Tag: Pierce Coppola

Florida losing towering LHP for second-straight season

Florida won’t be getting left-handed pitcher Pierce Coppola back anytime soon, as the Gators provided an injury update Sunday that puts him out for the remainder of the season.

Some Gators fans spotted the 6-foot-8-inch left-hander in a brace on Sunday during the SEC Network’s broadcast of Florida’s 11-6 win over Georgia, but head coach Kevin O’Sullivan made things official and announced that redshirt freshman [autotag]Pierce Coppola[/autotag] will miss the rest of the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier in the week, according to Gators Online.

Coppola entered each of his first two seasons in Gainesville as the favorite to take over the Sunday starter spot, but injuries have continued to plague him and remove him from the conversation. Following just one start in 2022, Coppola ended his season early and underwent surgery for a bulging disc in his back. Now he’s out for all of 2023 and is hoping to play his first true season of college ball in 2024.

“Your heart goes out to him. It’s really disappointing,” Kevin O’Sullivan said. ” Nobody feels worse than he does. We all feel bad. The bottom line is we’re going to keep encouraging and we’re going to be there for him. We can’t wait until he gets back on the mound.”

The emergence of [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] as a viable starting option has made Coppola’s injuries easier for Florida to navigate, but having a player ranked No. 50 overall in 2021 by Perfect Game couldn’t hurt the team. In a perfect world, Coppola manned the Sunday spot in preparation for the ace role next year, with Caglianone finding his footing during the week.

O’Sullivan expressed hope for Coppola to be “100 percent” by SEC play, but it was apparent that he wouldn’t be ready by the time the Alabama series rolled around.

Assuming Coppola gets healthy for next year, he and Caglianone will be the top two guys in the rotation. [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] are first-round guys and won’t be returning, so the future is left-handed for the Gators on the mound.

It feels like the hope is to get either [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag] or [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]. ready for the Sunday spot, but transfers could come in and take that spot.

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Florida baseball still figuring out Sunday starter with Coppola out

Left-hander Pierce Coppola is going to need a bit longer to get back to 100%, so who does Florida turn to on Sundays in the meantime?

The 1-2 punch of [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] will lead Florida’s weekend rotation in 2023, but it’s going to take some time for the Gators to figure out who the third pitcher in the group will be with lefty sophomore [autotag]Pierce Coppola[/autotag] on the mend until conference play.

Gators head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] put the timeline for Coppola’s return out there on Monday during his first media availability of the preseason. Coppola, of course, started the 2022 season off as the Gators’ Sunday guy but had his season end after one start.

A bulging disc in his back that was already bothering him worsened quickly, and he had surgery on it. He’ll have to wait until the middle of March to get back out on the mound regularly, but Sully doesn’t seem to mind moving slowly on this one if it means keeping Coppola healthy.

“We’re just bringing Pierce along slowly,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, he didn’t play this summer. He pitched a very little bit this fall, so our goal with him is to get him to hopefully be at 100% by SEC play.”

In the meantime, O’Sullivan says the team has plenty of options to work with for the third starter spot. Guys like [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] are candidates to get a shot at the Sunday spot, and there’s plenty of competition on the mound.

“I think you’ll probably have to look at Jac (Caglianone),” he said. “You have to look at (Brandon) Neely. Neely had a good freshman year. You know, Slater. (Phillip) Abner’s been throwing the ball better. We’ve got a lot of options, but I think the biggest thing is the next week or so is important. We’ve got to figure out who’s going to be that Sunday starter.”

Caglianone is coming off of Tommy John surgery during his senior year of high school. He returned to action in the second half of last season but stayed in the designated hitter spot to protect his arm. Now that he’s throwing from the mound again (and topping out in the upper 90s), Florida hopes to use him as a starter regularly.

“It’s really hard to bring a guy in the middle of a game and long relief, and honestly, if we’re going to be as good as we want to be, (Caglianone)’s going to have to pitch significant innings for us,” he said. “He’s just too talented to not run him out there as much as you can.

“There will be some growing pains because it’s been since I think May of his senior year that he’s actually pitched in a real competitive game other than the two fall games we had. You don’t have many players that can hit the baseball over 100 mph and throw close to 100 on the mound. They just don’t come around very often.”

[autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] had a strong freshman year and is one of the other names O’Sullivan mentioned. He made 21 appearances, including 10 starts, in 2022, finishing the year with a 3.76 ERA  and 74 strikeouts and just 20 walks. He could emerge as a strong weekday starter, too.

[autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] could also get some looks on the mound after starting a game last year and making 26 total appearances for Florida. His 8.06 ERA left a lot to be desired and wasn’t making too many batter swing and miss, but he should take a step forward after a year in the league.

O’Sullivan obviously feels the pressure to figure out who his third starter is, but Florida can afford to give everyone a shot while Coppola is on the mend. They have an answer for the second half of the season, so it might be better to see what everyone’s got rather than establishing a starter and moving him out of that routine.

Florida’s first three-game series begins on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. EST against Charleston Southern.

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Gators get Brandon Sproat back after being drafted in 3rd round

Brandon Sproat is coming back to Condron Family Ballpark! The New York Mets failed to sign him by the deadline and the Gators get their ace for another year.

When Florida’s season came to an end in the regionals against Oklahoma, few took it harder than [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag]. Many assumed it would be the final time they’d see Sproat in a Gators uniform, but now he’s set to return for his junior year at Florida.

The New York Mets selected Sproat in the third round of the 2022 MLB draft with the 90th overall pick but the two sides could not come to terms on a deal, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. Sproat was drafted out of high school in the seventh round and was also the highest unsigned pick in the 2019 draft.

Aside from wanting to prove himself in a Gators uniform, the money really didn’t work out for Sproat. The Mets could spend just under $900,000 to sign Sproat without giving up a first-round pick in next year’s draft, and many peg the hard-throwing righty as a potential first-round talent if he can find a little more consistency.

For comparison, [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag], who was selected in the second round at No. 44 overall, signed an under-slot deal for $1.53 million with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Barco was also considered a first-round talent before his Tommy John surgery, so Sproat’s floor (barring some massive regression) looks to be around what Barco got while on the mend.

The Gators added Southern Miss starter [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] through the transfer portal over the offseason, so he and Sproat can fight it out for the Friday night slot as UF’s top two arms. [autotag]Pierce Coppola[/autotag], whose season ended early with a back injury, should be the No. 3 guy and there are plenty of arms to test out during the week.

Sproat’s return also gives the Gators a trio of players that could go in the first tow round of next year’s draft. Along with Sproat and Waldrep, Florida has outfielder [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag], who is considered one of the top college prospects in the class.

It’s still half a year away, but Florida baseball in 2023 has a chance to be something special, especially with the team ace back in tow.

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Florida baseball adds key arm through transfer portal

Billy Napier’s group wasn’t the only team at UF making noise in the transfer portal on Thursday.

There’s a good chance Florida baseball loses both [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] to the MLB draft in the next 10 days, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag]’s latest move might make that blow hurt less than expected. [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag], Southern Mississippi’s Sunday starter for most of 2022 who entered the transfer portal after a breakout season, committed to the orange and blue on Thursday, according to Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.

Waldrep was a key member of one of the nation’s top pitching staffs last year. The Golden Eagles finished second among all Division I programs in earned run average (3.29), strikeouts per nine innings (11.3) and strikeout to walk ratio (4.22). Waldrep ended his sophomore campaign with an ERA of 3.20, 140 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.16 over 90 innings of work in 17 starts.

Although he played in Conference USA, Waldrep’s final two games came against SEC opponents. He racked up double-digit strikeouts in both NCAA Tournament outings — 11 against LSU in the regional round and 12 against Ole Miss in the super regionals. He’s also teammates with [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] on the USA collegiate national team.

A rising junior, Waldrep has a chance to be the Friday night starter at Florida if Barco and Sproat do end up leaving. Assuming those in the transfer portal end up leaving, [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag], [autotag]Pierce Coppola[/autotag] and [autotag]Carsten Finnvold[/autotag] are the expected returning starters. Waldrep likely starts the season ahead of all of those names and Barco won’t be ready for opening day anyway if he does return.

This is Sully’s third pick-up through the transfer portal after adding Coastal Carolina infielder [autotag]Dale Thomas[/autotag] and Mercer outfielder [autotag]Colby Thomas[/autotag]. The Gators will likely add another name or two through the portal when all is said and done. Follow all of Florida’s transfer portal actions with our tracker for more on those two.

Waldrep features a fastball, curveball and changeup. The fastball tops out around 95-96 mph with reports of it touching 98 mph, but he sat around 92-93 mph with Team USA a week ago.

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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.

Florida baseball loses to drop season-opening series to Liberty

It wasn’t how we wanted the season to start.

Florida freshman pitcher Pierce Coppola dealt in his first start, striking out seven only allowing five hits and two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. But the Gators bullpen overshadowed his debut. They coughed up three runs in relief, leading to a stunning opening-series loss as No. 9 Florida lost 5-3 on Sunday in Gainesville.

Coppola’s nerves were evident as he allowed two singles to ignite the game. But he kept any Flames from tagging home plate. He cruised through the next few until the fifth inning when coach Kevin O’Sullivan pulled him after he gave up a Liberty two-run home run.

Freshman Phillip Abner replaced Coppola giving up one run in the fifth and another in the sixth, lasting only 2/3 of an inning. Then graduate Garrett Milchin took the rubber in the seventh and surrendered a solo shot and two other hits during his only inning.

The Gators’ bats heated up in the fourth inning after only one hit through the first three. Shortstop Josh Rivera knocked in Wyatt Langford who reached via a hit by pitch. Then catcher BT Riopelle blasted a two-run shot to right field to grab the lead 3-0.

However, Liberty quickly answered with a two-run shot and an RBI double. The Flames grabbed the lead and piled on an insurance run in the following innings leaving Florida just nine outs to even the score.

The Gators’ best chance arrived when they were down to their final out. Third baseman Deric Fabian earned the full-count walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but second baseman Colby Halter struck out to end the game, giving Liberty the 5-3 victory in the rubber match to take the season-opening series.

It’s the second straight season Florida dropped the first series of the season. Miami took two out of three games in 2021 at Florida Ballpark. Before that, the Gators secured every season-opening series dating back to 2007 when they fell against Virginia Military Institute.

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