Florida baseball's turn around feels real after series win over No. 5 Arkansas

USA Today

29-04-2025

Florida baseball's turn around feels real after series win over No. 5 Arkansas
Florida baseball's comeback has been quiet. Since starting SEC play 1-11, the Gators have won seven of nine games against the conference. The first two series came against a pair of the only three SEC teams ranked lower than Florida in most systems, but conference No. 2 Arkansas was a true test over the final weekend of April.
The Gators claimed the series against No. 5-ranked Razorbacks with a 9-5 rubber match victory Sunday afternoon. Florida took an early series lead on Friday night behind a career night from Liam Peterson, but a 7-0 loss on Saturday evened things up and put the Gators at a disadvantage on the mound. A five-man contingent of UF bullpen arms navigated around a rough second inning Sunday, and the Orange and Blue eventually overcame a four-run deficit with runs in every frame but the third.
Now 8-13 against the SEC with nine conference games left, Florida can go one game over .500 and finish the regular season with decent odds at the NCAA Tournament. Because UF beat No. 8 FSU in the season series and the SEC expanded over the offseason, Florida's magic number figures to be 13 conference wins. A three-game sweep against South Carolina next weekend would likely allow one-win series finishes against No. 1 Texas and No. 16 Alabama to close things out. Kevin O'Sullivan's squad, as always, aims to win all the games, but there's no need to white-knuckle things as observers.
Injuries have made it difficult for Kevin O'Sullivan and Florida's coaching staff to determine the best lineup and starting rotation for the Gators, but the group they have going out now is consistently beating quality opponents under pressure. There are holes and maybe this isn't a Gators team destined to finish as a Final Four team in Omaha, but they didn't look like an SEC team a month ago and could have missed the playoffs entirely.
Things have turned around, and there's still work to do for Florida to keep Sully from missing the postseason for the first time as a Gator, but here's a look at the big changes made over the past month.
The lineup change
The easiest change to point to is the top of the lineup. Bobby Boser has thrived in the leadoff spot, batting 18-43 (.419) and jumping nearly 30 points in batting average since assuming those duties. Colby Shelton (15-35, .429) is just as hot as Boser since that Missouri series shakeup to the lineup that landed him in the two-hole, freshman Brendan Lawson (16-38, .421) has followed the trend of climbing 20-30 points in batting average and Luke Heyman is one of the better SEC clean-up hitters even if he's trending down over the past week or two.
Boser just likes to be in the batter's box, so getting him up first and leading the offense has done a lot for this lineup. Shelton is still looking for the home run pop and not the double pop, but he's one of the most consistent hitters in the conference and should be hitting second in any version of Florida's lineup. Hitting the true freshman Lawson is a bold move for a so-called old-school coach like Sully, but the Canadian kid is a ballplayer and among Florida's best hitters even when he's going through a slump.
Heyman lost the team batting crown against the SEC to Shelton over the weekend, but he's still the guy you want at the plate with two on and the game in the balance. As majestic as Brody Donay's home runs can be, Heyman's come more consistently, with a better strikeout-to-walk ratio and in dramatic moments. He loves showing up against a rival, or top-5 team such as Arkansas. It's in Heyman's blood to compete, and he's visibly stepped as the BT Riopelle leader behind the plate that a young pitching staff needs. However far this group goes, these four at the top of the order are going to be remembered as the engine that got them there.
Figuring out the roster around injuries
Injuries have been an easy talking point all season to explain Florida's woes. Pierce Coppola went down, sabotaging the starting rotation; Frank Menendez went down, crushing the bullpen; Kyle Jones and Cade Kurland have been out for most of the year and Florida simply wasn't plugging the holes as quickly as they came. But none of that has mattered much in recent weeks now that the Gators have found answers, even if temporary, to each of those question marks.
Justin Nadeau has been Florida's most fortunate offensive player with Kurland going down. Although he went 0-for-20 over a week in March, Nadeau is ending April on a 10-game hit streak, excluding the Stetson game where Landon Stripling pinch hit for him in his first plate appearance. Nadeau has kept Lawson from leaving first base, so he's defensively solid — even if there have been a few mistakes at second so far.
Kurland figured to be a key bat at the top of the order for Florida, and Boser and Co. have done a nice job filling in for him, as mentioned above. But things were a bit ugly without Kurland to start, and his delayed injury designation prevented Nadeau or another player from claiming the position earlier in the year.
Clemente finds his role
Coppola's injury happened on the first day of March and moving Aidan King into a weekend starter spot would have happened at some point, but Jake Clemente and Peterson both dealt with injuries in the first month of the season that delayed Kevin O'Sullivan from figuring out his pitching staff.
Peterson being the ace was always the plan, but King was the de facto No. 1 for almost a month because he'd simply been there more regularly. In recent weeks, Peterson has shown how the maturity that comes with a year of college ball makes him the top dog, but finding an heir apparent before being at full strength together will have its benefits — if not later on this year, then next season when both are still leading the weekend rotation.
Coppola will return at some point and reclaim the Sunday spot, but Sully has found starter innings from Clemente out of the bullpen. Clemente is Florida's unofficial closer who can throw three innings to hold a four-run lead or come in with two outs and a man on in a one-run game. His ability to go multiple frames has paid off plenty since moving to the bullpen, and he's thrown 12 innings with five saves over as many appearances since April 8 against Florida State.
Had Clemente given 12 innings of one-run ball over the three starts he would have made over the same period, Gator Nation would have labeled him a more effective player. Still, the Gators wouldn't be where they are without Clemente and Sully finding the way to use him most effectively. Coppola won't have to go more than three innings at any point this year if Clemente can stick to the plan Florida used against Arkansas — two saves, 5 2/3 innings. Billy Barlow, Luke McNeillie and Alex Philpott have eaten the bulk of the innings in place of Coppola, but adding him and a left-hander to the mix would be nice.
Gotta maintain this momentum
Of course, Florida is dealing with more new injuries coming out of the Arkansas series, namely a wrist problem for starting shortstop Colby Shelton. It kept him out of the Gators' lineup on Sunday, when every Florida starter hit safely for the Gators. Boser made the start at shortstop in place of Shelton, who is dealing with a wrist injury, according to Nick Marcinko of Gators Country. The Gators can't afford to lose their top hitter and defensive anchor up the middle, but the current setup is Boser at short, Brendan Lawson at third base and Landon Stripling at first base. The left side performed well with a combined five hits for Florida in the win, but there's a clear defensive dropoff in the field, even if it's simply a result of a lack of practice time together.
However long Shelton needs to return for Florida can't be rushed. Stripling was already adding to the offense, and Lawson will figure out third base if he wants to eventually play shortstop. Moving Boser to the most important infield spot is some good damage control, and he's going to hit well enough to cover up most of his mistakes.
Blake Cyr could also be better against the SEC. He's batting .200 with a .639 OPS through 20 games. Ashton Wilson (.196 AVG, .697 OPS) and Hayden Yost (.222, .653) are the other outfield options with Kyle Jones hurt, and Ty Evans (.200, .631) is still slowly returning from injury, too.
One more arm to rely on
The Coppola plan spelled out two sections above assumes the redshirt junior will return at some point, but he's missed most of his career with injuries. Planning for life without Coppola isn't a bad idea, but it's clear that Kevin O'Sullivan doesn't have a go-to guy beyond the six listed above. McNeillie is a legitimate SEC arm, but Barlow and Philpott are still hit-or-miss guys who have 15 innings against the conference under their belts.
Getting Jackson Barberi (8.0 IP vs. SEC, 11.25 ERA), Caden McDonald (7.1 IP, 9.82 ERA) or Christian Rodriguez (4.1 IP, 14.54 ERA) in the mix regularly would be a huge relief cushion for the Gators. All are righties, but Florida doesn't have a good lefty option behind Frank Menendez (out for season) and McCall Biemiller, who has taken on the specialist role. Jacob Gomberg has struggled a ton in three appearances, Niko Janssens hasn't thrown in a game since April 1 and Mason Laurito hasn't thrown this year.
That leaves the three righties to battle it out for that open spot in the bullpen. Barberi and Barlow both make starts, but the former is strictly a midweek starter. Barlow appears to be the favorite here, but McDonald has emerged as a redshirt freshman candidate for more time after giving up one earned run over 11 1/3 innings in April. Rodriguez could be an impact one-inning arm that comes in twice a weekend, but he's still figuring out some things after Tommy John. The changeup-fastball velocity difference can be shut down kind of stuff, but the location and feel has to be there, too.
What's next?
There are 10 games left in the regular season: three games in Columbia against South Carolina this weekend, a midweek matchup with USF in Gainesville on Tuesday, a three-game away series at No. 1 Texas next weekend and a final three-game series back at home against No. 16 Alabama.
A 4-0 run to start this 10-game stretch would be ideal. South Carolina is in the mix of SEC teams worse than Florida on paper, so the goal needs to be to sweep with the floor set at a two-win series victory. Losing to South Florida can't happen this late in the season, but it wouldn't affect Florida as much as an SEC loss would. Taking one from Texas on the road will feel like a win, but getting a true series win would make the end of the season much more relaxed.
In the best-case scenario, Florida walks into the season-ending series with Alabama at 12 SEC wins, maybe 13 if UF sweeps Texas. In either scenario, the Gators wouldn't need to win the series, but that 13-win threshold is important to meet. The worst-case scenario is that Florida drops at least five of six against South Carolina and Texas and needs to sweep Alabama to have a percentage point's chance of making a regional.
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