Florida was more than halfway to getting a statement win that would have significantly improved its postseason outlook. Instead, the Gators find themselves trying to pick up the pieces as the end-of-season pressure intensifies with fans losing faith.

Kevin O’Sullivan’s team entered the month of May knowing where it stood. A 22-21 overall record and 9-12 mark in SEC play had Florida firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The Gators have a high RPI and strength of schedule, meaning UF likely only needs to meet the minimums to make the field of 64. Sully’s squad has been well aware that it needs to finish above .500 and get to 13 SEC wins to feel safe about being a tournament team.

A midweek win over FAU put Florida at 23-21. O’Sullivan showed some confidence in his club, candidly mentioning recent College World Series champions who did not dominate the regular season.

As the Arkansas series showed, Florida can compete with anybody. The Gators again made that clear Friday by splitting a doubleheader against No. 3 Tennessee.

Saturday’s rubber game was all Florida through the halfway point. Then things took a disastrous turn for the orange and blue.

Jac Caglianone, UF’s top arm, was on the mound Saturday. While most teams throw their staff ace in the weekend series opener, Caglianone has pitched series finales after two games of playing the field as a slugging first baseman.

Florida struck first for a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. The Gators added another run in the 3rd to make it 3-0. With Cags on the mound with a lead, it felt like the Gators were on track for a series win over the No. 3 team, and getting that 11th SEC win.

The Vols cut it to 3-2 in the 4th, but Caglianone bounced back with a scoreless 5th inning. In the 6th inning, the wheels came off.

Caglianone allowed a leadoff walk and a double to open the frame, ending his night on the mound as the Gators clung to a 3-2 lead. By the time the 6th inning was over, Tennessee was up 13-3 after sending 12 men to the plate to tee off on Ryan Slater (0.1 IP, 3 ER) and Cade Fisher (0.2 IP, 6 ER).

There was no 8th inning on Saturday night. Florida’s 3-2 lead after 5 frames had turned into a Tennessee 16-3 run-rule victory after 7 innings.

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Can Florida move on from Tennessee game, or did Vols break the Gators?

After Saturday’s game, O’Sullivan did not have many answers.

“[I’ve been] doing this long time and I can’t remember a game that had this type of importance to it and it spiraled out of control like this,” O’Sullivan said to media members. “This team has been a difficult one to figure out. We have the ability to play with anybody and we have the ability to play like this.

“So, the bottom line is, their hitters outcompeted our pitchers there in the beginning, they fouled pitches off over and over and over and then they forced us to make a mistake, you know, hanging breaking ball or hit a guy with a backup breaking ball. Then we just couldn’t stop the bleeding. We didn’t block the ball there and threw it away… It’s really disappointing, honestly.”

When asked for his message to the team, Sully could not help but revisit his frustrations with the way Saturday’s game slipped away.

“We all we just got to keep going forward,” the skipper offered. “We still got two series ahead, got South Florida on Tuesday. Obviously, that’s a really important game for us and, just keep coaching them up.”

O’Sullivan continued, “[W]e’ve tried, we’ve tried to push every single button and for whatever reason, this team has not been able to figure it out or respond.

“Obviously, that falls on me. But, it’s not from a lack of effort. It’s just disappointing like I said and maybe you know, maybe the [2021] Regional, South Alabama, other than that game, I can’t remember a really important game getting away from us like this.

“It’s not what Florida Baseball is about. It’s not what this program is about. So, it’s disappointing. We had a great crowd all weekend long, and it just spiraled out of control.”

On Sunday morning, Florida’s RPI was No. 20 in the nation, per WarrenNolan.com. After going 1-2 for a fifth consecutive SEC series loss, the Gators sit at 24-23 overall and 10-14 in SEC play.

Bubble-wise, nothing’s changed. Florida still needs to finish above .500 (adding to the importance of the USF game) and find 3 more SEC wins.

Hosting Kentucky, currently tied for the SEC lead at 17-6 in conference contests, in Gainesville will be challenging. Georgia, who will host Florida for the final series of the regular season, is on a 4-game winning streak and up to 34-12 overall and 12-11 in SEC play.

As O’Sullivan said, Florida can hold its own with any team. Winning the SEC-opening series over Texas A&M showed that. More recently, it was on display in the Arkansas and Tennessee series.

If there is any hangover from Saturday’s 11-run inning, though, it could tank the Gators’ hopes of getting an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

O’Sullivan previously referred to May as “crunch time” for his squad. After Saturday’s devastating 6th inning, it’s gut-check time for the Gators.