Stephen Locke remembers this feeling. The anxious and anticipation of being two victories away from a trip to the College World Series has returned to McKethan Stadium.
As one of two players still on the team from the 2005 Florida squad that made the trip to Omaha, Neb., Locke was forced into a key role on that team. He started the Gators’ first game in Omaha, and it was an experience he will never forget.
Now the left-hander is two victories by Florida (42-20) away from helping his team and ending his career at the College World Series. Locke is the likely starter Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Gators host Southern Mississippi (38-24) in the first game of the best-of-three Gainesville Super Regional. A berth in the College World Series, which begins June 13 at Rosenblatt Stadium, awaits the winner.
“I was a freshman and we had a lot of older role players,” Locke said, staring at the tarp-covered field Friday afternoon before practice. “Those guys were great. Now we’ve got a lot of younger guys. We don’t have as many big prospects as some teams, but we’ve got a lot of hard workers on our team and guys that have invested a lot this year. We won’t let this season go away easily.”
Third baseman Brandon McArthur is the other player who remains from that team. McArthur and Locke have both been through a lot during their career, including season-ending injures and two seasons missing the postseason all together.
Despite the struggles and failures, they each have a chance to go out on top of the college baseball world.
“Brandon and I know what it takes to get there and know what kind of club we had in ’05,” Locke said. “We know how difficult the road to the College World Series is. We’ve got a group of guys here that if we buckle down and practice well, we have a shot.”
The roles have changed since Locke’s freshman year on campus. He was learning from pitchers like Tommy Boss and Alan Horne back then, now the senior left-hander is the one doing the mentoring.
Freshmen pitchers Anthony DeSclafani (6-3, 4.98 ERA), Nick Maronde (3-1, 4.17 ERA) and Alex Panteliodis (6-5, 4.38 ERA) have been key components to Florida’s rotation this season, and Locke has tried to help them as much as possible.
“I’ve just tried to lead by example,” Locke said. “I’ll get out there and do what I feel comfortable doing on the mound and let them watch me. I’ll maybe watch them and coach them up, giving them pointers. I’ve never been a big ‘rah-rah’ guy, but I feel comfortable going up to guys on the side and giving them little tips.”
Standing in the way of a return trip to Omaha for Locke (5-2, 4.02 ERA) and the Gators are the 38-24 Eagles, and no one expected them to be making the trip to Gainesville. They played in the Atlanta Regional and were the No. 3 seed behind regional host Georgia Tech and No. 2 Elon. The Eagles began with a 17-15 victory over Elon and then dropped Georgia Tech into the losers’ bracket with a 10-7 victory. Georgia Tech extended the regional to Monday with a 10-3 victory, but Southern Mississippi used a nine-run second inning on its way to a 12-8 triumph.
Southern Mississippi head coach Corky Palmer recently announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. He has had the job since the summer of 1997. His players clearly don’t want Palmer’s tenure to end. They’ve been playing with tremendous fire, winning 10 of their last 13 games.
The Eagles boast a team batting average of .308, slightly behind the Gators’ average of .310. The Eagles, who are averaging more than seven runs a game, have hit 68 home runs on the season, three more than the Gators.
“They’re a scrappy bunch of guys,” Locke said. “It’s a hard-nosed team that will be tough to strike out. We’re going to have to play solid defense. We can’t let up at all against these guys. They’re going to fight.”
The Eagles lineup is packed with right-handed batters. Though Locke is left-handed, right-handers don’t bother him. He has effectively kept right-handed hitters off balance with his change-up throughout his career, and he doesn’t expect it to be different this weekend.
“They might have two lefties in the lineup,” Locke said. “It’s predominately a right-handed lineup, and most of the teams I face are predominately right-handed. It probably won’t be anything new from that perspective. I don’t mind either way. I’ve just got to be able to throw off-speed pitches when I need to and spot my fastball.”
The Eagles’ offense is led by center fielder Bo Davis, the leadoff hitter. The redshirt senior boasts a .367 batting average with a team-high 13 home runs and 52 RBI. He has an on-base percentage of .484 and a slugging percentage of .633. Davis also is 10-of-12 stealing bases.
Freshman outfielder Kameron Brunty is hitting .347 with seven home runs and 52 RBI. Junior Joey Archer is hitting .310 with 10 home runs and a team-leading 58 RBI. Corey Stevens is batting .330 with 8 home runs and 55 RBI.
“They kind of remind me a lot of ourselves,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “They’re balanced up and down the lineup, they’ll bunt for hits and they hit-and-run a bunch.”
Southern Mississippi has a team ERA of 5.01, compared to Florida’ team ERA of 4.16. The stats are a little deceiving because of the quality starting pitching Southern Miss has. Redshirt sophomore Todd McInnis has been the Eagles’ ace, going 9-4 with a 3.21 ERA. The right-hander also was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. He is projected to start Sunday’s 7 p.m. game. The third game, if necessary, would be played Monday at either 1 or 7 p.m. depending on other Super Regional outcomes.
“McInnis is a competitor who attacks the zone and throws four different pitches for strikes,” O’Sullivan said.
Sophomore right-hander JR Ballinger will get the start Saturday for the Eagles against Locke. He is 6-3 with a 3.92 ERA this season.
“Ballinger has a good arm and his ball sinks,” O’Sullivan said. “The biggest thing I’ve seen out of their pitchers is they’re very aggressive. They want to pound the strike zone early in the count.”
The key for the Florida offense will be getting into the Southern Mississippi bullpen. Besides closer Collin Cargill (4-3, 3.25, 11 saves), the Eagles only have one pitcher with an ERA under 4.40. Florida’s bullpen, meanwhile, has been the pitching staff’s strength. Billy Bullock (3-2, 2.12, 11 saves), Tony Davis (5-0, 2.27 ERA), Patrick Keating (4-3, 4.66 ERA) and Jeff Barfield (2-1, 4.50 ERA) all have played key roles.
“That’s probably the key for anybody now,” O’Sullivan said. “Momentum is a big key. We’ve had innings where we’ve spread ourselves apart because of momentum. We play well at home and hopefully we’ll continue to do that.”
With only eight loses in 38 home games this season, the Gators now get to host their final three games this season at McKethan Stadium this weekend.
Two more victories and they will be planning their flight to Omaha, Neb.
FRIDAY’S SUPER REGIONALS: SEC 2, ACC 0
Score it SEC 2, ACC 0 as baseball teams from the Southeastern Conference won head-to-head games with teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference on the opening day of Super Regional play in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
The ACC may match the SEC’s four Super Regional teams but ACC champion Virginia and ACC runner-up Florida State were no match for their SEC opponents.
Arkansas scored four runs without a hit and totaled five hits total in besting Florida State, 7-2, at Dick Howser Stadium in the Tallahassee Super Regional. The opening game was delayed three times for a total of more than six hours.
At the Super Regional in Oxford, Miss., the Rebels’ Matt Smith hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to carry Ole Miss to a 4-3 victory over Virginia, which lost for the first time this postseason.
SEC champion Louisiana State gave the conference a 3-0 start as right-hander Anthony Ranaudo won his 10th game of the season and Ryan Schimpf hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning in a 12-9 victory over Rice, a Conference USA member, in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
In the other Super Regional at Fullerton, Calif., Cal State Fullerton downed Louisville, 12-0.
The SEC’s other school, Florida, and the ACC’s other teams, North Carolina and Clemson, all play Saturday, when a full slate of eight games is scheduled. In addition to the second game of the four series that began Friday, the Tar Heels (45-16) play East Carolina (46-19) in the opening game of the Chapel Hill Super Regional and Clemson (44-20) plays Arizona State (47-12) in the opening game of the Tempe Super Regional.
The Gators (42-20) open play in the Gainesville Regional Saturday at 3 p.m. against Southern Mississippi (38-24). Texas Christian (39-16) and Texas (44-13-1), the top seed in the tournament, open the Austin Super Regional Saturday at 6 p.m.
Arkansas 7, Florida State 2: The Razorbacks (38-22) scored four runs without a hit, got superb relief pitching from Mike Bolsinger and survived three rain delays that totaled more than six hours. The game, which started at noon ET, ended at 9:07 p.m.
Bolsinger (6-4) pitched the final five innings of the game, taking over for starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel and limiting the Seminoles to four hits while striking out six. Florida State (45-17) must win the final two games of the best-of-three series to advance to the College World Series.
Arkansas broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh by scoring three runs without a hit as reliever Geoff Parker (6-2) of Florida State walked three and hit a batter without recording an out. The Razorbacks made it 7-2 in the eighth with a pair of runs thanks to three Florida State errors.
A game after winning the Tallahassee Regional with a 37-6 victory over Ohio State, Florida State had 10 hits but left 14 runners on base.
The Razorbacks totaled just five hits, but the walks and errors more than made up for the lack of offense. Freshman third baseman Zack Cox of Arizona hit his 12th home run of the season in the second.
Mississippi 4, Virginia 3 (12): Matt Smith hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 12th and closer Jake Morgan pitched three innings of one-hit ball after his nose was broken by an errant pre-game throw.
The victory by the Rebels (44-18) gave them a 1-0 lead in the opener of the best-of-three Oxford Super Regional series. It also ended an eight-game postseason winning streak by Virginia (46-13-1). The walk-off home run by Smith was the first time the Cavaliers have trailed in the postseason this season.
Virginia had a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning but an error by second baseman Keith Werman, a hit batter by reliever Matt Packer and a single by Logan Power sent the game into extra innings.
Mississippi will send Drew Pomeranz to the mound Saturday to try and clinch the series and send the Rebels to Omaha for the first time since 1972.
Louisiana State 12, Rice 9: The Tigers (50-16) had to overcome four errors and a 4-1 deficit to move within one victory of their 15th College World Series appearance.
Ranaudo, a 6-7 sophomore, surrendered just one earned run on five hits in 7.2 innings with nine strikeouts.
With the Tigers trailing 4-2 in the fifth inning, Schimpf knocked the second pitch from reliever by Taylor Wall (7-6) over the wall to give Ranaudo and LSU a lead they would never lose. Schimpf finished with two hits and four runs batted in.
The home run was Schimpf’s 19th of the season and was part of a six-run fifth inning by LSU. Sean Ochinko, who had 3 RBI on the evening, had a two-run double in the fifth, delighting the Alex Box Stadium record crowd of 9,375 fans.
The Tigers outhit the Owls, 12-9, as Schimpf, DJ LeMahieu and Blake Dean each had two hits for LSU.
Three of Rice’s nine hits were home runs – a solo homer by Steve Sultzbaugh (his eighth) and two-run homers by Anthony Rendon (20th) and Brock Holt (11th). Rendon had three hits for the Owls (43-17).
Cal State Fullerton 12, Louisville 0: Sophomore Daniel Renken threw a three-hitter and teammates Khris Davis and Jared Clark each had four hits in Fullerton’s 16-hit attack at the Fullerton Super Regional.
Renken, a right-hander, needed only 98 pitches for his third complete game of the season that took his season record to 11-2 for the Titans (46-14). He finished with 10 strikeouts, including six of eight batters at one point, and he retired 10 in a row from the fourth to the seven innings and 17 of 18 batters at one point. He also had a three-pitch third inning against the Cardinals (47-17). Dean Kiekhefer (6-5), the first of four pitchers for Louisville, took the loss.
Clark went 4-for-5 with a team-high four runs batted in. It was the second four-hit performance of the season for Davis. The top five hitters in the Fullerton lineup went 12 for 19, scoring nine runs and batting in nine.
Josh Fellhauer hit his sixth home run of the season for Fullerton.
NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUPER REGIONALS
Best-of-three series
Friday
Arkansas 7, Florida State 2; Arkansas leads best-of-three Tallahassee Super Regional series, 1-0.
Mississippi 4, Virginia 3 (12); Mississippi leads best-of-three Oxford Super Regional series, 1-0.
Louisiana State 12, Rice 9; Louisiana State leads best-of-three Baton Rouge Super Regional series, 1-0
Cal State Fullerton 12, Louisville 0; Cal State Fullerton leads best-of-three Fullerton Super Regional series, 1-0.
Saturday
Southern Mississippi (38-24) vs. Florida (42-20) at Gainesville, Fla., 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
East Carolina (46-19) vs. North Carolina (45-16) at Chapel Hill, N.C., noon (ESPNU)
Florida State (45-17) vs. Arkansas (38-22) at Tallahassee, Fla., noon (ESPN2)
Mississippi (44-18) vs. Virginia (46-13-1) at Oxford, Miss., noon (ESPN2)
Cal State Fullerton (46-14) vs. Louisville (47-17) at Fullerton, Calif., 5 p.m. (ESPN2)
Louisiana State (50-16) vs. Rice (43-17) at Baton Rouge, La., 5 p.m. (ESPN)
Texas Christian (39-16) vs. Texas (44-13-1) at Austin, Texas, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Clemson (44-20) vs. Arizona State (47-12) at Tempe, Ariz., 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday
Florida vs. Southern Mississippi at Gainesville, Fla., 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
North Carolina vs. East Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C., noon (ESPN)
Arkansas vs. Florida State at Tallahassee, Fla., if necessary, noon (ESPN)
Texas vs. Texas Christian at Austin, Texas, 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Virginia vs. Mississippi at Oxford, Miss., if necessary, 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Rice vs. Louisiana State at Baton Rouge, La., if necessary, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Arizona State vs. Clemson at Tempe, Ariz., 10 p.m. (ESPN2)
Louisville vs. Cal State Fullerton at Fullerton, Calif., if necessary, 10 p.m. (ESPN2)
Monday
Southern Mississippi vs. Florida at Gainesville, Fla., if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
East Carolina vs. North Carolina at Chapel Hill, if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m., (ESPN/ESPN2)
Texas Christian vs. Texas at Austin, Texas, if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Clemson vs. Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz., if necessary, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)