Brendan Lawson homers in the third (UAA Photo) On paper this was an almost comical mismatch. The Gators were sending Liam Peterson to the mound to wrap up a championship weekend at the NCAA Gainesville Regional against the Troy Trojans, a team barely above .500 for the season. To counter Peterson and his 100-mph fast ball, Troy went with Cooper Ellingworth, whose very average fast ball had plenty to do with a plus-six earned run average. What could be easier? A soon to be f

Karson Bowen celebrates his second homer of the game (UAA photo) The Miami Hurricanes lit up Florida pitchers for 16 hits that produced a most impressive 10 runs Saturday night at Condron Family Ballpark. Aidan King, the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year, was one of the Hurricanes’ victims. He was knocked out of the box without registering a single out in the fourth, finishing his stint on the mound giving up eight hits and six earned runs. It was that kind of night

Cade Kurland crosses home plate after his 8th-inning home run (UAA Photo) If given the opportunity, Kevin O’Sullivan would have scripted Florida’s first round NCAA win over Rider differently. There would have been no drama, just a rather ho-hum win that advanced the Gators into a Saturday winner’s bracket game. For seven innings, that’s what O’Sullivan got. Heading into the top of the eighth, the Gators were cruising along with a 4-0 lead. Then all hell broke loose but rath

When Greed Dims the North Star There’s a moment in every great institution’s history when the money gets loud enough to drown out the wisdom. When the smell of it curls around the room like cheap cigar smoke and suddenly the men in the expensive suits start looking at each other across the table with dollar signs where their eyes used to be. We have arrived at that moment in college football. The sport’s North Star — the one that has guided it through conference upheavals

Calvin and Hobbes A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: As the Southeastern Conference spring meetings wind to a close in Destin, this quote from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes does a dandy job of defining commissioner Greg Sankey’s attempt to inject a measure of common sense and practicality into the state of college sports in these troubled times: “That’s the problem I’m trying to fix, you moron! I can’t turn the water off because the faucet leaks! Shee

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: In an interview with the SEC Network prior to Florida’s semifinal game in Hoover back on Saturday, left fielder Blake Cyr had one of those unexpected tell it all moments in which he confessed that Kevin O’Sullivan had been the lifeline he needed to cope with the after effects of his father’s death. It was a side of Sully that few in the viewing public have ever seen. St. Sully the Compassionate. Whodathunkit? Okay, people w

Would Greg Sankey and the SEC be willing to go it alone? A few thoughts to jump start your Sunday morning: “Okay Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” – Astronaut Jack Swigert, command module pilot, Apollo 13 That was 1974, back when there was less computing power in all of the Johnson Space Center in Houston than you have in your typical laptop some 52 years later. Because smart people with common sense and problem-solving focus found solutions, all the astronauts from Apoll

Upon a return to work in a few days, we will announce plans for some of the most exciting things we’ve ever done in GatorBait and journalism. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitmedia.com To paraphrase and borrow from an old Mark Twain line, the rumors of my death were not all that exaggerated. In fact, the Grim Reaper recently had me in his grip and I barely managed to escape. I think I heard my maker say, “We can’t take him yet, he’s got a huge year ahead with historic seasons for the

(UAA Photo) A few thoughts to jump start your Saturday morning: The door has been left open for the Gators to earn a top eight seed for the NCAA Tournament. Projected the No. 9 national seed by both D1Baseball and Baseball America, the Gators got help Friday night from Auburn (38-18), which shut out Texas A&M on two hits, 7-0, in a quarterfinal game of the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama. The Aggies (39-14) are projected as the No. 8 seed, but the Gators (39-18) can take th

Gators celebrate Ethan Surowiec's 11th home run (UAA Photo) A few thoughts to jump start your Saturday morning: The beast within has been awakened. Just ask Vanderbilt and Alabama, who the Florida Gators have flattened in their two games at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Alabama. Vandy went down 8-3 on Wednesday. Thursday, the 5th-seeded Gators (39-18) run-ruled 4th-seeded Alabama (37-19), 13-3, and in doing so made a case for a top eight national seed when

Rueben Chinyelu is back along with Alex Condon and Tommy Haugh (Photo by Chris Spears) “We’re putting the band back together … we’re on a mission from God.” – Jake and Elwood Blues, from “The Blues Brothers” Todd Golden’s band is back together for one more mission, this one to win a second NCAA basketball championship in three years. Prior to Thursday, the only question mark was Rueben Chinyelu, but the big man who led the Southeastern Conference in rebounding last season,

Blake Cyr launches his 12th home run against Vandy (UAA Photo) A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: If what you’ve done lately matters to the NCAA baseball selection committee that will announce its 64-team field for the run to Omaha for the College World Series, then the Florida Gators are making a very strong case for a top eight seed. Winners of nine of their last ten games in which they’ve homered 29 times, Kevin O’Sullivan’s crew is scorching hot and has a