Back on April 6, the Florida Gators lost to Vanderbilt 11-3 to finalize a sweep and drop Florida to 1-11 in SEC play. The Gators, at that point, were in real danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, and there were a combination of reasons why Kevin O'Sullivan and crew were in a bad place. Injuries were a factor, but bad baseball IQ combined with key members struggling led to a feeling that the bottom had fallen out for Florida.
Fast forward a month, and now the Gators are one of the hottest teams in college baseball, with an outside shot of hosting a regional game if they can win their final two series to close out the regular season.
So, what changed for Florida? Let's explore.
Jake Clemente is the under-the-radar MVP for Florida Baseball
Part of what had put the Gators in such a bad place was their inability to close out games. During a six-game losing streak in March, Florida had 9th-inning leads against Georgia, FSU, and Ole Miss and blew all three of those games.
This is where the emergence of Jake Clemente has been massive and has stabilized the bullpen for Florida.
Clemente appeared twice out of the bullpen this weekend and gave up zero runs over five combined innings. Since April 1, he has made ten appearances out of the bullpen and has only given up a run in two of those appearances.
There is an argument to be made that Florida still needs someone else to also step up and eat up innings if the Gators are going to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, but for now, he has stabilized a unit that was previously leaking runs left and right.
The "Glue Guys" have emerged
One of the very real issues from a perception standpoint was the lack of leadership on the squad when SEC play began. When Georgia swept Florida, O'Sullivan said himself after the game that:
"We had a team meeting yesterday after the game, pressed on them a little bit and obviously they did not respond today."
After the Vanderbilt sweep the message wasn't much different:
"It's really hard to watch. Didn't deliver. Swung at some pitches out of the zone. One instance, we hit a ball sideways, late on a fastball, we chased a breaking ball in the dirt all in the same at bat. Obviously, it was not good. Not good at all."
In between, O'Sullivan made passing references that the squad lacked leadership and needed to figure it out.
This is where Luke Heyman, from a perception standpoint, has come across as the guy who is not looking for excuses and who is the most fiery guy on the squad at times.
But Ashton Wilson is also getting hot like he did last year. With injuries a constant theme for Florida, Wilson has made the most of his opportunity and is batting .363 since Florida's game against Stetson back on April 15.
Baseball IQ has improved
Probably one of the biggest reasons we were about to throw in the towel on Florida in 2025 is that they had the baseball IQ of a U10 travel team playing in the bronze bracket of a Dothan, AL tournament.
Baserunning was shockingly poor, the outfield kept throwing to the wrong bag, and Florida could not execute any kind of small ball.
It's still not perfect, and Florida had two guys thrown out at home during the Arkansas series, but it is improving, and if it can continue to improve, it won't feel like a liability heading into the NCAA Tournament.