KYLE CURTIS: Home Sweet Home For NCAA Baseball

Kevin O’Sullivan’s 13th Seeded Team Made A Historic Run

BY KYLE CURTIS

GatorBaitMedia.com

After a heroic performance in Hoover as unsung heroes, from their bullpen to their bats, Florida’s Gators earned the #13 national seed along the honors of NCAA Regional hosting.

Amidst a roller coaster of a season, Kevin O’Sullivan and his squad put together a historic run to end the season and make it all the way to the SEC Championship. Their tournament run lifted the Gators to a regional hosting along with becoming one of the nine teams in the SEC selected to the tournament field.

BRANDON SPROAT: Friday’s starter (UAA photo)

Among the players to emerge in the season were now-ace starter Brandon Sproat and catcher Mac Gusette, who’s bat exploded when he was finally inserted into the lineup. Sproat will be on The Bump Friday vs The Chippewas.

Now that the Gators made it, they have to prove they deserve it. The Gainesville NCAA Regional which opened Thursday night consisted of Florida, Central Michigan, Liberty and Oklahoma.

Depending on weather, the Gators were scheduled to open up against Central Michigan Friday night.

Central Michigan Chippewas

Central Michigan, the Mid-American Conference champions, concluded its regular season -- a consecutive tournament appearance. After defeating Ball State 11-7 in the conference championship, the Chippewas boast a record of 42-17, which is the best record in region.

CMU is ranked fourth in double elimination regional play.

Central Michigan has a strong starting pitcher in Andrew Taylor. Taylor, a 6-foot-5 righty, was the National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and preseason first team All-American.

Florida all-time is 7-0 against Central Michigan.

Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma comes into Gainesville with a 37-20 record coming off of a Big 12 championship run where the Sooners defeated Texas 8-1. Oklahoma had a similar finish to the season as Florida, closing the season by winning 10 of the last 13.

Many across the nation felt that Oklahoma was robbed out of a regional host. The Sooners no doubt feel as if they have something to prove this weekend.

Peyton Graham leads the Sooners with 16 home runs along with .339 batting average.

The Sooners will start off their weekend against the Liberty Flames noon on Friday.

Liberty Flames

Liberty is no stranger to Gainesville. The Flames won the opening series at Condron Park back in February where they beat the Gators 2-1.

The Flames made the field as an at-large bid after they lost the MAC tournament championship to Kennesaw State.

Brady Gulakowski leads Liberty with 16 home runs on the year, while Joe Adametz III is the ace with a 6-3 record this season.

Liberty will look to make its mark on the weekend starting Friday at noon when it faces the red-hot Oklahoma Sooners.

The Gators will have their hands full if they want to move onto a super-regional field. A region full of hot bats, great pitching and streaks the weekend will be jam packed.