The Gator fan base can breathe a sigh of relief after head coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced Tuesday morning, Junior 1B Pete Alonso was cleared to practice for the first time since injuring his hand two weeks ago against Vanderbilt.
“He got cleared yesterday and took BP, he looked good, and I expect him to play.” O’Sullivan added, when talking about Alonso’s status for regional play.
When Alonso disappeared, so did the Gators’ bats. Florida dropped four of their first six games with Alonso out of the line-up, including being shut out for the first time in the 2016 year.
This weekend, he brings back the consistency and power O’ Sullivan mentioned the Gators are in need of, “I think it’ll lengthen our line-up and we will be a better team,” Sully said. Alonso led the ball club in home runs (9) and batting average (.352) this spring.
Expect Danny Reyes to be in the lineup this weekend as well. Reyes, a freshman from Miami Springs, got his opportunity during the conference tournament to showcase his young talent, and he delivered. He drove in 4 runs in tournament play, including three extra base hits and batting .375 on 16 plate appearances. As long as he keeps hitting, he’ll have a home in the lineup and out in left field.
O’Sullivan wasn’t caught off guard by the freshman’s play, he noted he’s taken responsibility for not giving Reyes more of an opportunity and praised the young man’s worth ethic and demeanor for hanging tough and waiting on his moment. Sully added moments later, “I feel pretty good moving forward with him at left field.”
The Gator coaching staff is still unclear on the rotation for this weekend according to O’Sullivan but, “We will get that nailed down tonight”, he later added.
I expect the Gators to stick with the same rotation they used during SEC tournament play, and that was Puk (2-3) starting game one, Shore (10-0) throwing Saturday, and Alex Faedo (12-1) getting the nod Sunday.
Puk, who has had his struggles as a Gator, has thrown much better in the second half of the season; just as he did last year. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan shared his thoughts on the recent play by Puk, “He’s performing at a high level right now…we need to get him some run support. I would expect him to continue to pitch good.”
O’Sullivan made it clear Tuesday morning, junior pitcher Logan Shore will be ready to start this weekend after being limited in his two previous starts due to a pitch count and a rain delay.
Outside of the starting rotation, O’Sullivan remains confident in his bullpen with left-handed reliever Kirby Snead pitching well in the conference tournament. He noticed the huge boost of confidence Snead gained when he was able to get a crucial one-pitch out against LSU. “He showed a lot of emotion coming off the mound there,” the head coach added, “one key situation can kinda get you going.”
In order to make another deep run in Omaha, the Gators will have to rely on some of the younger guys to help out the returning veteran 1B Alonso. O’Sullivan believes these guys are experienced, even with being one of the youngest teams in America.
“These guys that are freshmen, they’re not freshmen anymore. They’re sophomores. The sophomores are now juniors. The juniors are now seniors.” O’Sullivan said Tuesday morning, “They’ve been through 60 plus games now so they should be beyond the freshmen stuff right now, experience wise.”
When O’Sullivan was asked about the owl in the clubhouse, he said “More power to them if it keeps them loose and they’re having fun.”
Towards the end of the media visit O’Sullivan also mentioned freshman pitcher Jackson Kowar’s main focus is putting more weight on, “He is roughly 8 to 9 pounds away from being back to where he needs to be.”
Expect these Gators to be ready Friday night, as they play in front of the home crowd for the first time in two weeks.