Players-only meeting changed tone for Gators
Life came at the unanimous preseason No. 1 Florida Gators fast in 2021.
They opened a brand new, $65 million dollar stadium with a series loss to in-state rival Miami and quickly lost that No. 1 title. The Gators bounced back to win nine of their next 10 games but the season has been a battle.
Tommy Mace and Jack Leftwich were pulled from the starting rotation and sent to the bullpen. The Gators started conference play 5-6, including being swept on the road by the South Carolina Gamecocks. On top of the pitching woes, the Gators kicked the ball around on defense like the Bad News Bears. Pitching and defense have been the cornerstones of Kevin O'Sullivan's championship program and neither could be found more than a month into the season.
Still, with all the talent that the Gators have they were able to claw their way to a 17-10 record with one series left. They were just a game back of Tennessee for first place in the East and two games behind Arkansas, the team they would travel to play, in the league. Florida was swept by the team that has been No. 1 in the country for the last 13 weeks and it was time to look in the mirror.
"After that Arkansas series, it wasn't too fun for us," Kris Armstrong said. "We kind of got together and talked about how we need to play more as a team and play together."
To be a fly on the wall in that meeting.
The Gators are a team filled with future professional baseball players, including more than eight on the roster that will surely be drafted in the 2021 MLB Draft and begin their professional careers shortly. Perhaps some guys started to look ahead. When third-year sophomore Nick Pogue, who is draft-eligible this season, learned he would need Tommy John surgery just days before the season began, did that affect the other draft-eligible players? Did they think, just get through the season healthy and move on? Could you blame them if they did after watching their teammate's career change in an instant?
"All of us are really close," Nathan Hickey said after the win over Alabama. "We are really good when we play together. Throughout the season the big thing for us is not to play for our individual selves but to play for each other. A lot of the guys on the team are looking at the draft in their future. We kind of, all of us together, put that aside and decided to wait and just focus on the season instead of the draft."
Maybe the preseason rankings and praise got to their head and they thought they could just show up and win because they were that good. Whatever the case, the Gators looked like the team we all praised before the season since the first pitch in Hoover.
"Throughout the season, it's a little harder to remember what your goals are as a team," Franco Alemán said. "But when it comes down to tournament play here in the playoffs, you can't avoid it. We're here to win a championship, and everybody has to do their part in order to achieve that. If not, it's not going to work out."
In Hoover, the Gators have been dominant. Florida is 3-0 in the SEC Tournament for the first time in 21 years. They're hitting .346 (37-107) as a team. The starting pitchers have been just as good. The trio of Tommy Mace, Hunter Barco, and Franco Alemán have combined to throw 19 innings with a 0.95 ERA.
"I think we only gave up one run against Kentucky, one run against a really good Mississippi State team, and obviously today we only gave up two," Kevin O'Sullivan said after the Gators' win over Alabama on Thursday. "I think the scores are probably very -- you know, indicate how well we've been throwing. We've gotten three really quality starts. That's probably one of the reasons why we're in the position we are."
Momentum is huge in college baseball. After a deflating sweep in Fayetteville, the Gators had none. It took a heart-to-heart and look long look in the mirror for everyone in the clubhouse to come to terms with where they were versus where they wanted to be. The message was sent and was crystal clear. Now, the boys are hot and more confident than they have ever been.
"We're not just doing it for ourselves but for something bigger," Armstrong said. "We're trying to play the last game of the season for sure."