After losing in the Gainesville Regional a season ago, Gators’ catcher BT Riopelle came back to Florida with eyes on a National Championship.
Riopelle’s baseball career is over when Florida’s run at the College World Series come to an end as the 23-year-old has a finance job locked down.
“They’re excited,” Riopelle said on how his employer feels about him being in Omaha. “It gives them a reason to watch college baseball and see somebody that’s going to be in there a month. They’re not huge baseball guys. I know one guy played Division II baseball on the team that I’m joining.”
“They’re super excited, and I’m very happy to be joining them in a month. Not too soon, though,” Riopelle said with a smile.
Despite baseball coming to an end for the 2022 All-SEC First Team catcher, Riopelle is leaving it all on the field for his University in hopes of helping Florida claim their second National Championship in program history.
Riopelle is 9-42 (.214) at the plate in 12 games throughout the postseason, seven of which were home runs. Five of those seven home runs came when Florida was tied or losing.
“The thing about BT at the plate is he might have an 0-4, but he is clutch,” Head Coach O’Sullivan said after the Super Regionals. “He comes up at the right times at the right moment and rises to the occasion. He certainly did that today.”
Perhaps Riopelle’s most important trait is his leadership.
“He’s a tremendous leader,” O’Sullivan said. “He and Josh {Rivera} are probably are two most vocal leaders on the field.”
“You can’t have a good pitching staff without a leader at the plate. It’s just not going to work,” O’Sullivan added. “You can have the best pitching staff in the world, but if you don’t have a leader behind the plate who takes charge and can manage the game, it’s not going to work.”
Florida’s pitching staff has praised Riopelle’s leadership and ability behind the plate all season long.
“It’s a really big advantage that a lot of people don’t understand the value of and the value in,” RHP Hurston Waldrep said after Florida’s win over Oral Roberts in the CWS. “And having a guy with so much experience and seeing what he’s done over the past two years, you talk to any pitcher on the staff, any player on the staff, he manages the staff really well and manages the game really well.”
“Any moment in the game he’ll make sure, he’ll talk with his infielders, no matter what,” Waldrep said. “He’ll get on you any moment. But he’s also there to support you. He’ll get you through the game. I know there were a couple times this year where I didn’t have my best stuff, but he was there to push me through the game.”
O’Sullivan puts a ton of trust in Riopelle behind the plate, often times letting him call pitches for the veteran arms on the Gators.
“He’s really good with call pitches,” Waldrep said. “And he handles the pressure of ball games really, really well. And it’s been really nice to have him behind the plate.”
Riopelle’s defensive ability has noticeably improved in 2023, especially as of late. The senior has recorded a career high 634 putouts while working to a .988 fielding percentage in 64 starts this season. After starting off 3-18 in runners caught stealing, Riopelle has thrown out five of his last eight, including four in a row (Texas Tech, South Carolina X2, Virginia).
“Just doing what you always do,” Riopelle said on his success behind the plate in 2023. “Something I have learned not only in baseball, but life in general is you’re going to be as successful as you’re going to be depending on what — if you rely on all of your training.”
“I come from a military family. That’s something they always preach in the military,” Riopelle added. “I was luckily enough that Coastal Carolina had Kevin Schnall as a catching coach as well. He trained me very well for three years when I was there.”
Riopelle and the Gators look to punch their ticket to the College World Series championship series on Wednesday afternoon, taking on the winner of TCU vs Oral Roberts.