Tyler Thompson leaves Florida baseball team

The Florida Gators baseball team has suffered a major blow more than a month before its season opener.

Senior speedster Tyler Thompson will not play this season. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Jupiter (Fla) Tequesta High was set to man center field this season and suffering a season-ending knee injury that required surgery last March.

It was the second time in his career that he has suffered a torn ACL. The University of Florida put out a release on Wednesday that did not clarify the reason Thompson would not play, simply stating that he is leaving the program.

Thompson, who received a medical hardship last season, was batting .319 with 12 runs, four stolen bases and a pair of homers. The Gators were 13-1 in the games Thompson had played in.

After his junior season in 2011, Thompson opted to return for his senior season despite being drafted in the 46th round by the Washington Nationals. He finishes his UF career with a .280 batting average with 65 runs, 11 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 64 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.

The Gators open 2013 with a three-game home series against Duke beginning on Feb. 15.

mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.