This may be one of the most up and down baseball teams in Gator history, but they were up enough in league play to prove to be the best in the Southeastern Conference.
Ask any of the players, though, and they’ll tell you that’s all that matters- and they’ll get rings to forever prove it.
Florida secured their 13th SEC baseball championship in the regular season by beating Tennessee 4-2 last night. Only Alabama (15) and LSU (14) have more. In addition, even though Florida lost to Tennessee today, the win last night ensured that the Gators would beat Tennessee in each of the “Big Three” sports: football (31-17), basketball (three games to none) and now baseball (two games to one).
So, yeah, #EverythingSchool and such.
Like I’ve been saying for awhile, though, this team is more than just bragging rights. I first put that out there as jubilant Gators taunted FSU about being #2 in the state of Florida despite being #1 in the national polls after a three game, three city Gator sweep of the Noles. This is a very fun team to watch, and with solid pitching efforts, a very dangerous one.
There’s no doubting this team’s talent. Going a combined 8-1 against top 10 teams FSU, LSU and South Carolina shows what this team can do when they get the pitching they need. When they don’t, well, things can get ugly, like they did in a 17-1 loss to Kentucky, a 9-7 loss to Maryland and a 6-0 shutout at the hands of Illinois. Every now and then, the Gators’ bats go cold, but it’s the pitching that’s the key for this team.
In any case, it’s time for the SEC Tournament, in which Florida will be the #1 seed, and then it’s off to the NCAA Tournament, where Florida could get a nice draw to set up a deep run.
And what an exhilarating ride that run could be.
