After starting 1-11 in conference play, Florida baseball has won five consecutive SEC series including wins over No.8 Arkansas and No.3 Texas. Sitting at 35-18 (13-14 SEC) on the 2025 season, the Gators find themselves ranked No.23 in D1baseball’s latest poll and are primed for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament with just one regular season series left.
Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan has never missed the NCAA Tournament and it looks like that streak will continue past the 2025 season. Florida is looking for their third straight College World Series appearance, which only three programs can accomplish in 2025 (Florida, Virginia, Tennessee).
So what does Florida need to do to reach the College World Series this season? I think to answer that question it’s important to look at the last two years, because you can draw some similarities and highlight key factors that resulted in postseason success.
In order to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, especially as a lower seed, you need guys to step up that maybe didn’t have a ton of success or were a non-factor in the regular season. This goes for both pitchers and position players.
FIND TWO MORE RELIABLE BULLPEN ARMS
The biggest question mark about Florida’s 2025 roster is their lack of bullpen arms. The Gators have had some unfortunate injuries to both starting and relief pitchers, which has placed a ton of stress on the bullpen to come through in high leverage situations.
Florida feels really good about their closer Jake Clemente, who has allowed just two earned runs in his last 19.2 innings pitched. Clemente has taken over the Brandon Neely role from 2024 where he can give you extended outings out of the bullpen and still serve as the closer. But Florida is going to need to find at least two more reliable bullpen arms if they want to make a deep run.
During the 2024 season, Florida’s bullpen started clicking at the right time as Fisher Jameson and Jake Clemente, among a few others, stepped up. In 2023 it was Ryan Slater, Philip Abner, and freshman Cade Fisher who got hot at the right time. Most of these guys were not nearly as efficient in the regular season, but found their rhythm come postseason play. We will need to see a similar story in 2025.
Based on talent alone, Luke McNeillie and Alex Philpott are prime candidates to look at. During the preseason, McNeillie and Philpott were easily two of the top five or six best arms on the team, but that hasn’t resulted in much success as they’ve posted a 5.36 and 7.57 ERA, respectively. There’s a reason why Kevin O’Sullivan keeps putting Philpott in games despite his lack of success. He knows that in order to make another run, they’ll need Philpott to turn the corner.
Another guy to look for is redshirt freshman Christian Rodriguez, who has allowed just one earned run in his last 8.1 innings. RHP Billy Barlow is also coming off his best outing vs Texas, where he tossed four innings of one run ball while allowing just two hits. Barlow has allowed just one run in his last seven innings. Whoever it may be, multiple arms will need to step up and outperform their regular season numbers if Florida wants to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
WHO WILL STEP UP OFFENSIVELY / CAN THE BOTTOM OF ORDER KEEP PRODUCING?
In the last two seasons, the Gators have found offensive production from guys that weren’t a big factor in the regular season. In 2024, Ashton Wilson came out of nowhere and earned Stillwater Regional MVP by finishing 9-for-21 (.429/.455/.714) with one homer, three doubles, six RBI, five runs and two steals. In 2023, Ty Evans set the College World Series home run record to launch Florida into the CWS Finals after a less than productive regular season. The College World Series is incredibly challenging to make and even good teams need some of their least talked about players to perform at a high level.
Florida’s offense has been fairly consistent over the last six weeks by finding production up and down the lineup. Florida’s 7-8-9 hitters in Hayden Yost, Ashton Wilson, and Justin Nadeau have provided the Gators with great at bats at the bottom of the order. That will need to continue if Florida wants to find success.
FLORIDA NEEDS TO GET HEALTHY
Florida is out a number of key players that will provide a much-needed spark if they return. Starting left-handed pitcher Pierce Coppola is working his way back from another injury but is back on the mound with a limited pitch count. After throwing 22 pitches in his first appearance since March 1st, Coppola nearly doubled that with 43 pitches in his most recent outing vs Texas. If Coppola can get close to full strength before the NCAA Tournament in three weeks, that will give Florida another quality arm to work with, placing less stress on the bullpen as a result. Coppola holds a 1.15 ERA across 15.2 innings this season.
Florida’s star shortstop Colby Shelton is currently out with a hamate injury. The Gators staff is optimistic he will return in 2-3 weeks as they wait for the incision to heal. Shelton leads Florida in batting average (.377) and OPS (1.064). Florida needs to get their best hitter back in the lineup.
The Gators are also down freshman left-handed pitcher McCall Biemiller, who has had some bright moments this season. Florida currently does not have a healthy left-handed reliever on the roster. If Biemiller can return, it creates an opportunity for him to be used situationally.
Florida has been playing really good baseball over the last five series, but even good teams need a lot to go their way to accomplish the ultimate goal of making the College World Series. The Gators need to get healthy and have guys step up in crunch time.