Gators send the Tide down the drain after a three-hour rain delay.

Jac Caglianone's 30th home run in the ninth inning was the only bright spot for the Gators against Oklahoma State (UAA photo) Only a leadoff home run to dead center field by Jac Caglianone in the top of the ninth inning kept a bad day in the state of Oklahoma for the Florida Gators being even worse. Without Caglianone’s 30th homer of the season, that left the yard right over the 402-foot marker,  both the Florida softball and baseball teams would have gone down on 1-hit shutouts. Caglianone’s homer was the second hit but it hardly put a dent in the outcome as Oklahoma State (42-17) pounded UF, 7-1, sending the Gators (29-28) to a Sunday elimination game in the Stillwater Regional. Over in Oklahoma City in a winner’s bracket game at the Women’s College World Series, No. 1 Texas (54-8) run-ruled the Gators (52-14), 10-0, a no-hitter avoided by Katie Kistler’s seventh inning single. The Gators can stave off elimination today when they face Alabama (39-19) at 3 p.m. The loser goes home while the winner is assured of no worse than a 4th-place finish at the WCWS. Caglianone, who got the start for UF,  looked good the first two batters he faced Saturday, then the bottom fell out. He gave up back-to-back home runs by Nolan Schubart and Zach Erhard. It would have been three straight out of the yard except a fan interfered so Aidan Meola had to settle for a double. In the third, Carson Bengue and Schubart went back-to-back again, this time to lead off the inning to give the Cowboys a 4-0 lead. The way Oklahoma State’s Brian Holiday (7-3) was throwing (2 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts), the game was essentially all over. Holiday gave up a 2-out second inning double to Tyler Shelnut then didn’t allow another hit until Caglianone led off the ninth. Caglianone pitched five innings, giving up seven hits, walking two and striking out eight in what will be his final Florida start unless the Gators beat Nebraska (40-21) at 2 p.m. today, then beat Oklahoma State twice to advance past the regional. With his home run, Caglianone became the only hitter in college baseball history with consecutive 30-homer seasons. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, Keagan Rothrock (31-8) just didn’t have the same magic she had Thursday night against Oklahoma State. Texas had a 2-0 lead and two on with one out in the bottom of the first when Tim Walton made a pitching change. Ava Brown worked a 2-2 count to Alyssa Washington before leaving a pitch up in the zone that Washington sent out of the yard in the left center alley. Down 5-0 wasn’t insurmountable, but every time the Gators hit the ball hard off Texas starter Mac Morgan (16-1) it was either right at someone or the Longhorns came up with a brilliant defensive play. Leading off the second for the Gators, Jocelyn Erickson torched a drop ball on a hard line to right field that had extra bases written all over it, but Ashton Maloney laid out and snagged the ball just a couple inches off the grass. Brown held the Longhorns in check in the second and third, but the bottom fell out in the bottom of the fourth when she gave up a solo homer to Mia Scott and a 3-run blast by Katie Stewart. The Longhorns added one more run to make it 10-0 off reliever Mackenzie Wooten. Kistler, who broke up Lexi Kilfoyl’s no-hitter with a home run to lead off the fifth inning against Oklahoma State Thursday night, led off the Florida half of the fifth with a hard shot that completely handcuffed Washington at second base. That was the only hit for the Gators and just their third hit in two games in Oklahoma City. For a team that led the SEC in nearly every offensive statistical category, the two games in Oklahoma City can only be labeled a disappointment. For the Gators to survive past their Sunday elimination game, the bats have to wake up. Expect Walton to go with Rothrock once again. A week ago, Walton pulled Rothrock in the first inning when she struggled. She came back against Baylor on Sunday to pitch one of the best games of her freshman season. Can she come back today against Alabama? Back on March 9, Rothrock pitched a 1-hitter as the Gators took a 2-0 decision. The next day with Brown in the circle, the Gators got a run-rule win over the Crimson Tide. Alabama did win the third game of the series. The Florida-Alabama all-SEC affair begins at 3 p.m. Saturday’s SEC softball scores No. 2 Oklahoma (56-6) 1, No. 6 UCLA (43-11) 0 No. 1 Texas (54-8) 10, No. 4 FLORIDA (52-14) 0 Sunday’s games No. 4 FLORIDA (52-14) vs. No. 14 Alabama (39-19), 3 p.m. (ABC) No. 6 UCLA (43-11) vs. No. 8 Stanford (49-16), 7 p.m., ESPN Saturday’s SEC baseball scores Stillwater: No. 11 Oklahoma State (42-17) 7, FLORIDA (29-28) 1 Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (52-11) 12, Indiana (33-25-1) 6 Lexington: No. 2 Kentucky (42-14) 6, Illinois (35-20) 1 College Station: No. 3 Texas A&M (46-13) 4, Texas (36-23) 2 Chapel Hill: No. 4 North Carolina (44-13) 6, LSU (41-22) 2 Fayetteville: Kansas State (35-24) 7, No. 5 Arkansas (44-15) 6 Clemson: High Point (35-26) 10, Vanderbilt (38-23) 9; Vanderbilt eliminated Athens: Georgia (41-15) 11, UNC-Wilmington (40-20) 2 Tallahassee: Stetson (41-21) 4, Alabama (34-24) 0; Alabama eliminated Raleigh: No. 10 North Carolina State (35-20) 6, South Carolina (37-24) 4 Charlottesville: No. 12 Virginia (43-15) 5, Mississippi State (39-22) 4 Sunday’s SEC games Stillwater: FLORIDA (29-28) vs. Nebraska (40-21); elimination game Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (52-11) vs. Indiana (33-25-1)/Southern Miss (42-19) winner Lexington: No. 2 Kentucky (42-14) vs. Indiana State (43-14)/Illinois (35-20) winner College Station: Louisiana (41-1) vs. Texas (36-23); elimination game Chapel Hill: LSU (41-22) vs. Wofford (42-19); elimination game Fayetteville: No. 5 Arkansas (44-15) vs. SE Missouri State (35-26); elimination game Athens: No. 7 Georgia (41-15) vs. UNC-Wilmington (40-20)/Georgia Tech (32-24) winner Raleigh: South Carolina (37-24) vs. James Madison (35-24); elimination game Charlottesville: Mississippi State (39-22) vs. St. John’s (38-17-1); elimination game

The fact that he has been on Billy Napier's radar for the last year highlights the significance of Florida Gators' latest quarterback commitment. On Saturday, the Gators secured an in-state prospect for the class of 2026.

Ashton Wilson sprints to first after hitting a 9th inning homer to seal Florida's 5-2 win over Nebraska (UAA Photo) “There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.” – Ty Webb speaking to Danny Noonan in “Caddyshack” Perhaps it was Ashton Wilson’s turn to see the ball and be the ball. Florida’s right fielder by default – Ty Evans and Hayden Yost are injured – capped off a perfectly fine day at the ball yard in Stillwater, Oklahoma Friday afternoon by doing what every kid who has spent an entire season languishing on the bench dreams of doing. He launched a home run to left field. Not just any home run, mind you, but the kind that tells your coach “maybe I could have been doing this all season if you had just put me in the lineup.” Wilson’s home run, his fourth hit of the day and the first one that wasn’t a double, didn’t just clear the left field fence but it hit the scoreboard that is perched on top of a building located behind the left field bullpen. As if a reminder that this was his day to be the Florida version of the greatest American hero, the ball caromed off his larger than life image. Prior to Friday afternoon, Wilson, an Orlando kid who transferred to UF after spending his freshman season at Charleston Southern, was 6-for-26. For the entire season. Wilson got his first start of the season in the first game of the Georgia season. Five games as a starter and he’s 8-23 with the homer, three doubles, three RBI and the steal of third he made look easy in the second inning against Nebraska Friday. "Stories like Ashton's, at this time of the year, you need surprise stories to make a run," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Obviously, what a story it is for Ashton, the day he had at the plate was incredible." Ashton Wilson wasn’t the only Florida hero in this 5-2 win over Big Ten champion Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Stillwater Regional, but he was the one who kept re-charging the offense. The Gators (29-27) pounded out 14 hits, 10 in five innings against Nebraska ace Brett Sears (9-1), who hadn’t allowed more than nine in a game all season long. The Gators applied the pressure starting with leadoff hitter Cade Kurland, who homered in the left center gap on an 0-2 pitch to start the game. They picked up two more in the third when Ashton hit his second double of the game to drive in Jac Caglianone, who led off the inning with a double, and Tyler Shelnut, who got a single on a hard smash that third baseman Joshua Overbeek couldn’t handle. In the eighth, the Gators extended the lead to 4-2 when Kurland picked up his second RBI of the game on a single to right field. Dale Thomas led off the inning with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a hit and run groundout by Michael Robertson. Of course, in the ninth, Wilson provided the insurance the Gators needed to advance to a second round matchup with host Oklahoma State (41-17), a 19-7 winner over Niagara (38-16). The Gators and Oklahoma State will square off in a winner’s bracket game at 7 p.m. Nebraska and Niagara will play an elimination game at 2 p.m. While the Gators certainly needed to score more runs – the Gators did leave 12 men on base -- but they never trailed and kept the pressure on the Cornhuskers the entire game. When the Gators weren’t wearing out the baseball at the plate, they were getting one of their best pitched games of the season – 5-1/3 innings from freshman Liam Peterson, who gave up four hits, walked three, struck out seven and got the win (3-4); 1-1/3 innings from Fisher Jameson, who allowed one hit while striking out one; and a 2-1/3 inning save from Brandon Neely, who pitched his way out of a three on, one out situation in the eighth that had the ESPN crew drooling over the possibility the Cornhuskers would take the lead. Peterson was outstanding. He struggled a bit in the first when he issued a 2-out walk and a double, but he got out of the inning with a strikeout. It was smooth sailing in innings two through five when he gave up only one hit and a pair of walks. He was almost at his pitch limit when Gabe Swanson hit a monstrous home run with one out in the sixth, so Kevin O’Sullivan pulled him in favor of Jameson. Jameson got a strikeout, gave up a single and got out of the inning unscathed when Luke Heyman gunned down Dylan Carey trying to steal at second. Neely gave up two 1-out singles and a walk to load the bases in the eighth, but he got Tyler Stone on a line drive to Robertson in center field and then mowed down Carey on three pitches. In the ninth, Neely gave up a 1-out single but the game ended on a 6-4-3 double play grounder, Colby Shelton to Kurland to Caglianone. SEC Friday results Stillwater: FLORIDA (29-27) 5, Nebraska (39-21) 2 Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (51-11) 9, Northern Kentucky (35-23) 3 Lexington: No. 2 Kentucky (41-14) 10, Western Michigan (32-22) 8 College Station: No. 3 Texas A&M (45-13) 8, Grambling (26-27) 0 Chapel Hill: LSU (41-21) 4, Wofford (41-19) 3 Fayetteville: No. 5 Arkansas (44-14) 17, SE Missouri State (34-26) 9 Clemson: Coastal Carolina (35-23) 13, Vanderbilt (38-22) 3 Athens: No. 7 Georgia (40-15) 8, Army (31-22) 7 Tallahassee: UCF (36-19) 8, Alabama (33-22) 7 Raleigh: South Carolina (37-23) 8, James Madison (34-24) 7, 10 innings Charlottesville: Mississippi State (39-21) 5, St. John’s (37-17-1) 2, 10 innings SEC Saturday games: Stillwater: FLORIDA (29-27) vs. No. 11 Oklahoma State (41-17) Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (51-11) vs. Indiana (33-24-1) Lexington: No. 2 Kentucky (41-14) vs. Illinois (35-19) College Station: No. 3 Texas A&M (45-13) vs. Texas (36-22) Chapel Hill: LSU (41-21) vs. No. 4 North Carolina (43-13) Fayetteville:No. 5 Arkansas (44-14) vs. Kansas State (33-24) Clemson: Vanderbilt (38-22) vs. High Point (34-26), Elimination game Athens: No. 7 Georgia (40-15) vs. UNC-Wilmington (40-19) Tallahassee: Alabama (33-22) vs. Stetson (40-21), Elimination game Raleigh: South Carolina (37-23) vs. No. 10 North Carolina State (33-20) Charlottesville: Mississippi State (39-21) vs. No. 12 Virginia (42-15)

Skylar Wallace sets the example that every Florida teammate follows (Gator Bait photo by Chris Spears) There are two ways to look at tonight’s winner’s brackets matchup between the Florida Gators (53-12) and the top-ranked Texas Longhorns (53-8) at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Texas and 2nd-ranked Oklahoma (55-6), which also has a winner’s bracket game tonight, are just a month away from officially joining the Southeastern Conference, so the WCWS could easily be billed as a preview of the future of college softball. The SEC will be the nation’s dominant conference and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma are the teams that are poised to dominate the sport moving forward. Tonight’s game with Texas could also be viewed as the next mountain the Gators must climb in their quest to becoming the unofficial champions of the Big 12 Conference. Only a week ago, the Gators finished off Baylor for the Gainesville Super Regional championship. Thursday night in Oklahoma City No. 5 Oklahoma State became the second straight Big 12 team to do down to Florida, 1-0, on a Katie Kistler home run and Keagan Rothrock’s 2-hitter. So tonight it’s Texas, which supplanted Oklahoma as the Big 12 champion and the No. 1 team in the nation in the regular season. Should the Gators prevail tonight, there is a very good chance they’ll see Texas again since it’s double elimination. Win the bracket and the next obstacle, most likely, is Oklahoma, which has won the last three NCAA championships and whose senior class has always finished the season in an Oklahoma City dogpile. While most of the experts were predicting a Texas-Oklahoma final for the NCAA title, Florida has thrown a wrench into that way of thinking since UF beat a very good Oklahoma State team in front of a crowd that was more than 10-to-1 Oklahoma State fans. Texas and Oklahoma, although not in that order, were supposed to be here in Oklahoma City. Florida was not, especially after the meltdown against Florida State just a day before the Gators departed for a critical SEC series with Georgia. Since that loss to FSU, the Gators are 15-2 with one of the wins a revenge is sweet 15-13 payback against FSU in Tallahassee. It is more than just the recent hot streak, though. As Tim Walton has pointed out on more than one occasion, how could you have ever predicted a team that didn’t return anyone who had pitched to even one hitter in 2023 would be in Oklahoma City. Not only that, who could predict a team whose top two pitchers are freshmen or that a team starting four freshmen, two sophomores and only three starters from the year before would not only be at the WCWS, but in the winner’s bracket after the first night? You can’t. And that’s exactly why you’d be foolish to bet against the Gators tonight or any night in college softball’s crowning event. The term team of destiny is one of the most overused cliches in sports. Name the sport and some team that gets hot about playoff time is dubbed a team of destiny. It’s very tough to use that term when it comes to this Florida team largely because their run to get here has more to do with hard work and determination than anything else. Tim Walton doesn’t have to nudge the Gators or threaten them with a fate worse than death to get them cranked up and ready to put in the work. Are some days better than others? Of course, but this is a team that follows its leader and nobody but nobody outworks Skylar Wallace. She is the best player in all of college softball. Period. End of story. The numbers bear it out. She’s hitting .417 despite a 7-47 month of May. No one but the best player in the country could have dropped down to .368 and then raised her average by 49 points in a month. She leads the nation in runs scored (87) and is the NCAA record holder. She is 4th nationally in on base percentage (.564), 5th in stolen bases (37), tied for 7th in RBI (67), 10th in walks, 12th in total bases (143), 21st in doubles (18), 23rd in hits (75), 24th in slugging percentage (.794) and 31st in batting average. She is regarded as one of the top five fielders at shortstop as well. Everything Wallace does is the result of her work ethic. A couple of weeks ago at the Gainesville Regional, her dad, Lynn Wallace told me that Skylar decided when she was 10 years old that she really wanted to be a softball player. He asked her if she wanted to be good or if she wanted to be great? Then he told her if she wanted him to coach her, she had to decide to be great. A decision was made and 24 years later she is not only the best player in college softball, but the best teammate who sets the example for the rest of the team with her work ethic. Walton says that with Wallace it’s all about winning. “Not just winning softball games,” Walton said. “Winning at everything. Winning in the weight room. Winning on getting to the field [on time]. Don’t show up five minutes before.” Just getting to Oklahoma City is an accomplishment but Skylar Wallace wants more. Because her Florida softball career will come to an end at the Women’s College World Series, she doesn’t want to leave without bringing home the big trophy. Florida won the NCAA title in 2014 behind the pitching of Hannah Rogers. The Gators repeated in 2015 behind the pitching and hitting of Lauren Haeger. For the Gators to make it three national titles, the driving force will be Wallace. There is no way the Gators would have made it to Oklahoma City if she hadn’t gone on such a tear in May. It's June now, a good month to not only win an NCAA title but also take home the unofficial championship of the Big 12 Conference at the expense of Texas and Oklahoma, which will be joining the SEC in a month. Friday’s games No. 14 Alabama (39-19) 2, No. 10 Duke (52-9) 1; Duke eliminated No. 8 Stanford (49-16) 8, No. 5 Oklahoma State (49-12) 0; Oklahoma State eliminated Saturday’s games No. 6 UCLA (43-10) vs. No. 2 Oklahoma (55-6), 3 p.m. No. 4 FLORIDA (52-13) vs. No. 1 Texas (53-8), 7 p.m.

Keagan Rothrock was all but unhittable Thursday night in Florida's Women's College World Series game wtih Oklahoma State Any nerves Keagan Rothrock might have had Thursday must have been left behind at the Florida team hotel. On the biggest stage in all of collegiate softball Rothrock pitched like a been there, done that veteran when she held Oklahoma State’s powerhouse offense to two hits. Rothrock walked two in the first inning and gave up a single in the second. That was it for the Cowgirls until a 2-out single in the sixth. Otherwise, Rothrock was nails. Over in the other circle, Lexi Kilfoyl pitched like the All-American veteran she is. She didn’t give up a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning but that one left the yard. Katie Kistler, who had two of Florida’s three hits off Kilfoyl when Oklahoma State beat the Gators 3-0 in Gainesville back in February, fouled off a potential strike three on a 3-2 count, then got a pitch she liked. Kistler knew a drop ball was coming, had a pretty good idea about the location and barreled it up. From the moment bat struck softball, this was a no-doubter. Kistler knew it was gone before she was more than a couple of strides out of the batter’s box. The mostly Oklahoma State fan block among the 12,556 at Devon Park knew it too and they were stunned. Kistler’s fifth home run of the season was the only run Rothrock and the Gators (52-13) needed for a 1-0 win on opening night of the Women’s College World Series. “All I felt was just straight joy looking at my teammates, everybody jumping up and down,” Kistler said. “I was happy to do it for my team and Keagan, as well, pitching her butt off that game.” Rothrock (31-7) and Kilfoyl (26-4) were brilliant. The second inning single Rothrock allowed came on a full count. She didn’t go 3-2 on another batter until the sixth when she induced a weak pop to Avery Goelz at first base on the seventh pitch. Kilfoyl walked only three and other than the Kistler home run, the only ball that got out of the infield was a sixth inning soft liner for a single by Korbe Otis. Her one mistake, however, proved costly. Other than the two singles, Rothrock only gave up a couple of well hit balls. One of them Kistler tracked down in right field in the third inning. The other was a hard smash to center field in the fifth that allowed Kendra Falby to show why she won the Rawlings Gold Glove as the nation’s best defensive center fielder. Former Alabama freshman All-American, now the Oklahoma State shortstop Megan Bloodworth, got hold of a 1-2 pitch from Rothrock and drove a ball that would have gone for extra bases except that Falby literally outran the ball. At the warning track, Falby timed her leap perfectly to glove the ball before crashing into the padded wall. Other than the two first inning walks, that fifth inning drive off Bloodworth’s bat represented Oklahoma State’s only serious scoring threat. After the first inning, the Cowgirls never got another runner to second base as Rothrock kept the ball in on their fists. Of the Cowgirls’ 21 outs 13 were either fly outs or infield popups. The win was Florida’s 15th in the last 17 games and it earned a day off for the Gators, who don’t play again until 7 p.m. Saturday night when they take on No. 1 seeded Texas (53-8), a 4-0 winner over Stanford (48-16). No. 2 Oklahoma (55-6) run-ruled Duke (52-8), 9-1, and 6th-seeded UCLA (43-10) knocked off Alabama (38-19) 4-1. Oklahoma will face UCLA Saturday at 3 p.m. In elimination games Friday, Alabama and Duke will square off at 7 p.m. with Oklahoma State and Stanford going at it at 9:30 p.m. UF BASEBALL: Can the Gators put it all together in Stillwater? The inconsistency has all but driven Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan nuts. The Gators (28-27) go into today’s first round NCAA Stillwater Regional game (3 p.m., ESPN+) with Big Ten champ Nebraska (39-20) capable of playing as well as any team in the country. The flip side of that is they’re quite capable of stinking the joint up. This has been a woulda, coulda, shoulda kind of season for the Gators, last season’s College World Series runner-up. Instead of sweating it out on Selection Monday to see if they got into the NCAA field of 64 for the 16th consecutive year, the Gators could have gotten there comfortably if they had done better than 6-10 in runs decided by two or fewer games. But, all those heartbreaking losses of the regular season are behind the Gators, who are capable of going 3-0 in Stillwater to advance to the super regional round. The Gators pin their Friday hopes on freshman Liam Peterson, who has been outstanding in his last four outings in which he has a 2.20 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 16-1/3 innings. The Gators will be going against Nebraska righty Brett Sears (9-0, 2.00 ERA) who has allowed only 62 hits in 99 innings this year. Sears throws a lot of ground ball outs, but if the wind is blowing out at the Oklahoma State stadium today, Florida’s big boppers are more than capable of putting on a show. WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR SOFTBALL, BASEBALL Although the transfer portals are open and active for both Division I softball and baseball, the foundation for success for the Gators in both sports has been in landing outstanding high school recruits. Here is a look at the recruiting classes for Tim Walton and Kevin O’Sullivan. Florida softball signees Gabi Cormia (Cedar Lake, IN Hanover Central), SS: .590 batting average, .609 on base percentage, 22 stolen bases. Career .627 batting average, 10 HR, 72 RBI, .655 on base percentage, 73-73 stolen bases. Slick fielder, elite leadoff hitter and disruptive baserunner. Layla Lamar (Cary, NC Panther Creek), SS: .680 batting average, 13 home runs, 9 doubles, 7 triples, 43 RBI, .623 on base percentage, 11 stolen bases. Career .611 batting average, 29 HR, 21 doubles, 14 triples, 104 RBI, .665 on base percentage. 39-41 stolen bases. Struck out only 7 times in her career. In one game this past season she hit for the home run cycle – a solo, 2-run, 3-run and grand slam all in the same game. Mother is the Duke coach. Katelynn Oxley (Bartow, FL), P: 15-1, 0.14 ERA, 233 strikeouts and only 25 walks in 102-1/3 innings. Career 77-6, 0.39 ERA, 1,158 strikeouts in 537 innings. Gatorade Player of the Year in 2023 when she led Bartow to the state championship. Led Bartow to the state championship game as a senior. Townsen Thomas (Humble, TX/Belleaire, TX Houston Episcopal) OF: No stats available for Thomas, perhaps the fastest high school player in the country. She was a member of the US women’s national team for the under-18 World Cup last summer and she is an elite track athlete who runs the sprints and the hurdles. Taylor Shumaker (Fullerton, CA Esperanza), CF: .620 batting average, 18 home runs, 12 doubles, .709 on base percentage. Struck out only one time. Considered the nation’s most dangerous power hitter who is only going to get stronger when she gets into a strength and conditioning program at UF. Florida baseball signees Kellon Lindsey (Wauchula, FL Hardee) SS: .343 batting average, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 23-23 stolen bases. Career .385 batting average, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 50-52 stolen bases. No. 26 prospect Baseball America, No. 30 prospect per MLB. Perfect Game gives him a 9.5 grade. Jackson Barberi (Snellville, GA Brookwood) RHP: 8-1, 0.68 ERA, 74 strikeouts in 51-2/3 innings. No. 97 prospect per MLB, No. 167 prospect Baseball America.Throws mid-90s. Has a 10 Perfect Game grade. Brendan Lawson (Toronto, ON Canada/Lexington, SC P27 Academy) SS/3B: Lefty hitter with power and great speed with a 10 grade from Perfect Game. No. 141 prospect Baseball America, No. 155 prospect per MLB. Joshua Whritenour (New Port Richey, FL/Tampa, FL A3 Academy) RHP:  Throws a 95 mph heater and gets a 10 grade from Perfect Game. No. 159 prospect per MLB, No. 162 prospect Baseball America. No stats available. Blaine Rowland (Plant City, FL Durant) RHP/OF: As a hitter in 2024, hit .494 with 2 HR and 26 RBI. Career .402. As a pitcher, 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA. Struck out 79 in 49 innings. Career 14-2 with a 1.27 ERA. Perfect Game gives him a 9.5 grade. No. 325 prospect per Baseball America. Schuyler Sandford (St. Augustine, FL/Orange Park, FL St. John’s Country Day) RHP: He’s a 6-6, 220-pound righty who clocks in at 96 regularly. No stats available. Perfect Game gives him a 10 score. No. 274 prospect per Baseball America. Kolton Meyers (St. Augustine, FL/Orange Park, FL St. John’s Country Day) C/3B: Excellent defensive catcher with a strong arm who hits with power. .303 with 2 homers and 22 RBI. Perfect Game gives him a 10. Niko Janssens (Spring Hill, FL/Tampa, FL A3 Academy) 1B/LHP: Gets a 9.5 score from Perfect Game. Fast ball tops out at 95. Expected to concentrate on pitching at UF. No stats available. Felix Ong (Key West, FL), RHP/OF: Gets a 9.5 from Perfect Game. Throws in the low 90s with an outstanding breaking ball. No stats available. McCall Biemiller (Tampa, FL Jesuit) LHP: Hard to hit lefty who gets plenty of strikeouts. 8-1, 2.29 ERA, 104 strikeouts in 55 innings. Throws low 90s. Perfect Game gives him an 8 grade. Aidan King (Jacksonville, FL Bishop Snyder) RHP: Throws low 90s with a slow breaker that’s effective. Struck out a whopping 144 batters in 72-1/3 innings. Only 10 walks. Perfect Game gives him an 8.5. Jordi Guerrero (Cape Coral, FL) IF/OF/P: No stats available. No Perfect Game ranking. Throws mid-80s. Brock Clayton (Pensacola, FL Catholic) C: .466, 4 HR, 7 doubles, 2 triples, 28 RBI. Lefthanded hitter with power. No Perfect Game grade. Jayden Dubanewicz (Parkland, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas) RHP: 7-2, 1.52 ERA, 74 strikeouts, 60 innings. Throws high 80s to low 90s. No Perfect Game score. Carson Montsdeoca (Fort Meade, FL) RHP/3B: Throws mid-80s but gets plenty of strikeouts. 7-4, 1.85 ERA, 115 strikeouts in 64-1/3 innings. As a hitter, .352 with 4 HR and 19 RBI. No Perfect Game score.

The new Lindy's Sports preseason mag is out and Napier and the Gators get no respect (Gator Bait photo by Chris Spears) “When I was a kid I got no respect. I played hide-and-seek. They wouldn't even look for me.” – Rodney Dangerfield The doom and gloom season has officially kicked off. Lindy’s Sports has once again beaten everyone to the newsstands with their 2024 preseason football edition that predicts a 12th-place finish in the Southeastern Conference for the Florida Gators. In a section called Temperature Check, Anthony Gimino of Lindy’s says Billy Napier’s seat is scorching hot. Gimino writes, “’Boosters need way more bang for their Gatorbucks than two losing seasons.” Expect something similar when Athlon comes out with its preseason magazine. Think of Billy Napier as the Rodney Dangerfield of the Southeastern Conference. No respect at all, but Napier doesn’t seem to mind because he’s transforming the lack of respect into this gigantic chip the Gators are going to be carrying on their shoulders this season. A couple of weekends ago at a Florida softball game where he was in attendance to watch his girlfriend Reagan Walsh play for the Gators, Austin Barber was asked the size of the chip on the shoulder of every player on the team. “Enormous,” was his one-word answer. After a pause he added, “We know nobody is respecting us and we know how to change that. They’ll respect us when we win.” Right now, the general consensus is that Florida’s schedule – ranked the toughest in the nation – will be too great an obstacle for the Gators to overcome in the fall. Under their Conference Picks section of the SEC preview, Lindy’s writes, “Facing the nation’s toughest schedule … a third straight losing season for the Gators.” One more sign of disrespect. Under that same section, it says, “Looks like you could build a program around 5-star freshman DJ Lagway.” Lagway does have program changing talent, but Graham Mertz is a former 5-star himself and he’ll have a re-worked offensive line, three outstanding receivers (Tre Wilson, Chimere Dike and Elijhah Badger) and running back Montrell Johnson Jr. Johnson was the only preseason first team All-SEC Gator picked by Lindy’s. Wilson and punter Jeremy Crawshaw were second teamers. No UF defenders were selected, predictable considering Florida’s lousy showing the last two years, but improvement is on the way. Ron Roberts was not selected among the impact new coordinators/assistant coaches. Lindy’s predicts the SEC with personal commentary 1. Georgia: Georgia has the best quarterback in Carson Beck, the highest paid coach in Kirby Smart and a tougher than usual schedule that includes roadies to Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. 2. Texas: The Longhorns probably should be ranked ahead of Georgia, in part because of a kind SEC schedule that doesn’t include Ole Miss or Alabama and has homers with Georgia, Florida and Kentucky. If Carson Beck is Heisman favorite No. 1, then Quinn Ewers is No. 1A. 3. Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin loaded up on defensive talent for Pete Golding. The Rebels are going to score on everybody, but Lane with a defense? Be very afraid. Ole Miss gets Oklahoma and Georgia at home with no Alabama or Texas. 4. Alabama: New coach Kalen DeBoer has a history of winning big (104-12 record including 25-3 at Washington). Wait until he loses a game and discovers just how nasty and impatient Bama fans can be. Can he bring out the best in QB Jalen Milroe? Georgia and Missouri are homers and there are road trips to Tennessee and LSU. 5. Missouri: Mizzou outperformed expectations by a wide margin a year ago. They can score points but can the defense stop anybody? Five of the first six games are Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College Vanderbilt and UMass. It’s one of the easiest schedules in the SEC. 6. LSU: Jayden Daniels and those stud receivers are gone and the D-line talent is lacking. A step back is very possible. Ole Miss, Alabama and Oklahoma are homers. The tough roadies are at Texas A&M and Florida. 7. Tennessee: Is the $8 million dollar man (Nico Iamaleava) the Vols’ equivalent of Moses, ready to lead them to the promised land? There are a lot of new faces for Josh Heupel to blend in successfully and a schedule that includes road trips to Oklahoma and Georgia, plus a homer with Alabama. 8. Oklahoma: The defense promises to be better. The offense has a newbie at QB in freshman Jackson Arnold. He is talented but can he handle the pressure? There are home games with Tennessee and Alabama, road trips to Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU. They will need a break or two to get past the 7-8 win threshold. 9. Texas A&M: Can the Aggies keep Conner Weigman upright and healthy? He’s never done it before. The Aggies get Missouri, LSU and Texas at home. No Georgia or Alabama. 10. Auburn: QB Payton Thorne is good enough to get the Tigers beaten and bad enough to get them poleaxed. Can they play enough defense to get past the 6-7 win threshold. Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri are on the road in consecutive weeks and Bama is a roadie. Break even. At best. 11. Kentucky: Brock Vandagriff waited as long as he could at Georgia before bolting for a chance to start. He’s a question mark. The defense isn’t. The schedule includes Georgia, Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and Texas. Seven wins should be considered an accomplishment. 12. FLORIDA: Improved and more experienced than the past two years. Is that good enough to overcome the nation’s toughest schedule? Napier seems very confident. 13. South Carolina: They need to hope and pray running back Raheim Sanders is back to health because a break even season is going to depend on a running game capable of keeping the defense off the field. LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Mizzou are homers. 14. Arkansas: Not even Bobby Petrino can save this team or the job of Sam Pittman. A schedule that includes Florida, Texas and Georgia on the road, the Aggies, at Tennessee, Missouri and at Ole Miss won’t help save Sam from getting pink slipped. 15. Mississippi State: Jeff Lebby was ready to be somebody’s head coach. Let’s just say he didn’t choose wisely and leave it at that. 16. Vanderbilt: Everybody deserves a good homecoming opponent. Vandy gets Alabama, Texas and Tennessee at home. Lindy’s top 25: 1. Georgia; 2. Ohio State; 3. Texas; 4. Oregon; 5. Ole Miss; 6. Michigan; 7. Alabama; 8. Notre Dame; 9. Missouri; 10. Florida State; 11. Penn State; 12. Oklahoma State; 13. LSU; 14. Clemson; 15. Tennessee; 16. Utah; 17. Miami; 18. Oklahoma; 19. Texas A&M; 20. Kansas; 21. Kansas State; 22. North Carolina State; 23. Arizona; 24. Iowa State; 25. Liberty Others of interest: 34. Auburn; 35. Kentucky; 37. FLORIDA; 42. Georgia Tech; 43. UCF; 44. South Carolina; 45. Arkansas; 52. Mississippi State; 60. South Florida; 67. Vanderbilt; 102. Georgia Southern; 106. Florida Atlantic; 125. Georgia State; 127. Florida International Kendra Falby won a Rawlings Gold Glove for her play in center field (Gator Bait Photo by Chris Spears) UF SOFTBALL: When Kendra Falby leads off for the Gators tonight against Oklahoma State in the final game of the day at the Women’s College World Series, you might detect a slight but momentary grin on the face of Florida’s gold glove center fielder.  It is entirely possible that Oklahoma State All-America pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl will nod or return the grin, but that will be the end of the pleasantries at least until the game is over. There is a relationship that extends beyond their prep softball days in Florida and Kilfoyl’s time at Alabama that predated Oklahoma State. “So Lexi's mom's actually my sister's godmother,” Falby explained Wednesday afternoon at Florida’s pre-WCWS press conference. “So we go way back, but I mean, she's a really good pitcher. I've, I've faced her since I was like, since the days that I started playing softball.” Collegiately, Falby is 0-5 against Kilfoyl (26-3, 1.06 ERA). Falby was 0-2 off Kilfoyl in 2022 when Alabama beat the Gators 2-1 in nine innings in Gainesville. When Oklahoma State beat the Gators 3-0 back in February, Falby went 0-2. Getting Falby untracked will be a key for the Gators against Oklahoma State tonight (9:30 p.m., ESPN2) but also for UF to make a run at a third NCAA championship, Florida’s first since 2015. Falby comes into Oklahoma City hitting .378 with 19 stolen bases in 23 attempts, but she has struggled at the plate lately. Since going 5-9 in the final two games of Florida’s sweep of Texas A&M in the final regular season series of the season, Falby is 5-32 including 0-11 in the super regional win over Baylor. When Falby and Skylar Wallace are getting on base, the Gators are one of the more difficult lineups to contain in all of collegiate softball. “When Skylar scores and Kendra scores, what is our record?” Walton asked rhetorically on Sunday. “29-1? It's a pretty good record. Kendra is by far the most important ingredient to our offensive success.” There are few players in all of college softball that can match the speed of Falby and Wallace, who is hitting .421 with a nation-leading 87 runs scored, a .421 batting average and 36-38 on stolen bases. When they’re on base together it puts tremendous pressure on opposing defenses. “Kendra is by far the most important ingredient to our offense,” Walton said. “When Kendra and Skylar are on base, with our lineup we’re very hard to beat.” Gators on All-America teams D1Softball: Skylar Wallace, SS, and Jocelyn Erickson, UT, first team; Korbe Otis, OF, second team Softball America First team: Skylar Wallace, SS, Jocelyn Erickson, UTL, and Korbe Otis, OF Second team: Kendra Falby, UTL Freshman All-America First team: Keagan Rothrock, P NFCA First team: Jocelyn Erickson, C; Korbe Otis, OF Second team: Skylar Wallace, SS Third team: Reagan Walsh, DP; Keagan Rothrock, P Taylor Shumaker: The nation’s best power hitter with 18 in Orange County, California. Layla Lamar (SS, Cary, NC Panther Creek): Townsen Thomas (OF Humble, Texas): Gabi Cormia (SS/2B Indiana): Katelynn Oxley (RHP, Bartow): Rawlings Gold Glove recipients: Jocelyn Erickson, C; Kendra Falby, CF ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The elephant in every room where conferences meet in the spring to discuss the year they’ve just endured and talk about the issues of matters they expect to face in the year ahead is Title IX. Title IX has served a good purpose in that it has forced college athletics to offer more opportunities for young women. We saw a couple of months ago how Caitlyn Clark elevated the popularity of women’s basketball. Starting today, we’ll see record breaking crowds and viewership for the Women’s College World Series. Those gains for women’s sports have happened are a direct result of Title IX. With the recent anti-trust settlement with the NCAA, there is a movement to ditch the NCAA and eliminate the current scholarship guidelines for football and men’s basketball. Baseball has also entered the discussion. Division I schools are currently limited to 11.7 scholarships that can be spread among 27 athletes. Under current Title IX executive orders, every increase in women’s college sports requires a greater or at least equal number of scholarships available to women’s sport. Now the government wants more involvement, championing the rights of transgender athletes to compete. The way the government has worked in the past, transgender bills are going to be introduced sooner and not later. It seems impossible to come with an equitable solution to these problems with the NCAA in charge, but ditching the NCAA is easier said than done. There is no infrastructure in place or in the planning stages and there is no maximum supreme leader with the guts to tell the NCAA to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. If the NCAA has proven anything in the 100-plus years of its existence it is inept at coming up with practical solutions. The problems of today are not going to simply go away and the continued presence of the NCAA is only going to make matters worse. The NCAA’s idea of dealing with a problem is to either ignore it completely or come up with a new set of guidelines that require a whole new layer of bureaucracy to make up rules that are impossible to follow. Therefore, the NCAA has to be ditched. It will have to be a gradual move, otherwise it will fail mightily. The time is now to start planning the move to a post-NCAA organization to run college sports, otherwise we’re going to end up with the government in charge. I can’t think of anything worse, can you?

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: At the Southeastern Conference spring meetings in Destin Tuesday, Billy Napier was immediately confronted by a media wanting to know the status of the Jaden Rashada lawsuit. Napier politely said he can’t get into any discussions about ongoing legal matters, which is true. "I think it's important for everybody to understand that I can't comment due to the litigation, but I do have confidence in our legal team,” Napier said. “I am comfortable with my actions and I'm thankful for the university's support. We're gonna keep it at that and kind of let the process take its course." Here is what you need to know about this lawsuit: It is never going to hear a judge’s gavel in a court room. It will be settled out of court, not because Billy Napier did anything wrong but because it is a nuisance that needs to go away. The longer it isn’t resolved, the more it sheds the Florida Gators and Billy Napier in a negative light. Any claim the Rashadas have for monetary compensation have to do with the defunct Gator Collective and Hugh Hathcock, the alleged big money booster whose ego is at the heart of a ridiculous $13.85 million NIL offer to a high school kid who had never thrown a pass in a collegiate game. Two things to know: (1) Billy Napier’s name is not on any contract with the Rashadas; and (2) there was a termination clause in the contract. So why settle this thing out of court? Why not challenge the Rashadas? Why not go to court where everything will be exposed? The key word here is exposed. While Billy Napier didn’t sign a contract that would pay Jaden Rashada an outrageous amount of money, his name is in the headlines so which is easier? Pay some money and make the Rashadas sign an iron clad NDA or go to court where there will be media scrutiny and days if not weeks of stories that can be interpreted as negative. If the Rashadas aren’t willing to negotiate a reasonable amount of go away money, then call their bluff. This is a two-way street. Florida and Billy Napier do have the right to fight back, but is it worth it to fight? Rather than fight back, consider this a painful lesson in the new what’s in it for me college athlete. This might be the first lawsuit of its type, but bet the farm that it won’t be the last. We’re living in very strange times. UF BASEBALL: Liam Peterson will start against Nebraska Friday Kevin O’Sullivan has elected to go with freshman righthander Liam Peterson Friday afternoon (3 p.m., ESPN+) against Big Ten champion Nebraska (39-20) in the first round of the NCAA Stillwater Regional. Peterson’s overall numbers – 2-4 with a 5.83 ERA – are a bit deceptive. In his last four outings, Peterson has thrown 16-1/3 innings, allowing 13 hits and striking out 17 with a 2.20 earned run average. Peterson went four innings against Tennessee back on May 3, shutting down the nation’s most explosive offense in four innings, holding the Vols to a single hit while striking out seven. He threw an inning of relief against South Florida, then went six innings against Kentucky where he gave up one run, five hits and struck out six. The next week at Georgia, Peterson went 5-1/3 innings, giving up five hits and three runs while striking out four. Nebraska is expected to pitch righty Brett Sears, 9-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 99 innings. Catcher Jocelyn Erickson is returning to a familiar place at the Women's College World Series (Photo by Chris Spears) UF SOFTBALL: Familiar faces in Okie City When the No. 4 seeded Gators (51-13) take on No. 5 Oklahoma State (44-10) Thursday night (9:30 p.m., ESPN) on opening night of the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, it might feel like a reunion of sorts, starting with the two head coaches. It is the 12th trip to the WCWS for Walton, who won the national championship in back-to-back years (2014-15). One of the UF assistants for the two national championship teams was Kenny Gajewski, a teammate of Walton’s when Oklahoma won the NCAA baseball championship in 1994. Gajewski is now the head coach at Oklahoma State, which is making its fourth trip to the WCWS. Two years ago the Gators and Oklahoma State met in Oklahoma City in an elimination game won by the Cowgirls, 2-0. The two teams played in Gainesville back on February 19. In that game, Keagan Rothrock allowed only two hits in six innings, a leadoff single in the third and a 3-run homer later in the inning as Oklahoma State prevailed, 3-0. The pitcher for Oklahoma State that night was Lexi Kilfoyl, who spent the 2020-22 seasons at Alabama before transferring to Oklahoma State. Kilfoyl is 42-8 since arriving in Stillwater, 26-3 in 2024 with a 1.06 ERA. She had a 2-1 extra innings win over the Gators in Gainesville in 2022, a home run by Skylar Wallace the only damage. A night later, the Florida bats erupted and Kilfoyl was knocked out of the circle after 1/3 of an inning. The Gators are in the same bracket with No. 1 seed Texas and No. 8 seed Stanford. Over in the other bracket is No. 2 seed Oklahoma, whose pitching coach is Jenn Rocha, Walton’s pitching coach at Wichita State from 2003-05 and UF from 2005-18. Rocha pitched collegiately at Oklahoma for Patty Gasso, who has won seven national championships at OU including the last three. Gasso gave Tim Walton his start as a softball assistant coach back in 1999. When the Sooners won the 2023 national championship, Jocelyn Erickson started 32 games at DH or first base while hitting .337 with seven homers and 25 RBI. Erickson transferred to Florida because she wanted to catch. At UF this season, she is the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, hitting .383 with 13 homers and 80 RBI, which tied the school record and ranks second in the nation. For Erickson to have a chance to play against her former teammates, the Gators will have to make it to the WCWS championship series. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Perhaps it is fitting that Bill Walton died the same year the Pacific-12 Conference went belly up. Walton never missed an opportunity to tout the Pac-12 as the “conference of champions” and why not? Just the eight schools that made up the conference back when Walton was a 3-time All-American for UCLA combined for nearly 600 national championships in everything from football to water polo. Arizona, Stanford and UCLA will begin play in the Women’s College World Series tomorrow. When the baseball regionals start on Friday, Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State are the last Pac-12 schools standing. No league in the country has won more softball (24) and baseball (22) national championships. When the College World Series ends in late June, it will close the curtain on a great conference that has excelled in nearly every sport. Next year, UCLA, Southern California, Oregon and Washington will be members of the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will be in the Big 12. Stanford and California are joining the Atlantic Coast Conference. Washington State and Oregon State weren’t invited to join a new conference. They hold the rights to the Pac-12 name and they will get the league’s share of the College Football Playoff and NCAA Basketball Tournament revenue for the next two years, but the league will disappear completely unless Oregon State and Washington State can get a minimum of six new schools to join to form a new league. There is speculation that some or all of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) will elect to merge with Oregon State and Washington State maybe as Pac-12 Part Deux or as something like the Pacific West Conference. However it plays out, it will not be the same. It’s easy to point fingers at UCLA and Southern Cal which were the first two schools to bolt the Pac-12. They saw the handwriting on the wall with commissioner Larry Scott then giving way to the equally if not more inept George Kliavkoff. That started the exodus and it destroyed one of the most historically significant conferences in the history of college sports. Scott and Kliavkoff were horrible administrators and they certainly bear their share of the blame for the demise of the league, but let’s face it, it was the presidents of the Pac-12 who hired them and stuck with them even when they saw things falling apart. I’m no fan of Scott and Kliavkoff, but I’m even less a fan of the university presidents who were clueless when it came to saving the Pac-12. This did not have to happen, but it did because Pac-12 sports were run by academics masquerading as business people. If you want to know the truth, most of the conference realignment could be avoided if business people ran the show. Things will only grow worse until the academics who run the top conferences conclude that it’s time to treat sports as a business and abandon this silly amateur model that is an albatross hanging around the neck of college sports. It is not too late to salvage collegiate athletics, but the clock is ticking and if something isn’t done in a hurry, we will long for days like today when it only seems chaotic. Real chaos hasn’t set in yet, but it’s not that far off. There is this silly idea that the conferences are basically through with realignment. Silly because we really don’t have a clue how much revenue is going to be generated by the College Football Playoff in its expanded model. Everybody is going to want their slice of the pie and that means schools like Florida State and Clemson are going to pursue every possible avenue to beat a contract they willingly signed that keeps them in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It is in court now, but if some judge says somebody needs to play another somebody done me wrong song and allows FSU and Clemson to leave, we will see another earthquake of realignment. So how to solve the problem? Divorce from the NCAA is a good place to begin but it’s not that simple. You can’t leave one chaotic situation for another, which is what will happen if there isn’t another well thought out organization ready and waiting, complete with rules and infrastructure. I also believe that the new organization has to be as free as possible from inept academics such as former NCAA president Mark Emmert. College sports need structure. They need rules that can be enforced. They need a new way of doing things, otherwise we’re going to have a fullscale revolution on our hands in which the athletes do the unthinkable and go on strike. It could happen if something isn’t done soon. One last thought. Membership in Division I should be restricted to those schools that (a) don’t take any state money; (b) to schools that can replace state money with corporate money; and (c) are willing to allow the athletic department to operate in affiliation with the university and not as part of the university. Lease the facilities, operate in good faith with the university, maintain the team name, but make the athletic department an independent entity. Otherwise, Title IX with all its new restrictions will sink us back to where we are right now.