STILLWATER, Okla. — A steady downpour greeted the Gators on Thursday afternoon when they arrived at O'Brate Stadium to practice for Friday's Stillwater Regional game against Nebraska.
The inclement weather forced the Gators to take batting practice indoors and field ground balls on Oklahoma State's turf practice field, but Mother Nature or outside critics can't rain on Florida's parade entering the NCAA Tournament.
"The biggest thing we're looking at is that the regular season didn't go exactly the way we planned it to, but at this point, it no longer matters,'' senior outfielder/infielder Tyler Shelnut said. "We're in position to accomplish everything that we've been looking to accomplish for a long time. It's just about taking care of business and what's in front of us now."
Florida (28-27), the No. 3 seed in the regional, made the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in 16 opportunities under head coach Kevin O'Sullivan. The nation's No. 1 strength of schedule and series wins over Southeastern Conference foes Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State and Georgia certainly helped.
Still, a season after playing in the College World Series championship against LSU, the Gators were scrutinized for whether they deserved to be in the tournament. Critics suggested that teams like California, College of Charleston and TCU, all with better regular-season records than Florida, deserved more than sitting at home.
The Gators don't want to hear it.
O'Sullivan watched several games on Sunday, including Nebraska's win over Penn State for the Big Ten Tournament championship. He was confident despite what others were saying.
"I never felt like we were on the bubble. I kept looking at the projections – last four in, last four out – we were never quite in that group,'' he said. "But I did know that things can change pretty drastically or quickly on that last day if some bids were going to be stolen. I'm not going to make any apologies or any excuses.
"I certainly believe we deserve to be in."
The Gators never wavered from that approach, driving back from the SEC Tournament last week following a first-round loss to Vanderbilt. The team took a day off, then returned to practice, preparing for another trip to the postseason.
Once the official word arrived Monday afternoon, their mindset hardened.
"We're definitely a battle-tested group,'' said junior Jac Caglianone on Thursday. "Having the No. 1 strength of schedule, it brings out really everything about your team. We fight constantly day in and day out."
Caglianone traded text messages with former Gators standout and big-leaguer Matt LaPorta on Wednesday night after the team arrived in Oklahoma. The message was similar to the one former All-American catcher Mike Zunino delivered to the team earlier this season: stay in the moment and keep your eyes on the prize.
Caglianone and Shelnut expressed similar sentiments on Thursday after practice, determined to put the past to bed and embrace the opportunity to prove doubters wrong.
"We beat some really good teams, and I think we've proven that there's nobody in the country that we can't beat when we're playing really good baseball," Shelnut said. "That's given us confidence that we've seen just about all that college baseball has to offer as far as talent and that if we play our best baseball, we can beat anybody."
Meanwhile, O'Sullivan knows what must happen for his team to play spoiler against Nebraska (39-20), which enters the NCAA Tournament carrying its first Big Ten Championship trophy since moving to the league in 2012. The Gators must get extended innings from their starting pitchers and come through at the plate when it matters most, starting on Friday afternoon against Cornhuskers right-hander Brett Sears (9-0, 2.00 ERA, 99 IP, 62 H, 18 BB, 97 SO).
Florida is starting freshman right-hander Liam Peterson (2-4, 5.83 ERA, 54 IP, 53 H, 29 BB, 63 SO). Peterson has pitched well in his last two outings, surrendering only four runs over a combined 11 1/3 innings in a win over Kentucky and a no-decision against Georgia.
"I knew there was going to be some points where he was going to have to learn and overcome some obstacles because we were going to continue to throw him out there on the weekend regardless of the outcome,'' O'Sullivan said. "He's one of the more talented freshmen that I've ever had. He's gotten through it, and he's learned a lot."
Peterson turned a corner in O'Sullivan's eyes on April 19 at Vanderbilt when he escaped trouble by pitching better with runners on base, a weakness early in the season. He received a no-decision but limited the Commodores to two hits and a run over three innings. Florida's starting pitching, a consistent strength of the program under O'Sullivan, has been a sore spot in 2024. UF's starters are 11-19 with a collective 6.91 ERA.
Regardless of what Peterson does on Friday, the Gators need to make Sears uncomfortable, a challenge few teams have passed. A struggling reliever a season ago, Sears was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year.
"You're not going to get a lot of good pitches to hit, so you've just got to be ready for them,'' said Caglianone, whose 29 home runs rank second in the country. "He lives around the zone. Nothing crazy or overwhelming when it comes to velo or anything like that, but he definitely knows how to attack hitters and be around the zone."
The Gators had to make the NCAA Tournament to return to Omaha. Now that they have, they want to stay for a while.
Getting off to a good start on Friday is at the top of their to-do list.
"It's been an interesting year, to say the least,'' O'Sullivan said. "It's been frustrating. To speak candidly, it's just been a team that, for whatever reason, has not been able to sustain some momentum. With that being said, everybody's got a clean slate. You're basically five wins away from getting to the World Series again.
"We're capable, there's no question."
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