayden Wallace and Michael Turner to lead off the inning and was quickly replaced by [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag]. Other than those two pitches though, Pogue looked good in the biggest game he’s pitched in since returning from Tommy John surgery.

Pogue struck out a career-high eight batters and limited the Hogs to just four hits on the day. His efforts gave the offense time to jump out to an early lead on a [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] two-run single in the second. Caglianone added another with a solo shot that hit that scoreboard in the fifth, and [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] followed up with a solo home run of his own a few at-bats later.

That ended the day for Arkansas’ Connor Noland, who was far more successful his last time out against Florida. That’s baseball, though. Evan Taylor got out of the inning and was replaced by Brady Tygart in the seventh. [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] hit his second home run since May 4 to make it 6-2 and Tygart hit Caglianone and [autotag]Kendrick Calila[/autotag]o to put two men on.

Tygart left with an apparent injury, and the broadcasters later provided an update that he was simply not feeling well enough to pitch. That brought in Zebulon Vermillion, who Halter promptly singled up the middle to score the seventh Gators run of the day.

Slater took over for Purnell in the seventh after a leadoff single and got the Razorbacks to go down in order. He’d also get through the eighth with a clean bill aside from a Sterlin Thompson error on a ball hit right to him at second base.

Some drama came in the ninth, but the five-run cushion was enough for Florida to hold on to in the end. Slater walked the leadoff man and let him move around the bases only to score on a passed ball. 7-3, no big deal. With two outs, Slater walked another batter on a full count and then gave up a home run to Braydon Webb after eight pitches. 7-5, uh oh.

Mercifully, Cayden Wallace hit a grounder to second to end things and Slater held on for the win after throwing 68 pitches. It was shaky at the end, but Florida looked like the team it’s supposed to be in this one.

With the win, the Gators are set to face the loser of the Alabama-Texas A&M game that takes place at 5:30 p.m. EDT. Once the matchup is decided, the two teams will duke it out on Saturday with a scheduled start time of 4:00 p.m., meaning Florida will be facing a team on less than 24 hours rest.

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Game Preview: Florida baseball facing elimination in SEC Tournament, Arkansas up next

After an ugly loss to Texas A&M, Florida needs to change just about everything to beat Arkansas.

Florida baseball is facing elimination from the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday after getting mercy-ruled by Texas A&M Thursday. Third-seeded Arkansas will be the Gators’ opponent with a scheduled pitch time of 10:30 a.m. EDT, according to the team’s social media.

It’s a tough draw for the Gators considering many expected Alabama to lose to Arkansas. Instead of facing an easy bounce-back game against the Crimson Tide, Florida is staring down the No. 13 team in the country and the No. 3 team in the conference.

The good news is that the Gators know they can beat the Razorbacks. Florida took two of three games during the regular season to claim the series, and that came in the middle of a tough stretch for the club. UF did have trouble hitting Arky’s No. 1, Connor Noland, though, and that’s likely who will be on the mound with elimination on the line.

In the end, it might not matter who pitches for the Razorbacks considering the Gators only manage one hit against a starter who came into the game with a 6.10 ERA. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag]’s single in the second was the only Florida hit of the ballgame, and everyone but [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] looked uncomfortable at the plate.

Then, there’s the pitching problem. [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] had his breakout start against Arkansas back in April as Florida looked for its No. 3 starter. He earned that spot as a true freshman but is now relied on as the No. 2 behind [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag]with [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] out for the year. [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] has had ups and downs in the starting rotation, but he’s not the guy you want out there in a must-win game.

It’s a bad situation all around Florida, but the only way out is to play through it, so that is what they’ll have to do. Hopefully, Kevin O’Sullivan can come up with the pep talk of the century to draw the Gators out of their funk.

Florida baseball drops regular season finale vs South Carolina Gamecocks

Florida finishes the regular season 35-20 and 15-15 in SEC play after losing to South Carolina 4-1 on Saturday.

Florida baseball starter [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] tossed a strong 6 1/3 innings on Sunday in the Gators’ regular-season finale where he only allowed five hits and three earned runs while striking out six hitters. However, his lineup didn’t offer much support. They only tallied one run on three hits in a 4-1 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday at Condron Ballpark.

Pogue settled down after allowing three runs through the first innings. He allowed a home run to designated hitter Josiah Sightler in the first, a double and an RBI single in the second and then another Sightler solo shot in the third. He didn’t allow another hit afterward but was pulled by head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] with only one out recorded in the seventh after he hit a Gamecock batter with a pitch.

After the rain delay in the top of the seventh, reliever [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] entered the game and gave up another run to make it 4-1.

Florida’s lone run only came in the bottom of the second when right fielder [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] scored on a third baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] single. Second baseman [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] was the only other Gators batter to tally a base knock.

The rest of the team was a combined 0-19 to go along with five strikeouts. However, they earned nine walks with two of them coming from Evans and left fielder [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag].

South Carolina dodged the series sweep on Sunday after dropping the first two games. Florida finished the regular season 35-20 with a 15-15 record in SEC play.

The Gators’ next game will be in the SEC tournament that starts on Tuesday at Hoover, Alabama.

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Series Preview: Gators baseball closes out regular season against Gamecocks

One more weekend series to close out the year for the boys in Orange in Blue. South Carolina visits the swamp for the first time since 2019.

Florida baseball didn’t have the 2022 season it expected to with a decent amount of returning bats and a top-notch recruiting class to bolster the pitching staff. With three games left to play in the regular season, the Gators need to take two of three games against the South Carolina Gamecocks this weekend to finish 15-15 in conference play.

The pitching staff has taken a step forward recently, but that comes after team ace [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag]’s season ended early with Tommy John surgery. [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] have stepped up nicely, and it appears that [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] has recovered enough from his own Tommy John surgery to be considered the team’s No. 3 starter. [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] has received a bit of help in the bullpen with the emergence of [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] in recent weeks as well.

[autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] continues to be the team’s best bat with a .365 batting average and 19 home runs, and [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] is coming off a three-homer game against FSU where he also delivered a walk-off, two-run shot. [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] has also been clutch for the team, both at the plate and behind it. A betting man would put money down on Riopelle going in the top seven rounds of the draft this year.

On the other hand, [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] is in the slump of his life. He has just one hit in his last 30 at-bats and hasn’t put together a multi-hit game since May 3. A few weeks ago, it seemed like Fabian’s gamble to come back for one more year would pay off, but the decrease in strikeouts and increase in walks only goes so far when you’re batting .162 against the conference.

South Carolina isn’t the toughest team in the SEC to beat, so Fabian and Florida have a good chance at turning things around this weekend against them.