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Florida Gators sophomore Kelly Barnhill pitched her way into the university’s record books on 2017. On Wednesday, Barnhill was awarded with an ESPY Award as the Top Female College Athlete of the Year.
Barnhill finished the year 26-4 with a nation-leading 0.51 ERA. In 193.2 IP, Barnhill struck out a whopping 359 batters. Opposing hitters only hit at a .121 clip against the right handed.
Barnhill was named College Player of the Year following the regular season. Barnhill led the 2017 Gators to the Championship Series at the Women’s College World Series.
Tim Tebow continues to prove the baseball prognosticators wrong. Entering Wednesday, Tebow has hit safely in nine straight games. He is hitting .318 since being promoted to High-A ball. Tebow has hit two home runs and has a .912 on base plus slugging percentage.
MID 7: Hammerheads 1, Mets 0. Tebow singles in the 7th to extend his hitting streak to 9 games. #STLMets
In Tebow’s last ten games, he has seen his average fall despite the hitting steak. He has hit just .273 in that time frame, but still well above the .222 he hit in Columbia.
It’s unlikely Tebow’s streak will last much longer, however it is a testament to his athletic ability that he has had this much success. It’s certainly not time to rule him out of possibly earning a promotion to Double-A Frisco before the season ends.
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Former Florida LHP AJ Puk pitched for Team USA in the MLB All-Stars Future Game on Sunday. Despite a shaky outing Puk earned the save in the 7-6 victory over the World All-Stars.
Puke entered the game in the ninth inning and pitched 2/3 inning while allowing two runs (one earned). Puk also walked one hitter.
Puk has struggled since being promoted to Double-A Midland. In three starts he is 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA. His command has been his undoing as he has walked nearly the same number of hitters as he has struck out (9:12).
Puk is still regarded as a top prospect in baseball and is widely considered the #2 prospect in the Oakland A’s organization.
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Preston Tucker climbed the ranks of professional baseball fairly quickly after graduating from Florida in 2012. Tucker played in the Major Leagues in 2015 and 2016 for extended periods.
Tucker was a seventh round pick by Houston, and has hit 17 home runs to go along with 41 RBI in his major league career.
Tucker is currently playing for the Astros’ Triple-a affiliate in Fresno. He is hitting .274 with 14 home runs and a team leading 62 RBI.
Tucker is stuck behind a loaded Houston outfield that includes all-star George Springer.
It is possible that Tucker could be moved in a trade that would allow regular playing time at the MLB level. The MLB Trade Deadline is at 4:00 PM EST on July 31.
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Former Florida catcher Mike Zunino had easily the best month of his career in June. The 3rd overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft hit .304 in 24 games in June. His OPS of 1.092 led the American League. Zunino also hit 10 home runs and drove in 31 runs for the Mariners.
Zunino, who has more than 1,300 major league at bats, had recently been demoted to Triple-A Tacoma, but hit well upon being called back up.
The numbers appear to be nothing more than an aberration as Zunino (a career .199 hitter) has cooled off dramatically. In his last 10 games he has managed only three base hits and seen his average fall from .240 to .223.
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Alex Faedo was a guest on Sportscene with Steve Russell on ESPN Radio: 98.1 WRUF-FM Gainesville on Tuesday.
Faedo talked about the feeling of winning the university’s first baseball championship and his first impressions of the Detroit Tigers organization.
Faedo also discussed the Tigers’ organization’s plans for him. Faedo said that due to the large number of innings he pitched with the Gators, he has been shut down for the remainder of the year.
Faedo said he will be in Lakeland getting himself ready for Spring Training next year.
If history repeats itself, the Gators will win the National Championship.
Via Getty Images: Florida head coach Jim McElwain celebrated after defeating LSU in November 2016.
The University of Florida officially announced that LSU will be their 2017 Homecoming opponent on Thursday. The game will be played October 7 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The Gators choice of LSU is surprising as Florida typically schedules Vanderbilt as their homecoming game when playing the Commodores at home.
However, Florida and their cross-division rivals from Baton Rouge have taken their rivalry to a whole new level in the last year.
In case you don’t remember, Florida postponed the matchup last year as Hurricane Matthew was barreling toward the Florida coast with a trajectory aimed straight for Gainesville. LSU offered to move the game to Baton Rouge or play either Sunday or Monday in Gainesville.
The storm took a surprise turn to the North and East and ultimately missed Gainesville, but the damage was done. LSU fans and players called the Gators out for being too scared to play, not realizing that a majority of the Gators players were from areas affected by the storm.
In the aftermath, LSU AD Joe Alleva refused to negotiate with UF AD Jeremy Foley. Alleva didn’t want LSU to lose a home game to reschedule the game. Eventually, Florida gave in and traveled to Louisiana for an important game in the SEC East standings.
The Gators won the game on a 4th down goal-line stand and celebrated winning the East on the LSU field.
Too add fuel to the fire in the rivalry, the Tigers were forced to move their spring game inside after lightning was spotted in the area.
Florida football’s official Twitter account made sure to notice tweeting at LSU Football (and since deleted) “Safety first.”
Scheduling LSU as the homecoming opponent though, may be the most epic moment of shade-throwing ever since homecoming typically is against a team you expect to win, and win big. Remember, this game wasn’t even supposed to be played in Gainesville this year.
History is on Florida’s side as well. Florida has played LSU twice for Homecoming. Once in 1996 and again in 2006. Gators fans will remember that in each game both teams were ranked in the top 15, and Florida won those games.
Not only did Florida win those games, they went on to win the National Championship in both years.
With the way the Gators schedule has lined up this year, with all their difficult games being at home (Not including Michigan in Dallas), if history repeats itself, the Florida Gators will win the 2017 NCAA National Championship.
Photo courtesy of Jason Beck, Detroit Tigers beat writer for MLB.com
Faedo officially signs with Tigers
The Detroit Tigers announced the signing of first round pick Alex Faedo on Wednesday. Faedo was the ace of a dominant Florida pitching staff that won the programs first NCAA National Championship last month.
The #Tigers today announced the club has agreed to terms with Alex Faedo from the University of Florida.
Faedo met with the media shortly after the signing was announced.
MLB Pipeline reports that Faedo’s signing bonus is $3.5 million. The 18th pick value is at $3,214,600, so Faedo did negotiate a better bonus after a stellar postseason at Florida.
Faedo was named the 2017 Most Outstanding Player at the College World Series after striking out 22 batters in 14.1 innings.
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Tebow hits second homer in High-A ball
Photo courtesy of @stluciemets via Twitter
Tim Tebow continued his hot hitting with the St. Lucie Mets on Wednesday. Tebow hit a solo home run in the third inning to stretch the Mets lead on the Charlotte Stone Crabs to 7-0. The Mets would win the game 8-4.
Just a day earlier the Mets announced attendance of 6,974 was the second highest total to ever see the team.
In the finale of a three game set with the Fort Myers Miracle, an announced attendance of 9,478 set a myriad of Florida State League records.
But most importantly, Tebow is not only succeeding, but he is thriving on playing in front of his “home” fans. Tebow is hitting a robust .360 in nine games since being promoted to High-A ball. He is also seeing the ball better as he has walked six times and has only struck out in five appearances. Tebow’s OPS (albeit a small sample size) is an incredible 1.140.
Turns out, he may actually be able to play this game a little.
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Harrison Bader has homered in three straight games for Memphis Redbirds
Former Florida Gators outfielder Harrison Bader hit a home run in his third straight game for the Memphis Redbirds in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League on Thursday. His 17th homer of the year gives him the highest amount in the St. Louis organization.
Bader is rated as the #6 prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system.
The 23 year old Bader is the most recent Gator to be on the cusp of a big league promotion as he is hitting .303 with 16 home runs and 41 RBI entering the day. Bader was a third round pick by St. Louis in the 2015 Draft but could see a “Major” promotion coming soon.
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Josh Tobias learning at Double-A
Josh Tobias was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 10th round in the 2016 Draft, but was traded to the Boston Red Sox after one season in the organization.
Tobias began the year playing in High-A Salem. However, after cruising to a fast start (.345 batting average), Tobias was promoted to Double-A Portland.
Since joining the Sea Dogs, Tobias has struggled to find consistency at the plate. In 47 games he’s hitting only .264 with a home run and 22 RBIs.
Tobias was the sure handed third baseman for the Gators for three years, but moved to second base since becoming a professional. His excellent glove work has only resulted in only one error since being promoted.
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Thanks for reading The Gator Chomp Blog’s update on former Gators in their pursuit of the major leagues. If you would like an update on any former player, please just leave a comment either here or on the Facebook page here.
The promotion was met with much skepticism as Tebow only hit at a .222 clip in his time in Low-A baseball.
Less than a week into his promotion, Tebow is proving his critics wrong. Tebow was expected to begin playing in the familiar orange and blue uniforms of the Mets on Tuesday, but the weather had a different idea. Instead, Tebow was able to watch the Florida Gators win the baseball National Championship.
When St. Lucie did finally play Palm Beach in a double-header on Wednesday, Tebow did not disappoint the sell-out crowd.
Batting seventh in the order for game one, Tebow finished 1-2 with a single and a walk. The Mets lost 5-2 but the crowd at FirstData Field was amped the entire game.
In game two of the evening, Tebow hit a 2-run bomb for his first home run in High-A ball. Tebow finished the game 3-5 while batting seventh in the Mets lineup.
It didn’t take Tim Tebow long to get his first home run since his promotion to high-A ball. pic.twitter.com/nuE9jNZ0vw
On Thursday, Tebow continued making highlights. This time, it was a fantastic play in left field. In the top of the fifth inning Palm Beach second baseman Luke Dykstra hit a soft blooper to left. Tebow came in and made a terrific tumbling catch for the out. Tebow finished the game 2-4 at the dish.
Tebow wasn’t done though. To continue his torrid pace both batting and fielding, Tebow made an amazing catch to rob Fort Myers power hitting first baseman Zander Wiel of a home run in the bottom of the first inning.
Tebow is hitting .556 (5-9) entering Friday. He has also struck out only one time while taking a free pass to first twice.
Obviously these stats are unsustainable, but if Tebow can be decent offensively and defensively he can start to silence many of his critics. His home run this week put him ahead of Michael Jordan’s career total in a fraction of the at-bats.
JJ Schwarz was a constant in the middle of the Florida Gators offense for the last three years. And according to his Instagram account, he will return for his senior year.
The 6-2, 215 lb catcher/first baseman from Palm Beach Gardens, FL was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 38th round (1,129th pick overall) of this months MLB Draft.
Schwarz saw his draft stock fall since his freshman year when he was named NCAA Freshman of the Year with a 1.027 OPS. He has seen his OPS fall drastically since. In 2017 Schwarz’s OPS was .795.
Schwarz has 37 career home runs and 189 career RBIs to go along with a .293 batting average.
Schwarz will anchor a Gators lineup in 2018 that loses only a few pieces in an attempt at repeating their National Championship of 2017.
Kevin O’Sullivan won his first NCAA Championship on Tuesday. Just three days later, O’Sullivan was named the NCAA Coach of the Year by d1baseball.com.
Florida finished the season 52-19 improving Sully’s overall record at Florida to 448-208 in ten seasons at the helm.
O’Sullivan has been targeted by several other schools over the last few years including his alma mater Clemson in 2015. Earlier this month, O’Sullivan was mentioned to be a candidate for the open South Carolina job.
Florida’s World Series victory and the fact that South Carolina appears to be set to hire South Florida’s Mark Kingston seem to have squelched those rumors for the time being.
The Florida Gators are the 2017 National Champions. Florida defeated LSU 6-1 in the deciding game two behind the arms of freshman Tyler Dyson, sophomore Michael Byrne, and sophomore Jackson Kowar.
The Gators have been to the College World Series in six of the last eight years, but this was the first championship in over 100 years of Florida baseball.
Florida had previously played in the Championship Series twice losing to Texas in two games in 2005 and losing to South Carolina in 2011.
Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who has been the subject of rumors involving the job opening at South Carolina, earned his first Championship in his tenth year with the Gators.
The Gator Chomp Blog will have much more including pictures from the Championship celebration in Gainesville tomorrow evening.
*More to come*
On Monday, the Florida Gators accomplished something that had never been done in the more than 100 year history of Florida baseball. The Gators won a game in the CWS Championship Series.
Florida defeated LSU in game one 4-3 and now stands only one win from hoisting the Championship trophy.
Where would Florida be without the emergence of closer Michael Byrne?
Byrne recorded his program record 19th save by pitching two innings in relief of Brady Singer. Byrne allowed only one hit and worked quickly and efficiently throwing 28 pitches and only six balls out of the strike zone.
Byrne started the ninth inning by striking out Michael Papierski who bashed two home runs in LSU’s most recent game against Oregon State.
Byrne lowered his team-leading ERA to 1.70 over 74.1 innings of work. Byrne has allowed opposing hitters to reach base at a .220 clip on the season.
Byrne and his high 80s fastball will continue to be a vital part of the Gators bullpen as Florida will utilize freshman Tyler Dyson as Tuesday’s starter. And despite the odds, Byrne has given Gator Nation no reason to believe he can’t continue this incredible run for at least one more night.
Big 3 Basketball debuted on Sunday in Brooklyn after months of hype. The 3-on-3 basketball league formed by Ice Cube saw competitive basketball in a packed Barclays Center.
Here’s an animated @IceCube to lay down the game’s ground rules. See how it all goes down tomorrow night, 8p ET, only on @FS1. pic.twitter.com/xiXeYrDMZL
However, Opening Day did come with it’s issues. Two of the league’s top players, including former Florida Gator star Jason Williams, were injured, with their status unknown.
Williams went down with a non-contact right leg injury that occurred late in the 3 Headed Monsters victory over the Ghost Ballers.
Williams came to the University of Florida from Marshall when Billy Donovan was hired. In 20 games, “White Chocolate” averaged 17.1 points and 6.7 assists per game. In February of 1998, Donovan suspended Williams for the remainder of the year after his third infraction involving marijuana. Williams entered the NBA Draft following that incident.
Williams spent 12 seasons in the NBA playing for Sacramento, Memphis, Miami, and Orlando. He averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 assists over the course of his career.
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