Florida baseball took the field inside Doug Kingsmore Stadium for their open practice ahead of their Super Regional Date with Clemson.
Gators’ head coach Kevin O’Sullivan spoke with the media following practice. Here’s everything he had to say.
Opening Statement
“Just excited to have the opportunity to play this weekend. Obviously, it’s a bit surreal to be back in Clemson after 17 years of not coming back. We know we are playing a really good team in Clemson, looking forward to tomorrow.”
Q. What are the feelings being back at Clemson?
“It’s hard to put into words right now. This is literally the first time I’ve been back; I didn’t even stop by here yesterday. Really just focused on our own team. I don’t want this to be about me. Obviously there will be a lot of talk about me and Jack and Eric of course. But the focus is really about our team right now.”
Q. What have you told your outfielders about the warning track here?
“We did talk about it. We spent quite a bit of time in practice about it. It’s not as steep as I thought it was going to be, as it used to be. We took the outfielders in three different groups and threw them up the hill and then we took some balls off the machine, then we did about 15 minutes of live defense. I feel like they are a bit more prepared than I thought they would be coming in because it used to be a bit steeper, so I think it should be fine.”
Q. What’s the confidence of your team after leaving Oklahoma State with a victory?
“Yeah, I mean Oklahoma State was outstanding. They ran arm after arm after arm out there. They have probably three or four hitters in their lineup that will probably play in the big leagues. It was a hostile environment, but we played three games in about 28 hours and I think it’s been well scripted that we’ve maybe have underachieved quite a bit this year but we played obviously a really difficult schedule… I mean you look up and down our schedule, there’s quite a few places that are really difficult to play and I feel that probably prepared us for last weekend.”
Q. Where do you feel you made the most progress on the mound last weekend?
“Honestly I think it probably started with Liam Peterson trying to figure things out. We finally found one guy that can get us into the 6th or 7th inning. So now you’re not over-extending your bullpen. Guys are being asked to do what their capable of doing, but when you have starts that are three and two-thirds or four and a third and you’re going to your bullpen too early on a Friday night, that effects Saturday and obviously effects Sunday. I think it all starts with Liam to extend the game on that Friday night, first start.”
Q. What do you see when scouting Clemson?
Obviously they’re older, they’re athletic, they got some length to their lineup. I’ve known Jimmy for a long time and all of his staffs have always thrown strikes and had the ability to throw multiple pitches for strikes. They can slow the ball down in fastball counts and obviously they’re playing with a lot of energy, I know they’ve had like maybe 25 come from behind wins this year. Team chemistry from the outside looking in looks as good as it can be, and they don’t beat themselves. It should be a fun series, both teams I think are going to play fundamentally sound. Like anything else, it will come down to a pitch here, an at bat here, and whoever has the opportunity to rise in those certain situations is probably going to end up being the winner. It should be a well-played series for sure.”
Q. How much has Fisher Jameson been a reliable arm out of the bullpen?
“He’s our unsung hero on the mound. It’s easy for people to overlook him, but in my eyes, I trust him. Obviously his last outing on Monday was as good as he’s ever pitched, facing ten hitters and retiring all ten. You can just see his confidence level was different last Monday. For me personally, he’s been our most reliable pitcher all year long.”