UF Baseball: One win down, six games remaining

Jac Caglianone awaits a pickoff throw at first base vs. USF (UAA Photo)

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: 

There was good news on several fronts Tuesday night at Condron Family Ballpark. First and foremost, the Florida Gators (25-23) got a much needed win in their final non-conference game of the regular season, 4-1, over South Florida. Second, six Florida pitchers scattered five hits, walked only three batters and struck out seven in one of the best outings of the season. Third, Jac Caglianone extended his hitting streak to 27 games in the first inning when he went opposite field for his 27th home run of the season, also extending his on-base streak to 33 straight games.

Nothing was more critical than getting the win. With only six games remaining in the regular season and Florida very much a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament field, the Gators need four SEC wins in their final two series to have any level of comfort. At 10-14 in SEC play, it’s possible for the Gators to break even, but a 5-1 finish that would get the Gators to 15-15 against the likes of 4th-ranked Kentucky and 15th-ranked Georgia is a rather tall task.

With Kentucky coming to Gainesville in what amounts to an all hands on deck weekend starting on Friday, Kevin O’Sullivan needed to get a good pitching performance without over-extending anyone. Freshman Liam Peterson gave up two hits and a walk in the first inning, but he induced a pair of ground outs to end the inning, leaving the bases full.

Cade Fisher went the next 2-2/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit and hitting one batter while striking out one. Fisher Jameson gave up a solo home run in the sixth during his two innings of work. He allowed two hits, walked a batter and struck out two. Luke McNeillie went 1-1/3 innings, giving up one hit and a walk while striking out three. He was followed by Jake Clemente who set down all three hitters he faced. Brandon Neely came on to close things out in the ninth, setting down all three hitters he faced to earn a save.

"It makes it a heck of a lot easier to manage your bullpen when you've got your main arms, right?” O’Sullivan said. “I think this is kind of what we envisioned it to look like. It didn't work out with Cade as our Friday night starter, then we made some drastic changes and then tried to use Brandon [Neely] there as a starter and there were some really good moments and there were some moments that weren't so good. So, now we're back to the drawing board again. That's not from a lack of trying to push each button; all we're trying to do right now is put everybody in a position to be successful. But when we go into a game and you can go to Fisher Jameson and you can go to McNeillie and you have Neely on the back end and Cade Fisher comes in with those 2-2/3. He’s been working hard on his delivery and he's standing taller on his back side and I thought he had more angle to his stuff instead of east and west. I thought he had more tilt to his slider tonight. It's certainly a step in the right direction and hopefully he can continue doing this into the weekend."

Caglianone took a 2-1 pitch 351 feet to left field to give the Gators a 1-0 first inning lead. A double by Brody Donay, a bunt single by Tyler Shelnut and a double play grounder scored one in the second as UF extended the lead to 2-0. Singles by Caglianone and Ty Evans and a throwing error gave the Gators a 3-0 lead in the third.

South Florida cut the margin to 3-1 in the fifth, but the Gators added insurance in the bottom of the eighth on a double down the right field line by Shelton and two outs later a double into the gap in right center by Tyler Shelnut.

UF TRACK AND FIELD: Gators will be a force at SEC Championships

If there is such a thing as home track advantage, then this could be a weekend to remember for both the Florida men’s and women’s track and field teams. When the SEC Championships begin at the Percy Beard Track on Thursday, the Florida men hold down the No. 1 national ranking while the women are No. 7. During the indoor season, both the UF men and women finished second. At the NCAA indoor championships, the Gators finished a strong second in the women’s competition while the men finished third.

Florida coach Mike Holloway has led the Gators to seven SEC men’s championships and six women’s. Overall, in 20 years as the head coach of the Gators, Holloway has won 13 national championships, 11 with the men and two with the women.

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

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

UF SOFTBALL: Can Florida’s offense dominate at the tournament?

When it comes to doing damage with the bats, there isn’t a team in the Southeastern Conference that can touch Tim Walton and Florida (43-12), ranked ninth nationally and with the No. 10 RPI. The Gators lead the SEC in every positive statistical category offensively except for hit by pitch (Missouri leads but Florida is second) and sacrifice bunts (Ole Miss leads, Florida rarely gives up an out).

As a team, the Gators are hitting .344 with a .601 slugging percentage and .454 on-base percentage. The Gators lead the league in runs (442), hits (491), RBI (415), doubles (99), triples (17), home runs (78), walks (248), sacrifice flies (28) and stolen bases (99, caught stealing only 7 times). Five of the top six hitters in the SEC are Gators: 1. Korbe Otis (.455); 2. Kendra Falby (.407), 3. Jocelyn Erickson (.399); 4. Reagan Walsh (.395) and 6. Skylar Wallace (.377).

The Gators are so good at the plate that it has made up for the sometimes inconsistencies of freshman pitchers Keagan Rothrock (23-6, 2.51 ERA) and Ava Brown (15-5, 3.49 ERA). When the freshmen are hitting their spots, they can dominate in the circle, but when they struggle Walton has a team capable of scoring at least one more run than the opponent.

The Gators are mortal locks to host an NCAA regional and they’re in good shape to finish with a top eight national seed which would allow them to host a super regional as well. A couple of wins at the SEC Tournament in Auburn could assure the Gators of that top eight seed. What can make the difference is if Florida’s bats dominate in Auburn.

The Gators don’t play at the SEC Tournament until Thursday when they face the winner of the Wednesday game between Auburn and Georgia.

SEC Tournament

Tuesday’s game: No. 13 Ole Miss (31-24) 7, No. 12 Kentucky (30-22) 2

Wednesday’s games: No. 9 Alabama (33-16) vs. No. 8 LSU (38-14); No. 13 Ole Miss (31-24) vs. No. 5 Missouri (40-14); No. 10 Auburn (27-18-1) vs. No. 7 Georgia (38-15); No. 11 South Carolina (33-21) vs. No. 6 Mississippi State (33-17)

UF WOMEN’S GOLF: Gators fifth after two rounds at regional

The Gators find themselves in fifth place after two rounds of the NCAA East Lansing Regional at even par. The critical numbers for the Gators are six and three. Florida is a mere six shots behind first place Southern California and three ahead of sixth place Denver. The Gators are playing well enough to make up six shots and they need to maintain a cushion that will keep them in fifth since the top five teams from the regional will advance to the NCAA championship tournament.

Leading the Gators Tuesday was Ines Archer, who shot a 2-under par 70 to move up seven spots into a fifth place tie. Maisie Filler shot a 1-over 73. She is even par and tied for 15th place.

Top ten team leaderboard: 1. Southern California -6; 2. Northwestern -4; 3. Pepperdine -3; 4. Michigan State -1; 5. FLORIDA E; 6. Denver +3; 7. (TIE) Kentucky and Oklahoma State +4; 9. Augusta +15; 10. Indiana +19

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Did you ever think you would see a day when college football players would have their own unions, their own players association and a collective bargaining agreement? Well, you haven’t seen it yet but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t moving in that direction, maybe faster than anyone expects.

The National Labor Relations Board okayed a union at Dartmouth. Northwestern had that idea first and it was shot down. Figure Northwestern is either unionized or in the process of a players union since the NLRB Dartmouth decision. At UAB, there is now a players association. Don’t think for a second it will be the only one out there by summer’s end.

There are anti-trust lawsuits out the wazzoo against the NCAA, which, by conservative estimates, will be forced to pay out nearly $3 billion once it loses in court. You know the NCAA will lose the court cases. They always lose. A Shetland pony has a better chance of winning the Belmont Stakes than the NCAA has of heading these anti-trust lawsuits off at the pass.

There will be offers of revenue sharing that will be triumphed as a solution, but who are we fooling? Do you think for one second the lawyers who are bringing these lawsuits are going to stop at simply getting a share of the billions of television dollars generated by college athletics?

There is a certain dismay among the college sports fan base that has grown accustomed to the NCAA version of the amateur model. It worked for more than 100 years and would have worked a while longer if only the NCAA had listened when athletes begged for medical care that extended beyond their playing days and the ability to complete their education once their eligibility expired. Rather than listen and see the players’ points of view, the NCAA fought at every step and lost. Every single time. The requests were not unreasonable. The only one unreasonable was the NCAA with its bulging, blundering bureaucracy and inept leadership headed by the likes of Mark Emmert.

So now we’re on a path that can only lead to athletes as employees and collective bargaining agreements. We are also on a path that could lead to athletes going on strike. Imagine an entire season cancelled because the athletes went on strike and couldn’t reach a negotiated settlement with their school, their league, their conference or whoever succeeds the NCAA.

The NCAA has been on life support for years. Hospice should be called in and the machines keeping the organization breathing need to be pulled. The revenue sharing agreements that are forthcoming are nothing more than stalling tactics designed to appease the players while a new organization can be cobbled together to replace the NCAA once and for all.

In the end, some schools will throw up their hands and put an end to their athletic programs rather than deal with players and their unions. Others will choose to continue sponsoring high profile sports while going with a non-scholarship model for the non-revenue programs.

There will be fewer athletes, fewer sports and fewer schools sponsoring teams. That is inevitable. One day bright people who investigate such things will conclude it didn’t have to be this way and they’ll be right, but the investigations won’t happen until sports as we know them have radically changed forever.