It’s no secret that Kevin O’Sullivan has elevated the Florida baseball program to unparalleled heights. His accomplishments include: six SEC East titles, five SEC Championships, two SEC Tournament championships and the 2017 national championship. He’s been named SEC Coach of the Year three times and won two national coach of the year awards.
On Tuesday night, he added one of the few things missing from his resume. The No. 5 Gators’ 5-1 defeat of Georgia State was the 557th win of O’Sullivan’s career, which passed Dave Fuller for the most in program history.
The accomplishment was announced on the public address system, and O’Sullivan received a large ovation from the crowd and players. First baseman Jordan Butler presented him with the ball that was used to record the final out after the game.
“It’s a special night,” O’Sullivan said. “Anytime you reach a milestone like this, there are so many people that are involved, whether it be staff, coaches, players, everybody involved. It’s nice to be given the opportunity to lead this program. It just seems like yesterday that I got hired by Jeremy [Foley]. And obviously having [associate athletics director] Chip [Howard] here tonight, too. They went out on a limb and gave me an opportunity to run a program. I’d never been a head coach before. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity.”
Gator fans are forever grateful that Foley and Howard gave him the opportunity as well. It took Fuller 28 seasons to reach 546 wins. O’Sullivan passed him early in his 14th year, and that includes the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
“When you get into this profession, I don’t know if you can ever predict that you’re going to have an opportunity to coach at Florida,” O’Sullivan said. “And then certainly you don’t try to think too far ahead. I think that’s what maybe successful coaches have been able to do is they just stay the course, and they don’t get too far ahead of themselves. The most important game is the next one. You try to stay focused on the task at hand, and then as time goes on, good things end up happening.”
Fittingly, the Gators (10-3) used a dominant night of pitching to give O’Sullivan the milestone victory.
Starter Garrett Milchin, who’s still working his way back into things after missing the last three seasons with shoulder injuries, looked more comfortable and sharper than he did in his first two starts of the season. He threw four innings and gave up no runs on three hits with three strikeouts. He retired the first eight Panthers (4-10) batters.
“It was good to stretch him out for 60 pitches,” O’Sullivan said. “I think that may have been one of the best starts we’ve had all year long from a command standpoint. He really commanded both sides of the plate with his fastball and is really starting to get a feel for his breaking ball back. He’s got a tremendous role ahead for us moving forward, and I’m just really happy for him. Obviously, his journey’s been well-documented in how difficult it’s been. He’s really starting to come into form, and he’s going to be extremely helpful for us as the season progresses.”
Trey Van Der Weide followed Milchin on the mound and surrendered just one run on one hit in three innings. Christian Scott finished things off with two scoreless frames.
If there was one downside to the night, it was the offense. After scoring five runs on four hits in the first three innings, the Gators failed to score and mustered just one hit in the final five innings. Jacob Young’s program-record 30-game hitting streak came to an end following an 0-for-4 night, as did Butler’s much less publicized 12-game hitting streak.
None of that really mattered though. Tuesday night was all about O’Sullivan. He’s been regarded as the best coach in program history for a while. Now the record book will reflect that.
“He’s good in all the areas, really knowledgeable about all the areas in baseball, able to communicate with all of us and a real personable guy and a good recruiter, obviously,” fifth-year senior Kirby McMullen said. “So, he’s getting good talent here in school and letting the kids play that he does get here on campus. He knows how to win, and that’s the biggest thing.”
And now he’s done it more than anybody else.