Gators eke out a 10-8 win over Florida Atlantic

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

Call Florida’s 10-8 win over Florida Atlantic Tuesday evening exactly what it was – a win by any means necessary. The Gators didn’t look remotely close to the team that should have but didn’t sweep Arkansas last weekend, but Florida is in such dire straits for wins that you take a win any way you can get it.

The pitching, which was so good against Arkansas, looked like it has in midweek games all season. With the exception of redshirt freshman Jake Clemente, who threw very well for 1-2/3 innings and was the only UF pitcher who was unscathed, the pitching was erratic at best. Starter Cade Fisher gave up two runs and three hits while walking two and hitting a batter in 1-1/3 innings. Ryan Slater, who got the win (4-2), was rocked for four hits and two runs in 2-2/3 innings. Frank Menendez was better than Fisher or Slater but the defense was weak behind him and he gave up two runs, only one of which was earned, and three hits. Fisher Jameson, brilliant in two relief efforts against Arkansas, gave up three hits and a run.

It got dicey in the top of the ninth when FAU closed to within two (10-8) of the Gators, but Jameson got a double play grounder to clear out the threat and win the game.

The Gators struck out eight FAU hitters, but they walked six and hit a batter. Do that against Tennessee in the weekend series that begins Thursday night and the Gators will get run out of the ball yard.

Now, Florida did hit the ball well enough to score 10 runs but the Owls didn’t exactly look like gold glovers out there. No glove could have caught the home runs by Cade Kurland (his ninth, solo shot in the third) or the one Ty Evans hit (11th, one on) in the fifth.

Evans had a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly. Luke Heyman had a single, a double and two RBI as did Brody Donay. Freshman Hayden Yost continued to make a pitch that he should be the regular left fielder. He had a single, a double, a walk, was hit by a pitch, stole a base and scored three times. He is 9-16 in Florida’s last five games and has scored seven times.

Jac Caglianone nearly gave everyone a thrill in the fifth when he hit a towering fly ball to right center that John Schroeder snagged as it was about to go over the fence. Caglianone did single in the first to extend his hitting streak to 23 games. He also walked and was hit by a pitch.

Exciting it wasn’t. Boring? A little bit, but the important thing was it was a win at a time when the Gators really can’t afford to lose. Florida is 23-21 heading into the series with Tennessee Thursday. To make the NCAA Tournament the Gators need to get to 14 wins in SEC play (Gators are currently 9-12)  and as close as possible to 30 wins in the regular season.

UF TRACK AND FIELD: UF men take over top spot in the nation

USTFCCCA men’s top 25: 1. FLORIDA; 2. Texas A&M; 3. LSU; 4. Alabama; 5. Arkansas; 6. Texas Tech; 7. Southern California; 8. Texas; 9. Virginia Tech; 10. Auburn; 11. Kentucky; 12. South Florida; 13. Tennessee; 14. North Carolina; 15. Mississippi State; 16. Oklahoma State; 17. Virginia; 18. Iowa State; 19. South Carolina; 20. Nebraska; 21. Georgia; 22. Northern Arizona; 23. Washington; 24. Miami; 25. BYU

USTFCCCA women’s top 25: 1. LSU; 2. Arkansas; 3. Oregon; 4. Texas A&M; 5. South Carolina; 6. Illinois; 7. FLORIDA; 8. Texas; 9. Georgia; 10. Tennessee; 11. Texas Tech; 12. Ole Miss; 13. Nebraska; 14. Notre Dame; 15. Alabama; 16. Florida State; 17. Oklahoma; 18. Southern California; 19. Harvard; 20. Minnesota; 21. Washington; 22. Houston; 23. Clemson; 24. California; 25. BYU

UF SOFTBALL:

The next four games, starting tonight with 14th-ranked Florida State (40-10) in Tallahassee (7 p.m., ACC Network) are critical for Tim Walton and the Gators. Now 9th in both the ESPN and USA Today polls and 16thin RPI, the Gators have a chance to earn a top eight national seed if they can finish strong. The Gators (39-12, 14-7 SEC) close out the regular season this weekend with 8th-ranked Texas A&M (39-9, 15-6 SEC). If Florida can win two out of three, it will give the Gators the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed at the SEC Tournament in Auburn next week. A 4-0 finish this week might be all it takes for Florida to be a top eight seed and hosting rights for both the Regional and Super Regional.

Walsh honored by SEC: Reagan Walsh went 6-12 last week including two home runs at Georgia to earn SEC Player of the Week honors. It is the first time in her Florida career that Walsh has won Player of the Week. Walsh is second in the SEC in hitting (.404), slugging percentage (.851) and home runs (16) and third in RBI (55).

ESPN/USA Softball top 25: 1. Texas 42-6; 2. Oklahoma 45-4; 3. Tennessee 37-9; 4. Oklahoma State 42-8; 5. Duke 44-6; 6. UCLA 30-10; 7. Stanford 39-11; 8. Texas A&M 39-9; 9. FLORIDA 39-12; 10. Washington 31-10; 11. Arkansas 34-13; 12. Georgia 37-13; 13. LSU 36-13; 14. Florida State 40-10; 15. Missouri 37-13; 16. Alabama 32-14; 17. Louisiana 38-15; 18. Virginia Tech 38-11-1; 19. Mississippi State 30-16; 20. Arizona 32-15; 21. Oregon 27-16; 22. Clemson 33-16; 23. Northwestern 31-9; 24. Kentucky 30-18; 25. Miami (OH) 40-7

USA Today/NFCA top 25: 1. Texas 42-6; 2. Oklahoma 45-4; 3. Tennessee 37-9; 4. Oklahoma State 42-8; 5. Duke 44-6; 6. UCLA 30-10; 7. Stanford 39-11; 8. Texas A&M 39-9; 9. FLORIDA 39-13; 10. Washington 31-10; 11. Arkansas 34-13; 12. Georgia 37-13; 13. LSU 36-13; 14. Florida State 40-10; 15. Missouri 37-13; 16. Alabama 32-14; 17. Louisiana 38-15; 18. Virginia Tech 38-11-1; 19. Mississippi State 30-16;  20. Arizona 32-15-1; 21. Oregon 27-16; 22. Clemson 33-16; 23. Northwestern 31-9; 24. Kentucky 30-18; 25. Miami (OH) 40-7

D1Softball top 25: 1. Texas 42-6; 2. Oklahoma 45-4; 3. Tennessee 37-9; 4. Oklahoma State 42-8; 5. Stanford 39-11; 6. UCLA 30-10; 7. Duke 44-6; 8. Arkansas 34-13; 9. Washington 31-10; 10. Texas A&M 39-9; 11. Florida State 40-10; 12. FLORIDA 39-12; 13. LSU 36-13; 14. Georgia 37-13; 15. Missouri 37-13; 16. Arizona 32-15-1; 17. Louisiana 38-15; 18. Virginia Tech 38-11-1; 19. Mississippi State 30-16; 20. Boston University 45-4-1; 21. Northwestern 31-9; 22. Alabama 32-14; 23. Oregon 27-16; 24. South Carolina 32-18; 25. California 33-15

Softball America top 25: 1. Texas 42-6; 2. Oklahoma 45-4; 3. Tennessee 37-9; 4. Texas A&M 39-9; 5. Oklahoma State 42-8; 6. Duke 44-6; 7. UCLA 30-10; 8. Arkansas 34-13; 9. Stanford 39-11; 10. Missouri 37-13; 11. Florida State 37-13; 12. FLORIDA 39-12; 13. Georgia 37-13; 14. Washington 31-10; 15. Louisiana 38-15; 16. LSU 36-13; 17. Texas State 39-13; 18. Virginia Tech 38-11-1; 19. Alabama 32-14; 21. Miami (OH) 40-7; 22. Arizona 32-15-1; 23. Mississippi State 30-17; 24. Boston University 45-4-1; 25. Michigan 37-14

UF LACROSSE: Gators face Vanderbilt in AAC semifinals

Having already won the American Athletic Conference regular season championship, the 9th-ranked Gators (15-2) will play 4th-seeded Vanderbilt in the AAC Tournament Thursday in Nashville.

IWLCA top 25 poll: 1. Northwestern 13-2; 2. Boston College 16-3; 2. Syracuse 14-5; 4. Notre Dame 15-3; 5. Michigan 14-3; 6. Virginia 14-4; 7. Loyola 15-2; 8. Yale 13-2; 9. FLORIDA 15-2; 10. Penn 12-3; 11. Maryland 12-5; 12. Johns Hopkins 11-6; 13. Denver 13-3; 14. Stony Brook 15-2; 15. Penn State 10-6; 16. Princeton 10-5; 17. North Carolina 10-6; 18. James Madison 12-4; 19. Stanford 11-4; 20. Navy 14-3; 21. Southern California 11-4; 22. Fairfield 15-1; 23. Harvard 10-4; 24. Colorado 11-5; 25. Rutgers 8-9

UF TENNIS: Gators start NCAA play this weekend

Florida’s path to the NCAA women’s tennis championship begins Saturday at the Ring Tennis Complex against Stetson (3 p.m.). Win and the Gators advance to the second round against the winner of Florida International and Miami on Sunday.

The Florida men (13-11) will open play in the NCAA Tournament Friday in Tallahassee against UCF. If the Gators win their opening match, they’ll face the winner of ACC champion Florida State and Atlantic Sun Conference champ North Florida in the second round.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Demarckus Bowman is in the transfer portal. Again. Nothing new there. The former 5-star running back from Lakeland began his career at Clemson, transferred to Florida and then on to UCF. He carried the football 10 times for 62 yards and a TD last season at UCF. His 3-year total is 175 rushing yards, an average of 5.3 yards per carry.

Bowman is a former 5-star running back, sort of a can’t miss type thought to be an answer to prayers at three different schools. That it hasn’t panned out, some say, is because he either can’t or won’t block, therefore he’s a liability in the passing game. Since he’s only caught two passes in his career – for seven yards – there is no question he’s going to run the football whenever he’s in the game.  

So here he is, transferring. Again. Trying to jump start a career that has yet to get off the ground and while he’s trying to get his mojo back he is a poster child for everything that’s wrong with the portal.

Players should be able to transfer but this current system isn’t working and everyone knows it. But what should be done? How can an untenable situation be reversed? We constantly hear critics of the system we have saying it’s impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube now that it’s out and it’s hard to argue that they’re wrong.

Something has to be done, though. Someone with common sense definitely needs to go full MacGyver and show what can be done with a stick, a ball of string and two bars of soap. There is a solution and really, it isn’t all that complicated.

A few simple rules could get the job done, but of course, it would require no fudging. To hell with all these amendments and waivers. Make a set of rules with one or two exceptions and make no exceptions to the exceptions.

Here are three suggestions:

1. No transferring until you’ve been on campus the fall of your freshman year and the following spring. The only exception is if the head coach – not the position coach – is fired or leaves on his own volition. We have kids who early enrolled leaving after one spring practice. There is something seriously wrong when that happens.

2. To transfer without having to sit a year, you have to leave the previous school with a 2.5 or higher grade point average in NON-REMEDIAL courses. If you’re taking remedial courses, then you have to sit a year. If your GPA falls even a fraction below a 2.5, then you have to sit a full year.

3. After transferring twice, every time you transfer you lose one year of eligibility. So if you’ve transferred twice and decide you need a new change of scenery or you’ve got this nifty NIL deal lined up, you lose one year when you transfer to your third team in three years.

Those three changes to the rules would not solve all the problems, but they would certainly solve a few of them. And, they’re not that outrageous. They’re common sense.