Florida Gators Baseball Hopes to Rebound in 100th Season

s in tMandatory Credit: ©Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

Last year was a difficult year for the Florida Gators on the baseball diamond. A season long injury to the projected ace of their pitching staff, Karsten Whitson, brought some flux to their pitching situation and their offensive production struggled without the leadership of catcher Mike Zunino (3rd overall pick by Seattle Mariners in 2012 MLB Draft), do-it-all Brian Johnson (31st pick by Boston Red Sox), second-round shortstop Nolan Fontana, Austin Maddox (3rd round, DH’d as well as pitched), and outfielder Daniel Pigott. Florida finished the season 29-30 and 14-16 in SEC play. It was the first time in head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s seven years at Florida they finished the season under .500 after reaching the College World Series three straight years and making a Super Regional in every year. The Gators will look to rebound this year with a number of veterans returning and the number one recruiting class in the nation descending on Gainesville in their centennial season playing baseball at the University of Florida.

Catcher Taylor Gushue, first baseman Zack Powers, second baseman Casey Turgeon, and third baseman Josh Tobias all return to give Florida stability in the infield and production at the plate. Right fielder Justin Schafer also returns with the best returning average (.300) and slugging percentage (.448) out of any of the returnees playing tonight. Centerfielder Harrison Bader led the team with a .312 average with 15 stolen bases, but is suspended indefinitely for crashing his scooter February 4th. The Gators have plenty of reinforcements coming in. Florida will likely start two freshman tonight in the outfield and one at the designated hitter position. Ryan Larson and Buddy Reed will start in left- and centerfield respectively, and Peter Alonzo will start at DH. Junior college transfers Jason Lombardozzi and Braden Mattson, and LHP/1B A.J. Puk out of Cedar Rapids, IA should also see action. We’ll see if the infusion of young talent will allow the Gators to hit better than their .269 team average last season.

On the pitching staff, lefty Bobby Poyner returns to anchor the pitching staff. Poyner proved to be a very good mid-week starter and played superbly with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod League. He posted a 1.71 ERA in 36 2/3 innings earning a spot on the Cape Cod League All-Star team. Poyner won’t be alone in the rotation. Right-hander Karsten Whitson is back after redshirting last year. The Gators are hoping he can return to his 2011 form, when he went 8-1 with a 2.40 ERA in route to winning the SEC Freshman Pitcher of the Year honors. Whitson was also the 9th overall pick by the San Diego Padres in the MLB Draft, but chose to go to school at Florida. Joining Poyner and Whitson on the weekend pitching staff is freshman righty Brett Morales. Morales with chosen in the 24th round of the MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds and played in the Tampa Bay area at King High.

Florida comes into this weekend’s series with the Maryland Terrapins ranked 16th in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, 20th in the USA Today Poll, and 23rd in the Baseball America College Top 25 Poll. The SEC coaches picked the Gators to finish the same place they finished last year: third in the Eastern Division behind South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Florida, based on the point structure, is expected to finish fifth in the entire SEC. Florida will look to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing season last year and get back to the College World Series. O’Sullivan has done more surprising things during his tenure at Florida.

The 2014 season starts tonight with Florida hosting Maryland. The Gators will send Bobby Poyner to the mound to face the Terps and the game starts at 7 pm. You can watch it on Fox Sports Florida. Brett Morales will see his first action in the middle game starting at 4 pm Saturday and Karsten Whitson returns to the mound Sunday at noon. The latter two games can be seen at GatorVision Online. All three games will be played at McKethan Stadium, where Florida split a two-game series with Maryland in their only other meeting.

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