Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Florida Baseball Has Real Chance To Host Regional

The Back Nine comes at you after a weird weekend that featured a little bit of everything, including much needed rain drops.

10. Let us start with baseball — although there are about four things I could have started with — but baseball got a much-needed series win at the No. 1 team in the country. I told my daughter this — that’s what we do at Florida, we beat No. 1s. OK, maybe I’m getting a little full of myself, but to deal with another rain delay that cost you valuable Liam Peterson innings and still win the series, well, we all said Kevin O’Sullivan would figure it out and he has. Now, Florida has a three-game series against suddenly-hot Alabama with a real chance to host a regional.

11. Aidan King makes you look forward to next year, not that some cool things can’t happen this year. Dude was money on Sunday with seven scoreless. Not bad for a freshman. It feels like with Peterson and King and Pierce Coppola available for a few innings and Jake Clemente coming out of the pen anything is possible for this team. Of course, by that I mean it could end up in Omaha or two and through.

12. Softball received a No. 3 national seed in the NCAAs and will open Friday against Mercer. It was more evidence that it doesn’t matter what you do in the conference tournament. It’s what you do all season and Florida had the strength of schedule and series wins against No. 1 Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The Gators were handed a manageable regional and could end up hosting Duke again after splitting with the Dukies at home in the regular season. Here we go.

13. I have to say that I spent an alarming part of Mother’s Day watching Florida lacrosse on The Plus. I was so into it even though there are still rules I can’t grasp. The Gators’ win against Stanford in double overtime was as intense as you can imagine and Florida moves to the Elite Eight on Thursday against … Duke. Man, it seems like Duke could be spending a lot of time in Gainesville in those two sports. Congrats to the legend Mandee O’Leary on another deep run in the tournament.

14. This is — for the 100^thtime — why I love where I live. It would be one thing if Florida was playing all of these sports to stay Title IX compliant. But Florida makes the springs fun around here between baseball and softball and lacrosse and track and everything else. There is rarely a shortage of stuff to talk about. We are coming up to the black hole, however, which is the time after the College World Series and before SEC Media Days.

15. This much I know — they better have a bunch of shuttles running this weekend. Man, with softball hosting and baseball hosting Alabama for a Thursday-Saturday series and lacrosse playing, stay away from that little corner of the world if you aren’t going there on purpose.

16. We are all waiting for that other shoe to drop as far as the Florida men’s basketball roster for next season goes. Boogie Fland? Who knows? I just know this — Todd Golden is not going away and you better get used to him.

17. The second major of the year is coming up and I have been better with my picks for golf winners than football winners. Should be a fun tournament in North Carolina, especially with the “Green Mile” finish. I’m taking Scottie Scheffler and I’ll give you the field.

18. Saturday was the day we had penciled in for our golf tournament before we decided to postpone. We figured we had dodged a bullet when it looked like it would pour. Then it didn’t until late in the day. I guess we forgot to send a memo to my parents in heaven that the tournament was delayed. Anyway, today’s playlist:

• “Bad Bad Boy” by The Coolies.
• “Ultraviolet” by Clover County.
• And for an old one, my man George Harrison’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie”.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.