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  • BSB: Gators are flirtin’ with disaster

    BSB: Gators are flirtin’ with disaster

    Photo by Benjamin Fox / ChompTalk.com

    The Florida baseball team is flirting with doing something that hasn’t happened since before the Kevin O’Sullivan era began in Gainesville.

    The Gators are in danger of not making the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2007 season that saw former head coach Pat McMahon fired.

    As of Tuesday, D1Baseball.com had projected Florida in the field of 65, but lingering as one of the final five teams to make it. In fact, their midweek opponent, Florida Atlantic was projected among the first five out. Quite possibly, the two teams may have swapped spots after the Owls comeback victory in Gainesville Tuesday evening.

    But what’s holding this team back?

    Largely, the Gators are suffering from a lack of consistent quality pitching. Both the starting rotation and the bullpen has been an atrocity for much of the season.

    The stats tell a lot of the story:

    SEC Stats (Conference Rank):

    ERA: 7.48 (LAST)

    Opp Batting Average: .314 (LAST)

    Florida’s SEC ERA is so bad that the next closest team (Alabama, 6.42) is a whole run lower.

    The Gators have allowed 147 runs (128 earned) in 154 innings of work.

    Yikes!

    Sophomore Tommy Mace has easily been the most consistent starter since league play started. Even his ERA sits at 4.70 over six starts. His WHIP is 1.31, meaning he is allowing far too many baserunners to be successful.

    The other starters? Well, it only goes downhill from there.

    Jack Leftwich has been the Saturday (or game two) starter since Tyler Dyson’s demotion. Despite missing a couple of starts due to injury issues, his ERA is an eye-popping 13.91 in four SEC starts. In those four starts, Leftwich has only lasted a total of 11 innings. Opponents are hitting .459 off Leftwich. On Saturday, against LSU, Leftwich lasted one inning, gave up six earned runs and failed to record a strikeout.

    Dyson, who was actually a hero from the Gators national title team two years ago, has struggled with his command for much of the year and moved from the Friday night starter to the Sunday starter, and finally to an afterthought in the bullpen.

    The bullpen hasn’t been much better, but it’s easier for a team to begin to tee off on relievers when allotted a comfortable lead.

    The Florida hitting has actually been pretty good for much of the year. They are ranked in the top half of he SEC in all major stats.

    O’Sullivan understands the importance the final four SEC series’ represents. He made it clear that his focus is on getting his team on track.

    Florida, who is currently ranked #23 in RPI, will face Kentucky (#47 RPI), Georgia (#3 RPI), Tennessee (#8 RPI), and Missouri (#22 RPI). Each of those series represent an opportunity for Florida to improve it’s resume, but it appears that the Gators will need to win no less than seven of those games, and make a statement during the SEC tournament.

    Time hasn’t run out on the Gators, but the window is closing fast. Every win will be needed while every loss will be magnified.

    It’s time for this young team to grow up. The next four weeks will tell us what this team has. Until then, it’s probably time for the fans to temper expectations for this year. Even if the team makes the tournament, this is truly a rebuilding year.

    *All statistics per ESPN.com and current as of April 21, 2019.

    *RPI rankings per NCAA.com and as of April 22, 2019.

  • BSB: Gators drop midweek game against FAU

    BSB: Gators drop midweek game against FAU

    Photo by Benjamin Fox / ChompTalk.com

    Final: FAU 13, Florida 11

    Austin Langworthy was brought in with n opportunity to finish the night with an incredible statline. After going 4-5 and sitting just a double short of the cycle, Langworthy took the mound in the ninth with a chance to earn a save armed with an 11-9 lead.

    Langworthy walked the first batter he faced, then allowed a single to put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly and a triple later and Florida Atlantic had tied the game with the lead run sitting at third base. By the time the inning ended, FAU owned a 13-11 lead.

    The Gators, however, had a chance. The top of the lineup was due up, led by Langworthy. The top three hitters, after all, were 8-13 with two homers.

    Instead, the Gators wasted a leadoff walk with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.

    This loss was certainly not on the offense, though. The team recorded 21 hits and 11 runs. Every spot in the lineup recorded a hit with eight of the nine recording more than one hit.

    The Gators pitching combined to walk eleven Owls.

    The Owls got on the scoreboard first, but it looked like Florida had taken control with a five-run second inning, capped by Langworthy’s grand slam. FAU got three runs in the fourth frame thanks to a balk, a wild pitch, and a passed ball.

    The Gators added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to Wil Dalton’s fourth homer of the season, but the Owls responded with four more in the top of the fifth, highlighted by Bobby Morgensen’s grand slam.

    Langworthy finished with a career high six RBI, but expressed disappointment over the result, “I’d rather go 0-4 but get the win.”

    The Gators have now lost three straight and head into the stretch run of SEC play with three series’ left.

    Fast stats:

    • Langworthy: 4-5, HR, 3B, 6 RBI, BB (L 0-1)
    • Christian Flint: 3-5, 3 R
    • Jacob Young: 3-5, 2 R, RBI
    • Nelson Maldonado: 3-5
    • Gators: 5-15 RISP, .477 BA for the night (21-44)

    Florida entered the evening ranked #23 in RPI, but D1Baseball.com has the Gators as one of the last five qualifiers for the NCAA tournament.

  • FB: Mullen provides explanation of UGA troll

    FB: Mullen provides explanation of UGA troll

    Photo by David Rosenblum / Getty Images

    39,476. The announced attendance of the Florida spring game.

    Mullen had prepared the media for a troll job on April 8 when he stated, “maybe the attendance matches a score for a certain game in the season…maybe 41,014.” To be fair, the head coach had been asked if he’s ever fudged numbers for spring attendance.

    While it took several days to figure out if there was any correlation between the attendance and a rival program, it soon became discovered (by the Florida Gators subreddit page):

    It was actually one of the most epic trolls and forced people to look at Dan Mullen in a Spurrier-esque way.

    On Monday, Dan Mullen began his circuit around the state to speak with the Gators Alumni clubs. His stop in Lakeland (Polk County Gator Club) produced the first question regarding the figure.

    Mullen suggested that he wasn’t aware of it, but forced another swipe at the Florida-Georgia rivalry.

    “I had no idea,” Mullen began, “I don’t even know how they came up with that number, the most random thing ever. But everybody started freaking out about it…until three days later when someone put together enough math to figure it out.”

    Mullen continued, “maybe Georgia fans were really so uptight they haven’t won in thirty-nine years they got all uptight and tried to figure it out.”

    While the Gators suffered a 36-17 loss to Georgia in October, both teams finished in a tie for seventh place in the final AP rankings.

    The Kirby Smart-Dan Mullen rivalry doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon.

    And let’s hope not.

    As Mullen said Monday, “It was pretty funny.”

  • Weekend Observations: Gators teams encounter rough weekend

    Weekend Observations: Gators teams encounter rough weekend

    Baseball: It looked like Florida baseball had turned a corner. The team managed to light up LSU pitching to the tune of 16 runs on Thursday to stake an early claim to a huge series.

    Unfortunately, outside of freshman Cory Acton, the offense failed to show up for the remainder of the series.

    While the failures of the offense were certainly a cause for concern, the pitching staff may be even more troubling. The bullpen was atrocious, giving up 18 runs in 14.1 innings over the three game set.

    However, help may be on the way. Austin Langworthy made appearances in relief on Saturday and Sunday and made an impression. Langworthy tossed 4 innings allowing one hit while striking out three and walking one.

    One other positive from the weekend: the emergence of Acton. Despite only hitting 3-13 for the series, he did smack homers in each of the games and accounted for all the scoring in games two and three.

    Florida faces FAU on Tuesday before a weekend series against Kentucky.

    Softball: Florida softball’s eight game winning streak came to an abrupt halt on Friday as the Gators dropped both ends of a double-header before dropping the series finale to Alabama on Saturday.

    Kelly Barnhill and Elizabeth Hightower (as well as Natalie Lugo and Katie Chronister) pitched well enough to earn wins but the offense was a no-show, again.

    Outside of Amanda Lorenz and Kendyl Lindaman, the offense is non-existent. Coming into the season, the offense was expected to be explosive and was supposed to help carry a young pitching staff outside of Barnhill. That just hasn’t happened. On paper, this team entered the season deeper and more talented than almost all of the previous teams at UF.

    Too often UF hitters are finding themselves down in counts due to their patience(?) at the plate, which is forcing them to swing at pitches outside the zone.

    *Umpiring was terrible this weekend as the picture above illustrates, but the little margin that may have been gained by the calls are lost by the fact that this team has done this all season.

    Lacrosse: The highlight of the weekend was the performance of the Gators lacrosse team. Florida traveled to Connecticut and took down the Huskies 16-5 on Saturday.

    Despite allowing the opening score, the Gators reeled off four straight before eventually taking an 8-2 advantage.

    Shannon Kavanagh found the back of the net five times for her eleventh hat-trick of the season to lead the effort.

    The Gators will take on Cincinnati on Saturday with a conference title on the line. Get out to Dizney Stadium and cheer the Gators to the championship!

    Men’s Tennis: Florida fell in the SEC Tournament semifinals to Tennessee despite leading 3-1 at one point. The Gators will await the NCAA selection show on April 29 to see where they will play for to open the tournament.

    Women’s Tennis: Florida dropped an SEC Tournament quarterfinal match against South Carolina. The Gators will await their NCAA fate for the selection show on April 29.

    Misc.: Garth Brooks brought the thunder to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday. The concert was the first held at the stadium since 1994 and it was obvious by the traffic and lack of crowd control inside the stadium.

    That being said, once the show started, Garth Brooks didn’t disappoint.

    It will be interesting if UF seeks more concerts in the future, something I have strongly advocated for in the past.

    __________

    Tell us your thoughts on last weekend’s performances and where the program’s can go moving forward. Were you at the show on Saturday? Tell us what you thought of the evening in the Swamp.

  • BSB: D1Baseball projects Gators as #2 seed in Raleigh regional

    BSB: D1Baseball projects Gators as #2 seed in Raleigh regional

    Photo by Peter Aiken / Getty Images

    D1Baseball.com released their latest Field of 64 projections on Wednesday. The Gators are squarely in the field, however, the latest projection has them traveling to North Carolina as part of the Raleigh Regional, hosted by NC State.

    The prediction places Florida (25-14, 6-9) in a regional with #11 overall seed, NC State as well as UC Irvine and Elon. The Gators have not and will not face any of these teams over the course of the regular season.

    The staff at D1Baseball projects that the SEC will have eleven teams qualify for post-season, easily the most of any conference in the nation. Florida State is in, though as one of the ‘last five in’.

    The Gators RPI ranks #25 in the country, though they will have the opportunity to better that mark with (#14 RPI) LSU, (#33 RPI) Kentucky, (#6 RPI) Georgia, and (#8 RPI) Tennessee, all still on the schedule, in addition to the SEC Tournament.

    Florida will travel to LSU for a three game set with each game set to air on national television. The series runs Thursday through Saturday.

    Follow ChompTalk on social media for all the latest as the Gators make a stretch run toward postseason play.

    Note: Baseball America has UF as the #2 seed in the Stanford Regional. Stanford is the #2 overall seed in their projection.

  • SB: Barnhill’s two-hit shutout leads Gators past #4 FSU

    SB: Barnhill’s two-hit shutout leads Gators past #4 FSU

    Photo by Brian Fox / ChompTalk.com

    Final: Gators 4, FSU 0

    Tallahassee, FL- The Florida softball team avenged an earlier loss to rival Florida State with a 4-0 defeat of the Seminoles on Wednesday. The Gators have now won eight straight and have taken down Top-25 teams a nation leading 13 times this year.

    The Gators move to 37-9 with the win. Kelly Barnhill tossed a complete game, two-hitter for her 25th win of the year.

    Florida got on the board with a three-spot in the fourth. Jordan Matthews doubled off the wall in center to score pinch runner Amanda Beane. Hannah Adams followed suit with a two-run double that plated pinch runner Haven Sampson and Matthews.

    Florida added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Jordan Roberts singled in Ananda Lorenz.

    The four runs of support were more than Barnhill needed. The Gators ace allowed only two hits and walked three to a potent Seminoles lineup. Barnhill added nine strikeouts to her career tally, keeping her on pace to surpass the program record, perhaps as early as this weekend.

    Fast stats:

    • Second baseman Hannah Adams went 3-3 with a double and 2 RBI.
    • SS Sophia Reynoso finished 3-4 and made an excellent diving catch just beyond third base to end a Seminoles threat
    • Jordan Roberts went 2-3 with an RBI
    • Barnhill’s final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 9 K, 3 BB, 113 pitches

    Quotable:

    • Head coach Tim Walton: “(Kelly’s) riseball was moving well and she was locating her pitches.”
    • Walton: “A great at bat by (Jordan Matthews, she was down in the count, but made the adjustments she needed to.”
  • BSB: Gators top Jacksonville in midweek action

    BSB: Gators top Jacksonville in midweek action

    Photo by Benjamin Fox / ChompTalk.com

    Final: Florida 8, Jacksonville 4

    Gainesville, FL- The Gators defeated Jacksonville by an 8-4 score on Tuesday night to sweep the season series. Florida has now won six straight midweek games.

    The Dolphins actually opened the scoring in the first inning after a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.

    However, Florida responded quickly. Brady McConnell led off the bottom of the first with a solo blast that landed in the bleachers beyond the left field fence. The Gators would add four more runs in the frame with RBI singles coming from Wil Dalton, Cory Acton, and Jacob Young.

    Both teams settled in after the first inning and for a while it appeared as if the first inning was just a fluke. In the sixth inning, Jud Fabian broke through with an RBI single to increase the lead to 6-1.

    The Dolphins added three runs in the eighth as Angel Camacho and Cory Garrastazu each hit massive homers to cut into the deficit.

    Florida added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Jacob Young blooper up the middle plated two runs. Fabian scored the second run all the way from first base.

    Fast stats:

    • Jacob Young finished 3-4 with 3 RBI.
    • Nolan Crisp earned the win (3-1) after working 3 innings and allowing one run.
    • Nick Pogue earned the first decision of his career with a save (1). He pitched 1.1 innings to close out the win.
    • Ben Specht pitched 1.1 innings, allowing 1 hit and one walk in relief

    What’s next:

    Florida will travel to Baton Rouge for a series against LSU at one of the toughest environments in the nation.

    The Tigers are 9-6 in league play, but have only suffered three losses at home this season (20-3).

    The series starts Thursday and runs through Saturday with each game being televised nationally.

  • MBB: What is UF getting in Anthony Duruji?

    MBB: What is UF getting in Anthony Duruji?

    Photo by Chris Covatta / Getty Images

    Former Louisiana Tech forward Anthony Duruji committed to Mike White’s Florida Gators on Monday. The 6’7, 215 pounder leaves White’s former program after averaging 12.2 points and 6.2 boards in addition to 1.2 blocks each game.

    Duruji will not be available next season due to NCAA transfer rules unless he’s granted a waiver, but that seems unlikely. However, the big bodied wing will provide a versatile option for the Gators, both offensively and defensively.

    Offensive Game:

    Anthony Duruji will give White a 6’7 wing that can stretch the floor out to the three point line, or attack the basket. Duruji shot 35.9% from three ball range this past season and averaged more than one a game.

    Duruji also hit 46.7% of his field goals for the year indicating he has a good mid-range game and can drive the lane for a rim-rocking dunk or an easy lay-up.

    It’s to be seen if his offensive numbers from last season can be consistent once he faces power five opposition consistently.

    Defensive Game:

    The defensive end of play is where Duruji will likely make his biggest impact. Playing for a defensive minded coach like Mike White, he will have ample opportunity to excel. Duruji averaged more than one block a game in his first two college seasons, and averaged just under one steal per contest in his sophomore season. In a year of development, Duruji could be turned into a versatile defensive star, with the ability to guard all five positions on the floor.

    Overall Impression:

    This is a solid pickup for Florida. Mike White has preached culture and the addition of a defense-first, but steady scorer is a perfect fit.

    Duruji has the chance to be a star for the Gators, largely because he can present a difficult matchup both offensively and defensively.

  • SB: Hannah Sipos named SEC Player of the Week

    SB: Hannah Sipos named SEC Player of the Week

    Photo by Anthony Peña / ChompTalk.com

    Florida third baseman Hannah Sipos was named the SEC Player of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday.

    The freshman from Cooper City, Florida excelled during the Gators sweep of Texas A&M where she went 7-10, including her first collegiate home run on Friday.

    Per the SEC press release:

    SEC Player of the Week – Florida’s Hannah Sipos, a freshman infielder from Cooper City, Calif.,posted a .636 batting average (7-11) with two runs scored and three RBI in a 4-0 week for the Gators. Sipos batted .700 in the series sweep at Texas A&M and registered her first collegiate home run in game 1 Friday night. On the week, she posted a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .636 on-base percentage.

    Sipos was mired in a season long slump that saw her batting average dip to .142 before the weekend series. However, it appears the game is starting to slow down and as a result Sipos is heating up, something the Florida offense has desperately needed.

    Sipos has played exceptional defense, only committing two errors while manning the hot corner for Florida. Head coach Tim Walton, who has utilized Jordan Matthews and Jaimie Hoover at third occasionally for an offensive approach, has stated several times that, “Hannah is the best third baseman on our team.”

    Sipos and the Gators are currently riding a seven game winning streak and will travel to #4 Florida State for a game against the rival Seminoles on Wednesday before turning their attention to #5 Alabama this weekend.

  • SB: Barnhill, Lorenz go 1-2 overall in NPF Draft

    SB: Barnhill, Lorenz go 1-2 overall in NPF Draft

    Photo by Kristen Oliff / ChompTalk.com

    The professional softball league, National Pro Fastpitch held their College Draft on Monday. It’s no surprise that Florida All-Americans Kelly Barnhill and Amanda Lorenz were both selected, however it was a bit surprising that they were taken with the top two overall picks.

    Kelly Barnhill was chosen with the No. 1 pick by the Chicago Bandits while the USSSA Pride followed immediately by selecting Lorenz second overall.

    Barnhill entered the 2019 season with a 70-8 collegiate record and a 0.92 career ERA. Barnhill was the National Player of the Year in 2017 and earned an ESPY for her dominance.

    In 2019, Barnhill is 24-6 with a 1.52 ERA in 33 appearances.

    Amanda Lorenz is likely to set the program record for batting average as she entered her senior campaign boasting an impressive stat line of .401, 29 HR, 151 RBI, and a program record 174 walks. Lorenz was the 2018 SEC Player of the Year and was a final four candidate for NCAA Player of the Year.

    This season, the Moorpark, CA native is hitting .416 with 9 homers and 33 RBI. Lorenz has added 38 walks while only striking out ten times all season.

    The selection happened during the annual Florida Letterman Awards show, which the team attended in celebration of the success of the entire student-athlete body.

    The Bandits won both the 2015 and 2016 NPF Championships while the Pride took the title on 2018.

    The 2019 NPF season will begin May 28, however the Bandits and Pride will open the season on June 6.