“It was just too much Florida.” That’s what Florida A&M head coach Jamey Schouppe said after Friday night’s 19-0 loss to the Gators in the team’s NCAA Regional opener in Gainesville. Florida ends a six game NCAA Tournament slide thanks in part to 17 hits from 11 different Gator players. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan discussed how great this performance was after the game. “This whole thing is about how you are feeling as a player and as a club. When you get more players feeling good about themselves, the club plays better. We came off a very difficult and intense SEC Tournament and I thought we did what we needed to do. For me, I judge how we play on three phases. The swings, we didn’t give away many at bats when the score got away toward the second half of the game. We played great defense, we got a chance to get everybody in the game to get some experience, and we had great pitching. From all three phases, we were good tonight.” Florida’s ace Logan Shore was given mound rights on Friday night. Shore was solid in the game dealing five innings allowing just two hits from Florida A&M. After the game O’Sullivan said there is a possibility for Shore to pitch again in this regional if he is needed. He only threw 58 pitches in getting his eighth win this year. SEC Tournament MVP JJ Schwarz continued his hot streak against the Rattlers delivering four huge hits with an even more impressive five RBI and his 15th homer this year. Schwarz said he has just been in a rhythm at the plate these last couple weeks. Schwarz was not alone on the RBI train. Harrison Bader who took on the lead off slot in the Gator lineup had three RBI in the game. Bader seems to be
out of his slump that he carried in to the SEC Tournament. Bader had this to say about what the SEC Tournament meant to this team. “I think it prepared us a lot. To do what we did at the SEC Tournament says a lot about our club, especially after losing the first game. We’re just looking forward to playing tomorrow.” Earlier on Friday FAU was defeated by South Florida 4 to 3 and now the Gators will play the Bulls Saturday night. A.J. Puk will throw for Florida against USF’s Ryan Valdes who has five wins this season. Puk has 40 strikeouts in his last four starts. Florida matched up against USF twice in the regular season beating them by a combined score of 18-4. Live coverage of the game will be on Country 103-7 The Gator at 6:55 pm. Sound from Friday night’s post game press conference: