Florida Gator Baseball Continues Setting The Gator Standard
In D1Baseball’s annual ranking of the top programs in the nation, Florida landed as the No. 4 college baseball program.
By KYLE CURTIS
GatorBaitMedia.com
While Billy Napier and his squad have been dominating storylines in the Gators sports world, and rightfully so, baseball season is right around the corner.
In D1Baseball’s annual ranking of the top programs in the nation, Florida landed as the No. 4 college baseball program. This is Florida’s second-straight time being recognized by D1Baseball as a top-five program. Back in 2019, Florida was awarded the No. 1 overall ranking.
D1Baseball’s ultimate goal by these rankings is to determine what programs are in the best shape to not only succeed now but also within the next five to 10 years.
Success over the past decade and a half has been due to the efforts of head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who arrived in Gainesville in 2008 and has established himself as one of the premier head coaches in college baseball. Since his arrival, he has led the Gators to the NCAA Tournament every season for a program record of 14 consecutive appearances. During those 14 seasons, the Gators have the most top-eight national seeds (nine), Super Regionals hosted (eight) and College World Series appearances (seven).
O’Sullivan also brought Florida their lone baseball National Championship when he defeated LSU in 2017.
On top of the national championship, Florida has also dominated conference play under O’Sullivan’s regime. Over the last 15 seasons, Florida has an overall record of 627-302 (.675) including 257-162 in the Southeastern Conferences. In the most dominant conference in college baseball, the Gators have managed to gather five SEC championships during O’Sullivan’s era.
On top of team success, O’Sullivan has also proved that individual success can be gained while going through his program. Since 2008, Florida has placed the most players in the MLB with 33. Of those 33, 29 were coached by O’Sullivan.
Along with making it to The Show, the Gators have also done exceptionally well getting their players drafted. Under O’Sullivan, the Gators have an astounding 99 MLB Draft picks. Since 2008, Florida has had 11 first-round draft picks along with 20 pitchers being chosen in the first five rounds.
The Gator standard has been set at a high level with Kevin O’Sullivan at the reins.
The Florida baseball starts Oct. 9 with exhibition games against Georgia in Jacksonville and Stetson in Gainesville.
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