Good morning, Gator Nation:
The 2009-2010 collegiate sports season only has a few weeks remaining, but these could be some very good weeks if you are a Florida Gator:
1. HOLY TOLEDO! Just in time for the baseball postseason, the Florida Gators got an early Christmas gift – the return of Tommy Toledo from the horrifying incident on March 14 when he was hit in the face by a line drive while pitching for the Gators against Charleston Southern. As our Cody Jones reports, Toledo pitched a complete inning Wednesday in Florida’s 7-3 victory over Florida Atlantic, and Toledo needed just nine pitches to get three outs. The likelihood is that Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan will put Toledo, who started the season as the team’s ace, in the bullpen to give it some strength as the postseason nears. “It’s just obstacles,” Toledo told Jones. “There’s just some things you have to deal with. Baseball is like that, and life is like that also. There’s obstacles you’ve got to get over and it’s just a speed bump in the road.” That’s the kind of attitude the Gators will need if they hope to go deep into the postseason and end up in Omaha, Neb., at the College World Series. Welcome back Tommy.
2. NO PLACE LIKE HOME I: If the Gators play their cards right, they probably will receive one of the top 8 seeds for the upcoming NCAA tournament when they are announced on May 30. In the latest NCAA Baseball Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) released Tuesday, Florida is No. 2 behind Arizona State. Last season the Gators got the No. 8 seed, which guaranteed them a Super Regional hosting spot if they won their opening regional, which they did. But as you remember, Southern Mississippi came to Gainesville and stunned the Gators to win the trip to Omaha, Neb. As of now, the regional tournament hosts, if you go by this week’s RPI, would be: Arizona State (1), Florida (2), Virginia (3), Louisville (4), Texas (5), Coastal Carolina (6), Arkansas (7), UCLA (8), Miami, Fla. (9), Cal State Fullerton (10), Georgia Tech (11), Florida State (12), Clemson (13), Texas Christian (14), Louisiana State (15), Vanderbilt (16). That’s four schools from the SEC, five from the ACC, two from the Pac-10 and one each from the Big East, Big South, Big West, Mountain West and Big 12.
3. NO PLACE LIKE HOME II: If things go according to seeding, the eight super regional series (best-of-three games) would be: (16) Vanderbilt at (1) Arizona State; (15) Louisiana State at (2) Florida; (14) Texas Christian at (3) Virginia; (13) Clemson at (4) Louisville; (12) Florida State at (5) Texas; (11) Georgia Tech at (6) Coastal Carolina; (10) Cal State Fullerton at (7) Arkansas; and (9) Miami, Fla. at (8) UCLA. The winner of those eight super regionals move on to Omaha for the final College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium (next year, the tournament moves to a new stadium in Omaha).
4. BASEBALL BRACKETOLOGY: ESPN’s Jeremy Mills put together a mock bracket for the upcoming NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. He had Florida as the No. 4 seed and the host to The Citadel (Southern), Bethune-Cookman (Mid-Eastern) and Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun). Last year, the NCAA sent Jacksonville (Atlantic Sun), Bethune-Cookman and Miami to Gainesville. The Gators survived Bethune-Cookman 8-7 and then used an 8-2 victory over the Hurricanes to send them to the losers’ bracket from where they emerged to play the Gators again. Florida won the second meeting as well, this time by a 16-5 count. Unfortunately, Southern Miss grabbed the tickets to Omaha by posting 9-7 and 7-6 victories.
5. NO PLACE LIKE HOME III: Coach Tim Walton’s softball Gators are in Fayetteville today to play Auburn in the first round of the SEC Tournament. The Gators have the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind regular-season champion Alabama, which opens against Arkansas. It likely won’t matter if the Gators win the tournament or not. Their RPI standing is also good enough to keep them home for the regional and super regional rounds, as long as they win, of course. In the Softball RPI standings released Tuesday, the top 16 teams are: Alabama (1), Washington (2), Michigan (3), Florida (4), Georgia Tech (5), UCLA (6), Arizona (7), Texas (8), Louisiana State (9), Missouri (10), Oklahoma (11), Georgia (12), California (13), Texas A&M (14), Arizona State (15) and Hawaii (16). Last year, the Gators were regional hosts to Florida A&M (Mid-Eastern), Lehigh (Patriot) and Texas A&M (Big 12). Florida knocked off FAMU 12-0 and then Texas A&M 7-1 and beat Lehigh in the championship 9-0.
6. NO PLACE LIKE HOME IV: Using this week’s RPI standings, if things held to form, the super regional (best-of-three) matchups would be: (16) Hawaii at (1) Alabama; (15) Arizona State at (2) Washington; (14) Texas A&M at (3) Michigan; (13) California at (4) Florida; (12) Georgia at (5) Georgia Tech; (11) Oklahoma at (6) UCLA; (10) Missouri at (7) Arizona; and (9) Louisiana State at (8) Texas. Ironically, the Gators’ Super Regional opponent last season as California, and if you recall, Mother Nature rained out the first day of the Super Regional. So the teams played a pair of games on May 24 and Florida won 2-0 and 2-1. Stacey Nelson picked up the victories (her 38th and 39th of the season), pitching a complete-game four-hitter in the opener thanks to 13 strikeouts and then relieving Stephanie Brombacher and throwing five innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts.
7. THE MONTH OF MAY: When I lived up north in Indiana, the Month of May meant one thing – the Indianapolis 500. Now that I live here in Florida, the Month of May means spring football at Florida’s high schools, and I’ve had a lot of enjoyment reading the high school updates by Justin Wells. I’m biased, of course, when I say that no one does it better than Justin. I’m sure you’ll agree. Check out his recruiting stories and buzzes. Keep up the good work, Justin. You are indeed the Hardest Working Man in Recruiting!
8. TENNIS ANYONE?: The Gators’ tennis teams are home this weekend to host the first and second rounds of their respective NCAA tournaments. In the women’s regional, coach Roland Thornqvist’s third-seeded Gators (24-2) meet Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion South Carolina State (16-5) Friday afternoon at 2 in Linder Stadium following the match between Washington (11-5) and Utah (17-7) that begins at 11 a.m. The winners come back Saturday to determine who goes to Athens, Ga., for the NCAA team Round of 16. The Gators are led by two outstanding freshmen in Allie Will and Lauren Embree and two wily veterans in Anastasia Revzina and Marrit Boonstra. Coach Andy Jackson’s sixth-seeded Gators (19-4) will play South Carolina State (11-10) at noon Saturday following a first-round match between Auburn (11-2) and Troy (20-4) at 9 a.m. The winners return Sunday at 2 to play for the berth in the NCAA Round of 16 in Athens. Junior Alexandre Lacroix, senior Antoine Benneteau, sophomore Joey Burkhardt and freshmen Bob Van Overbeek and Sekou Bangoura Jr.
9. MY TWO CENTS: Psst! Buddy Alexander. Here’s a scouting report for the Notre Dame Warren Golf Course that your Gators will encounter in their Midwest Regional assignment May 20-22. The course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, opened in 2000 just before I left for Florida and it’s a relatively flat course. The key will be how you do with the short stick (figures because Crenshaw did the greens and there’s a lot subtleties you’ll need to check out). … How bout them Rays? Tampa Bay finished off a 6-3 road trip that included Dallas Braden’s perfect game against them by beating the Los Angeles Angels 4-3. That makes the Rays 15-4 on the road and 24-10, good for a 1½ lead over the Yankees in the AL East. Think I’m excited? Their magic number is 128. … Tampa was awarded the 2012 Republican National Convention for late August, but the best punch party at the Forum will be April 5 and 7 when the Men’s Frozen Four comes to town.
10. EXPANSION: Hmmm, seems like that ESPN radio station in Kansas City was just a tad off saying that the Big Ten had offered Rutgers, Notre Dame, Missouri and Nebraska invitations to join the league. What’s really bad is that ESPN SportsCenter took the rumor and ran with it.
Oh, well. Later Gators.
John Fineran