Off The Bat: Gators Show Bounce-Back Ability

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In Off The Bat, Teddy Cahill wraps up the weekend in college baseball and looks ahead.

Florida Bounces Back to Win SEC Title

Little has come easy for Florida this season. The Gators had to replace eight players drafted in the top 10 rounds last year. They have dealt with several injuries to key players, including Preseason All-Americans Daulton Guthrie, Jonathan India and Mike Rivera. They dug a 0-3 hole at the start of Southeastern Conference play when they got swept at Auburn.

So it was only fitting that on the final weekend of the regular season, when Florida needed a series win against Kentucky to claim the SEC title, the Gators lost the series opener Thursday night. But it was just as fitting that the Gators came right back, won Friday night and then clinched the championship Saturday with a 6-4 victory.

“For us to bounce back after a tough loss on Thursday defines who we are,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We’re a gritty bunch that plays hard and, for the most part, we don’t beat ourselves.”

Florida’s conference championship was its first since 2014 and fourth in 10 years under O’Sullivan. It shared this one with Louisiana State, which swept Mississippi State this weekend to win the SEC West Division, but because the Gators (40-15, 21-9) beat the Tigers (38-17, 21-9) in a series in March, they will be the top seed in this week’s SEC Tournament.

The title showcased the Gators’ depth. After losing stars such as All-American first baseman Peter Alonso, lefthander A.J. Puk, the sixth overall pick the 2016 draft, righthander Logan Shore, a Golden Spikes finalist, from last season’s team, Florida still entered the season ranked No. 3. But injuries thrust more young Gators into larger roles. Christian Hicks has played all four infield positions this season, Mark Kolosvary has taken over as the everyday catcher and Michael Byrne has moved from midweek starter to closer, where he tied Florida’s single-season saves record.

O’Sullivan is proud of the way the Gators have been able to adjust this season.

“We’ve been doing it with a lot of different people,” he said. “To do this after losing so many players that we lost last year says a lot about our team. Not a lot of teams would be able to sustain the losses we did. It has been very enjoyable.”

Florida sustained another injury in Saturday’s clincher. Guthrie sprained his ankle while legging out an infield single and will miss the SEC Tournament. O’Sullivan said he is hopeful Guthrie will be able to return for regionals. Rivera, meanwhile, might return to action in Hoover after missing the last month due to a broken hamate bone.

Florida likely clinched a national seed over the weekend, as its RPI climbed to No. 3 to go with the SEC title. With that in mind, O’Sullivan said the Gators will try to tap into its depth even further at the SEC Tournament. He will give some pitchers a chance to take on a greater role this week, as he did last year when Brady Singer and Scott Moss started SEC Tournament games. With Guthrie sidelined, the Gators will also explore their options at shortstop.

“We’ll go in there and play good baseball, but the most important thing is to kind of build some more depth in the infield and in the bullpen,” O’Sullivan said.

It may not be the easy path in Hoover, but the Gators will surely be ready for whatever challenges they encounter as they set their sights on their postseason goals.

Nebraska Emphatically Claims First Big Ten Title

Nebraska went into Saturday needing a win against last-place Penn State to clinch the Big Ten Conference regular-season championship. The Cornhuskers knew what was at stake and wasted no time taking control of the game.

Nebraska sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the first and scored seven runs, setting off a rout. The Cornhuskers offense never stopped, and they went on to a 21-3 victory and won the Big Ten title, their first since joining the league for the 2012 season.

Coach Darin Erstad said the Cornhuskers (34-18-1, 16-7-1) came ready to play Saturday.

“They knew what they wanted, and they went and took it,” he said. “On this one, particular day, nothing was stopping them.”

The seven-run first inning gave lefthander Jake Meyers plenty of cushion before he took the mound. Once he got out there, he made sure Penn State wouldn’t be mounting a comeback. Meyers struck out seven, walked none and held the Nittany Lions to one hit in six scoreless innings. A two-way star, he also drew three walks and scored two runs.

Meyers improved to 8-1, 3.09 on the mound and is hitting .298/.431/.348 with 18 stolen bases this season. He plays center field the first two games of the weekend before starting the finale on the mound. Erstad said the Cornhuskers would have been lost this season without Meyers.

“He’s saved our season,” Erstad said. “How many times early this year did he have to salvage a game or to go win a series? He’s the epitome of what we do.”

Nebraska had to fight through a slow start to the season to win the conference championship. After splitting an abbreviated series against UC Riverside on opening weekend, Nebraska lost the next three weekends and was 6-8 in mid-March.

But the Cornhuskers were able to get their season turned around. Nebraska won its next two series to gather some momentum going into Big Ten play, which it began with series wins against Indiana and Maryland. It lost just one conference series all season—to Iowa—and finished with five straight series wins.

Erstad said the Cornhuskers aren’t the most talented team, but they haven’t let that stop them this season.

“They just keep fighting,” Erstad said. “That’s their best quality. When times were tough, they didn’t let themselves get down, they just kept fighting. When times were good, they just kept fighting.”

That fight led Nebraska to its first regular-season conference title since 2005, when it was a member of the Big 12 Conference. When the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten, some expected them to immediately establish themselves as a powerhouse. But for several reasons it didn’t work out like that for Nebraska.

Nebraska was at an ebb when it moved from the Big 12 to the Big Ten in 2012. It finished ninth in its final year in the Big 12, which did not translate into being a top team in the Big Ten. The quality of play has also improved in the Big Ten in recent years as more schools invest more heavily in the sport. Indiana reached the College World Series in 2013, Maryland advanced to back-to-back super regionals in 2014-15 and Illinois was a national seed and super regional team in 2015.

“When we came to the league, there were teams that wanted no part of Nebraska taking control of the conference,” Erstad said. “To their credit, we saw some great teams play really well. It’s fun to see the quality of baseball skyrocket in the Big Ten. I don’t think it’s going to stop.”

Nebraska’s improvement has been a part of the conference’s growth. Now the Cornhuskers will try to build on their regular-season title with postseason success. They rank No. 42 in RPI, and should be safely in regionals, as Minnesota had an RPI of 50 on Selection Monday last year as the Big Ten champion and got a No. 2 seed.

Nebraska won’t be looking ahead, however. The Cornhuskers will stick to the same approach that served them so well in the second half of the season.

“We’re going to prepare, get ready for the first pitch and then get ready for the second pitch,” Erstad said. “That’s what we always do. Just play good, solid baseball.”

Central Florida Completes Worst-To-First Turnaround

Greg Lovelady arrived at Central Florida last summer, hired away from Wright State to take over the program after Terry Rooney left to become an assistant coach at Alabama. He inherited a veteran team hungry for success after finishing in last place in the American Athletic Conference in 2016 and hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2012.

Lovelady told the Knights that he couldn’t guarantee success. But if they stuck to the process this year, he said, it would be worth it.

Saturday, the Knights’ hard work was rewarded. UCF defeated rival South Florida, 3-2, to clinch the AAC regular-season title. UCF (38-19, 15-9) finished the season tied with Houston (36-19, 15-9) atop the conference standings, but by virtue of its series win against the Cougars, will be the No. 1 seed in this week’s conference tournament.

“They don’t need wins to validate them in the long run, but in the short run, winning makes it more fun,” Lovelady said. “I’m proud of them. They worked really hard for it.”

UCF came into the weekend with something to prove. South Florida (40-15, 14-10) had swept UCF in Tampa at the start of April, giving the Knights just their second series loss of the season. The three games had all been close—the Bulls outscored the Knights by a total of four runs on the weekend—but it still went down as a sweep.

“From the outside, it looks like they were the better team because we got swept by them,” Lovelady said. “We just wanted to make sure everyone knew that USF is a good team, but so are we.”

South Florida won Thursday’s opener, 7-4, to move one victory away from clinching the AAC title. But UCF wasn’t ready to give up. Houston lost its opener to Cincinnati, meaning the Knights were still in control of their own destiny. Like they had all season, they stuck to the process.

UCF bounced back for a 9-1 victory Friday, setting up Saturday as a winner-take-all game. After the Bulls scored a run in the top of the first, the Knights scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take a lead they would never relinquish. Freshman righthander Joseph Sheridan (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) and righthander Jason Bahr (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) combined to hold South Florida to one run over the next eight innings, and UCF hung on for the victory.

With a conference title and an RPI that ranks No. 21, UCF is set to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years and could push into the mix to host a regional with a strong showing in Clearwater this week.

UCF has won six straight series and is 15-8 since getting swept at South Florida. Lovelady said the Knights are playing their best baseball right now, but still sees room for improvement.

“We still aren’t as good as I think we can be,” Lovelady said. “It’s set up just like a regional, so we’ll utilize that to practice and just get better.”

Eight for Omaha

Florida, Long Beach State, Louisiana State, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas Christian, Texas Tech

This week Louisiana State moves back into the field, replacing Mississippi State. The Tigers finished the regular season by winning 11 of their last 12 SEC games to claim the SEC West title and position themselves to earn a national seed. LSU is playing its best baseball going into the postseason, and, as always, it will be tough to beat in Alex Box Stadium. As for Mississippi State, its myriad injuries seem to have finally caught up to it. The Bulldogs finished the season by losing three of their last four SEC series and have work to do in the SEC Tournament to host a regional.

Eye-Catchers

Five players or programs who stood out this weekend.

Holy Cross: The Crusaders (23-25) swept the Patriot League Tournament championship series against Bucknell to claim their first ever Patriot League Tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1978. Holy Cross also swept last week’s semifinal series against Army, and is the first team to go 4-0 in the tournament since Bucknell did so in 2014.

Kevin Milam, dh, St. Mary’s: Milam homered in all three games of St. Mary’s sweep against Santa Clara, which clinched a spot in the West Coast Conference Tournament for the Gaels (37-18, 18-9). The freshman hit a grand slam in routs on both Friday and Sunday, and hit a walk-off home run in Saturday’s 3-2 victory. Milam is hitting .314/.401/.549 with 12 home runs this season.

Oregon State: The Beavers (45-4) swept Washington State and set a Pac-12 Conference record for conference wins as they finished their Pac-12 slate at 27-3. Oregon State on Friday and Saturday got back-to-back complete games from Luke Heimlich and Jake Thompson, who combined to throw 209 pitches.

Michael Villanueva, rhp, Texas Southern: In the championship game of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, Villanueva threw six scoreless innings of relief to help Texas Southern defeat Alabama State, 4-2, in a reversal of last year’s title game. With the victory, the Tigers (20-32) advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.

Virginia Commonwealth: VCU (33-20, 19-5) swept a series against crosstown rivals Richmond to win the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title for the first time since joining the league for the 2013 season. The Rams last won a regular-season conference title in 2003, when they were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Looking Ahead

Three conference tournaments we’re most excited for:

American Athletic Conference (eight teams, begins Tuesday in Clearwater, Fla.): The AAC has been tightly contested all season long, and the top five teams in the standings finished within two games of each other. Now, they will fight it out in Clearwater. South Florida (No. 18 RPI), Central Florida (21) and Houston (24) will all be trying to make their case for hosting an NCAA regional.

Big 12 Conference (eight teams, begins Wednesday in Oklahoma City): The Big 12 is the nation’s top-ranked RPI conference and will showcase its impressive depth. Co-champions Texas Christian and Texas Tech have likely already earned national seeds, and both will try to add another title to their collection.

Southeastern Conference (12 teams, begins Tuesday in Hoover, Ala.): The SEC Tournament returns to Hoover for the 19th straight year after flirting with moving the event last year. The tournament will again be a big draw for scouts with plenty of elite talent on the field at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Two conference tournaments you shouldn’t overlook:

Southland Conference (eight teams, begins Wednesday in Sugar Land, Texas): The Southland is one of the best under-the-radar conferences and looks to be a two-bid league this year with McNeese State and Southeastern Louisiana both positioned to advance to the NCAA Tournament. But they will face stiff competition. Sam Houston State and Houston Baptist have won the last two tournaments and will look to make the most of their close proximity to Constellation Field to keep the trophy in Texas this season.

Sun Belt Conference (10 teams, begins Tuesday in Statesboro, Ga.): Coastal Carolina finished the regular season with 11 straight Sun Belt wins to claim the regular-season title in its first season in the league. The Chanticleers hot finish may have pushed them into the NCAA Tournament, but winning the conference tournament would remove all doubt. Louisiana-Lafayette and South Alabama will be trying to shore up their own regionals resumes, while Texas-Arlington, the West Division champion, and host Georgia Southern will have to win the conference tournament to extend their seasons.

One regular-season series to keep an eye on:

(7) Long Beach State at (14) Cal State Fullerton: Sunday’s results took some of the juice out of this series, as Long Beach (35-16-1, 18-3) wrapped up the Big West Conference title with a win against Hawaii and a Fullerton (33-19, 14-7) loss against Cal State Northridge. But while the trophy has already been awarded, this remains one of college baseball’s best rivalries. The Dirtbags are trying to push into the national seed race, while the Titans will be looking for revenge after getting swept earlier this season in the nonconference series.