The mood in Coral Gables on Monday was somber. The Miami Hurricanes had made a historic 44-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, a NCAA record, but were left on the outside looking in this season.
Making the NCAA Tournament is hard. There are approximately 300 Division I teams in the country and only 64 make it into the tournament. What Miami (31-27) did is unparalleled and their exclusion this season is a perfect example of just how hard that is.
“The run that Miami’s had has been remarkable,” Florida Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said on Wednesday. “Shoot, I was four years old the last time they didn’t make it to a regional. That just goes to show you how good of a program they have.”
To his own credit the Gators have made a Regional every season that O’Sullivan has been the manager. 10-straight NCAA Tournament appearances is a school record for the Gators. Additionally, the Gators have been named a National Seed (one of the top eight teams in the country) for the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last nine seasons. No other school in the nation can claim that.
“I remember Jeremy when he hired me 10 years ago. That was one of his things. He wanted to be relevant year in and year out,” O’Sullivan said. “He wanted us to be a player in the Regional every year because obviously if you get into the Regional you have a chance.”
This season has been arduous. A rash of injuries and a team-wide batting slump that seemingly lasted for months were trials the Gators had to push through to get to where they are now. Florida will host USF, Bethune Cookman and Marist this weekend in the Gainesville Regional. As a National Seed, the Gators would also stay home if they were to advance to the Super Regionals, where they’re matched up with the Winston-Salem Regional.
Making the NCAA Tournament has become as common as midday summer rain in Gainesville but the players that are part of this run don’t take it for granted. Especially after everything they’ve had to overcome in 2017.
“I know we’ve been two-and-out in a regional here before at Florida. I know we’ve played USF this year and we know how good they are,” Jackson Kowar, who will start on Friday against Marist, said. “Any four-seed, Marist won their conference tournament. That’s a lot of pressure for those guys and they’ve proven they can play under pressure. Any team that won their conference tournament is not a team you can look past.”
The Gators also have familiar faces in their regional. Florida didn’t play Bethune-Cookman this season but they have a deep history playing against the in-state foe, including during the regular season and the NCAA Tournament last year. They also played USF earlier this month, a 15-10 loss.
“They’re all great teams. That’s why they made the Regionals. We’ll have our hands full but we’ll be all right,” third baseman Jonathan India said. “We’ll have our weekend guys going. We usually play those teams, we played USF and Bethune midweek, so they’re not really going to see the arms that we have.”
Ultimately the goal for this team is to win the last game of the season. The standard in Gainesville under Kevin O’Sullivan has been set and the next step is to get over the hump and bring home a College World Series trophy. The first step begins Friday at 7 p.m. and Florida won’t take any of the games ahead of them lightly.
“It’s hard to get there,” India said of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. “It was an honor to be there as a freshman. It was a good road last year and we’re trying to do it again this year. I think we could.”