Top moments from Florida Gators season

Jonathan India knew he hit it well and a quick look assured him that the ball would fall into fair territory. He sprinted towards first, took a turn and without hesitation made his way to second. The freshman All-American hurled his body head first towards second, but Michael Davis’ tag was waiting for him.

The Florida Gators season ended more abruptly than The Sopranos. Cut to black.

The two and barbeque ending was the third in the last five trips for the Gators, but the ending shouldn’t define what Florida was able to accomplish in 2016.

“I certainly am proud of the way we played this year. It’s not easy to get to this point,” Kevin O’Sullivan said after his team was eliminated. “Obviously we’re all disappointed right now. But the fact of the matter is we had a hell of a year. And I’m sad to see some of these guys move on.”

There are more than 290 teams that play Division I baseball, only one gets to dog pile in Omaha and hoist the final National Championship trophy of the collegiate season. That team won’t be the Gators, but they are still the fastest team in school history to 40 wins (in 48 games), won 52 games, had eight draft picks and dozens of memorable moments since the season started in February. Let’s go back and take a look at the top 10 moments, broken up into two parts, starting at 10.

10. Jeremy Vasquez’s relay in Jacksonville

Darren Miller rocketed a ball down the right field line that sent Jeremy Vasquez — who isn’t the most fleet of foot — sprinting towards the corner in foul territory. The ball was heading towards the wall but instead of hitting the padding and taking a predictable hop back towards Vasquez, struck under the pad by a gate in foul territory. The metal gate kicked the ball down and it came to a rest. This caused Vasquez to take an extra couple of steps to retrieve the double. The sophomore reached down with his bare hand to grab the ball. He didn’t have time to step into his throw, so he turned, throwing it blindly in towards home.

Deacon Liput, who was a good 25 feet out in the outfield grass was there waiting for the toss. Liput caught Vasquez’s throw chest high, turned and fired an absolute strike to JJ Schwarz at home. Liput’s throw had to be prefect.

It was.

JJ Schwarz got the ball a step up the third base side of the plate and put a perfectly time tag on Jackson Lueck, who was trying to score from first for the final out of the inning. The play came right out of a Tom Emanski instructional video and helped secure a second win over Florida State, a series the Gators would sweep in the regular season before eliminating the Seminoles in the Gainesville Super Regional.

9. Buddy Reed steals home

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:15306940

Buddy Reed has the gift of speed. It can’t be taught and Reed takes advantage of the blessing at every opportunity. Even when he’s standing on third.

Georgia starter Connor Jones had a slow deliberate windup, so when Reed was standing on third he gave Craig Bell the nod. Bell gave Kevin O’Sullivan the look and Sully’s nod of approval set everything in motion.

With an 0-1 count and Nelson Maldonado in the box, everything had to be perfect. Reed timed it perfectly, he didn’t have time to second guess or even flinch, it had to be perfect. Buddy barreled towards home, took a step in and launched himself head first, twisting his body away from the tag as his left hand made it in safely around the tag.

No matter what level of baseball you’re watching, somebody stealing home is about as exciting as it can get on a diamond.

8. Scott Moss sends the Gators to SEC Tournament Championship

Losing to LSU in the first game of the SEC Tournament sent Florida to the loser’s bracket. Couple that with Logan Shore’s unavailability with a stomach virus and the Gators’ deep pitching staff was facing a real test in Hoover.

In stepped Scott Moss, a redshirt sophomore who had made just four starts in his career after sitting out his first two seasons following Tommy John surgery. Moss took the mound against an LSU team that had just beat Florida two out of three in Baton Rouge and were winners in 14 of their last 15 games.

The lefty didn’t seem to notice.

Moss tossed six innings of scoreless baseball, keeping a red-hot Tiger lineup on its heels. He fanned a career-high seven batters, while allowing just three hits in a 1-0 win that sent Florida to the SEC Tournament Championship game.

Moss had made 11 appearances before this start, but just two thirds of an inning against SEC competition. This was, hands down, the biggest stage he has ever pitched on, with representatives from all 32 MLB teams in the stands and it was his best performance.

7. Game one comeback at South Carolina

Florida and South Carolina were perched atop the SEC standings when the Gators made a trip to Columbia for a weekend tilt. With Logan Shore on the mound the Gators felt good, but those feelings quickly turned.

With two outs in the bottom of the first Shore walked Alex Destino. That uncharacteristic error from the SEC Pitcher of the Year was made worse when Jonah Bride launched a fastball over the wall in right field, giving the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead in the first. South Carolina added to its lead with a run in the fifth. Florida responded with two runs in the sixth but South Carolina answered with another run in the bottom half of the same inning. Florida cut the lead to 4-3 with a run in the seventh but trailed by a run as the ninth inning opened.

Jonathan India led the inning off with a solo home run, a no-doubt about it shot into the left field stands. Mike Rivera and Nelson Maldonado flied out in the now tied game, bringing Nick Horvath to the plate with two outs. The transfer from Santa Fe had entered the game in the seventh as a pinch runner for Jeremy Vasquez; this was his first at bat of the evening. Horvath sat on a 1-0 fastball and hit it into almost an identical spot as India had two batters previous, giving the Gators a 5-4 lead. Shaun Anderson came into the game in the bottom half of the ninth and retired the side to finish off the exhilarating comeback in Columbia.

6. Florida takes over Miami

The Gators traveled down to Coral Gables with a perfect 6-0 record, ready to see where they stood against the Miami Hurricanes.

Logan Shore was ready.

The junior set the tone for the weekend with a complete game, four-hit, shutout. Shore was dominant from the jump. He fanned a season-high eight batters and needed just 95 pitches to complete the game to earn his second win of the season.

The Canes evened the series, handing the Gators their first loss of the season and Alex Faedo looked to earn Florida a series win on Sunday.

Faedo almost one-upped Shore with his Sunday matinee. Faedo worked around a two-out walk in the first, striking out two. He fanned two more in the second and three in the third. Three innings complete, seven strikeouts, no hits. Another clean inning in the fourth brought his strikeout total to eight. A fielding error started the fifth, but Faedo induced a line out and struck out two more to get out of the fifth. 10 strikeouts, no hits. Faedo struck out the first two batters he faced in the sixth inning — 12 strikeouts, no hits. Faedo walked Zach Collins and got Jason Heyward to fly out before he was pulled from the game with 93 pitches. Faedo still had a no-hitter.

Kirby Snead picked up where Faedo left off. The lefty struck out two in the seventh and one more in the eighth before giving way to Shaun Anderson. The closer couldn’t hold on to the no-hitter, or the shutout, allowing three runs on three hits in the final inning. Still Florida held on to a 7-3 decision in a dominating weekend in Coral Gables.

Stay tuned, Gator Country will count down the top five moments from the 2016 season on Monday.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC