I do agree with you that even on TV the strike zone was very tight, but Barco lost his cool in the 4th inning and got behind every hitter from that point on. Losers make excuses. Winners overcome adversity. 8-1 loss can't bitch about a bad call here and there, IMO. Lack of mental toughness and loss of composure is a killer. What are the Gator batters' excuses for their sorry performance? We're 3-7 in SEC play. That's not on the umps. It's on our very talented players not performing up to their abilities. This is a group of Top 5 recruiting classes who have lost their way. They are simply not very good, near the bottom of the SEC and no excuses can justify their sorry play this year.
If something doesn’t happen fast to restore this teams confidence, I suspect the train is off the tracks for the year.
Out top ranked recruiting classes don’t appear to be so great. Maybe we need to recruit based on actual talent and not rankings…
It does seem weird. I can see the recruiting gurus getting it wrong on a couple of players here and there, but Florida literally brings in a highly ranked class every year, some of whom turn down MLB money to come to Gainesville for 3 years. And yet we seem to be slipping in the SEC hierarchy. I honestly don't understand the reason(s).
Probably a combination of things: - recruiting services themselves are overrated and get things wrong - the talent peaked in high school - the talent isn’t being coached up - a level of complacency has settled in amongst the players and staff
I cant see why any player would be complacent, especially the draft eligible players. Their draft futures depend greatly on their production. The Gators haven't gotten past a regional since 2018, long before 95% of these guys were even on the team. They havent won anything of significance at Florida. However, I can see why guys that are used to being dominant and winning would be getting discourage tho. Confidence is a major factor in sports, even a difference maker.
Maybe our players need to completely shake off being complacent, shake off being discouraged, engage in the experience of maturing as players and young men and try playing pi$$ed off to the point of taking on any team or any obstacle that stands in their way to achieve their highest level of success that they are capable of—but that’s just me.
So you took a punch, throw two back da…it!!!!! To me, that is what is missing. Not on the team. No inside info. I think UF has the talent. I wonder though if UF has the pride. I am sure they do but it hasn’t been visually obvious to me.
Agree with what you say. Barco got squeezed and surprisingly only gave up a single run in the fourth. That is not why we lost. And the home plate blue was often unkind to the Arky starter as well. I especially recall one at bat to Calilao where there were two pitches near the knees I thought were strikes and he called them balls. Then the next pitch was lower and it was called a strike. We just are not playing solid baseball.
Gator baseball snapped a 6 game SEC losing skid, beating Arkansas Friday night 7-2 behind great pitching from Brandon Sproat and Blake Purnell. The Gators came into the game last in the SEC in ERA vs. SEC opponents, at over 8 runs per game. But Sproat threw over 100 pitches in 5.2 innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 walks and 1 run with 5 K's, getting 2 double plays to help his cause. Purnell threw the last 3.1 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits with no walks and 1 K. Offensively the Gators scored 2 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd and 2 in the 5th on 8 hits, 3 walks and 3 sac. flies. They got solo HR's from Wyatt Langford and BT Riopelle, who both had 2 hits on the night. Solid game and a much needed win for Florida, who improved to 20-11, 4-7 in the SEC, with the rubber game on Saturday at 1 pm on SEC+. Two interesting facts given by the announcers - When Florida gives up 5 runs or less they are 17-2. As a team we came into this game hitting, I think they said, .187 vs. SEC pitching. Saturday's game is huge and my guess is the starter will be Ryan Slater, with Johnny Wholestaff on stand-by.
UF is up to 14 in RPI with the #5 hardest schedule. They have played 18 games so far against Q1 competition (going 9-9). The 9 wins are impressive. Miami is 11-2 now in the ACC so that series victory is helping a lot!!!!
Don’t forget ( you didn’t) Perfect Game and their influence. Their ratings alone are based on how often they see kids which makes sense but it seems like they inflate things to those that have the money to pay for and travel to showcase events. I can personally speak to many kids that perform well in live action in big tournaments but don’t have the time or the money to go to showcase events. Those kids often get overlooked. I’ll take a kid that goes 7 for 12 at a monster tournament at JetBlue or the Lakepoint tournaments in Georgia over batting practice and Skill events at a showcase. When you are going against live action that really doesn’t tell me much. We had a kid at Florida just a few years ago that broke a record for most showcases attended… Physically was a very solid talent but never hit more than 290 in high school. Young man would have been a very good player at a mid major or even playing in the sunshine state conference D-2. Because he went to so many showcases and could run fast and had a pretty good arm across the infield I believe he was rated a 10. There are lots of coaches that go and watch live games and do the good old fashion Eye test. But there are still plenty that go off recruiting services and results from showcase events.
Thanks for that information as it is super important. As bad as it sounds we have to hope Florida State wins. Liberty starting to play a little better would help us a great day also. In their conference they should be dominating but they have been struggling.
You nailed it with this one sentence IMHO. For all of my years in the game as a coach this was always the best tool on my belt.
Maybe some need to just chill out and realize college baseball is a marathon not a sprint....... Add in key injuries to our top 3 recruits doesn't help either. Take a look at the results last night from teams in the top 25. More losses than wins.
Off topic a little, but Dane Dunning is starting on the mound today for the Texas Rangers against the Blue Jays.
Good points. UF does have some obvious issues with their pitching but the schedule has been (and will be) a bear. Maybe we should all give Sully a chance to get things corrected before we write this team off.
