The Gators and Hurricanes are regular visitors to Omaha and anytime they play, there's an extra buzz in the air. If the two rivals are going to square off in the NCAA Tournament, the Gators have but one option on Saturday against South Alabama.
Win or call it a season.
The first postseason game in the history of Florida Ballpark left a sour taste in the home team's mouth as USF defeated Florida, 5-3, on a hot and humid afternoon that included a 2-hour, 18-minute weather delay.
When it was over, the Gators addressed the obvious.
"You've got to put it behind you," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "You've got to flush it. There's nothing you can do. It's not like we can redo a few things that may have cost us some runs in the latter part of the game and the beginning part of the game.
"We've had a really hard time of maintaining momentum. It's our job to get these guys going. We're in postseason, so you gotta play your best baseball at this time of the year. Obviously, we didn't do that."
The list of what ailed the Gators (38-21) against the upstart Bulls (29-27) was long. In an outing where he clearly didn't have his best stuff, Mace surrendered home runs to Riley Hogan and Carmine Lane. Hogan's homer bounced off right fielder Sterlin Thompson's glove as jumped and banged into the right-field wall.
After USF catcher Jake Sullivan doubled to lead off the sixth, he moved to third on a passed ball and scored on reliever Christian Scott's wild pitch. Lane scored again in the seventh when he reached on a two-base error by center fielder Jud Fabian, who was charged with a second error on the play when his errant throw back to the infield rolled near first base and allowed Lane to advance to third. Lane scored on Hogan's single.
The Gators trailed 3-2 after five innings and then had to wait more than two hours for the sixth inning to start following the lengthy weather delay. When play resumed, Florida's bats showed little life against USF relievers Dylan Burns and Orion Kerkering other than a towering solo homer by designated hitter Kris Armstrong off Burns with two outs in the eighth.
UF's other two runs came via the bat of third baseman Nathan Hickey, who delivered an RBI double in the third and RBI single in the fifth. Each of Hickey's productive at-bats trimmed USF's lead to a run, but the Bulls responded with the help of those costly UF miscues.
A freshman playing in his first NCAA Tournament game, Hickey isn't ready to throw in the towel despite the Gators dropping into the loser's bracket. They will have to win four in a row to advance to a super regional, starting Saturday against South Alabama. The Jaguars lost a pitchers' duel to Miami, 1-0, in a game that took only 17 more minutes (2:35) to play than the weather delay in the Florida-USF game.
"I feel like some people just didn't come to play today," Hickey said. "I felt really good out there, and I'm sure a bunch of other people did. But there's just sometimes, other guys are not mentally there. I feel like [Saturday] is going to be something that we're just going to have to prove how good we are, because we are good.
"It's going to be tough. No matter who you're playing, winning four in a row is tough. We're going to just have to fight through it, be dogs. Go out there wanting to win every single game, every single inning, every single pitch."
Immediately after Florida's loss, O'Sullivan was uncertain whether lefty Hunter Barco or right-hander Franco Aleman would start Saturday. He wanted to wait and see who won the second game.
The No. 3-seed Jaguars (33-20) won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Starter Tyler Lehrmann and reliever Jackson Boyd combined for eight strong innings against Miami, surrendering only a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to Adrian Del Castillo in the fifth inning.
In a season of ups and downs for a Gators team that was the consensus No. 1 team in the national polls to start the season, they must regroup once more if they want a shot at Miami. It was losing two of three to the Hurricanes in the season-opening series that cast doubt on whether this UF team was as good as projected.
Four months later, they must win four in a row to keep their season alive. First, they have to defeat South Alabama.
"I don't like losing. I know my teammates don't like losing,'' Armstrong said. "I think it will light a fire under us, and I think we will come out hot tomorrow, and we'll be a different team for sure."
They have no choice.
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Gators Face Difficult Task with Season at Stake - Florida Gators
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