O’Gara: Florida’s Regional title was a quiet ending for the “Gators don’t belong” crowd
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For the “Florida doesn’t belong” crowd, Monday’s developments weren’t ideal.
The “Florida doesn’t belong” crowd made its feelings heard a week earlier when the Gators made the NCAA Tournament field despite having a 28-27 record. If not for Florida earning a series victory against Georgia to close the regular season, the Gators wouldn’t have even been eligible for NCAA Tournament consideration because they would’ve lacked a winning record.
When Florida was put in the Oklahoma State Regional, there was a contingent who wanted nothing more than to see Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad get the early boot. After all, it was the SEC’s 11th team in the field (a record). Sure, the conference was good, but was it that good? Or was it just some narrative to get the defending runners-up and Jac Caglianone, AKA the biggest name in the sport, into the field?
Narrative be damned. Florida is moving on.
Monday’s 4-2 victory against Regional host Oklahoma State didn’t just quiet the “Florida doesn’t belong” crowd; it also confirmed exactly why the selection committee gave the Gators an NCAA Tournament berth. After all, only 4 teams in America had more Quad 1 wins than Florida (15). The No. 1 strength of schedule got the Gators into the field, and it certainly prevented them from blinking when they needed 3 consecutive elimination game victories to get back to the Super Regional.
By the way, that included 2 victories against the host Cowboys in their ballpark. With minimal available pitching from a less-than-vintage Florida staff, O’Sullivan’s squad held a potent Oklahoma State lineup to consecutive 2-run performances.
The anti-Florida crowd probably lost a bit of hope in the top of the 5th inning when Frank Menendez danced around the heart of the Oklahoma State order with minimal damage. With bases loaded and nobody out, Florida’s 2-run lead was very much in jeopardy. But he got Oklahoma State slugger Nolan Schubart — one of the hottest bats on the planet — to pop out to the catcher. Then a sac fly brought in a run and a swinging strikeout somehow prevented Oklahoma State from putting up a crooked number.
That was the last real threat of the day for Oklahoma State, who became the fifth team ever to fall as a Regional host for the third consecutive season.
Meanwhile, a Florida team in its 16th consecutive Regional grinded out a win. It wasn’t some 17-run outburst like we saw on Sunday when the Gators ended Nebraska’s season. It was a game in which Florida only got 1 long ball — it was a solo Tyler Shelnut blast that probably should’ve counted for two — and if anything, it was held back by the lack of wind.
Caglianone’s biggest splash of the day didn’t leave the yard. It didn’t even drive in a run. It was a rocket that hit so high on the right-field wall that it got reviewed, but upheld as a double.
No worries. Florida found a way.
The team who won 12 of its 13 SEC games in comeback fashion did the opposite of that. A 2-run single by Ashton Wilson gave Florida a 2-0 lead in the 3rd that it would never relinquish. Clean defense and some stellar patchwork pitching did the trick. Jake Clemente didn’t get the win, but by getting into the 4th inning, he at least gave Florida a chance to effectively use its bullpen.
The aforementioned Menendez 5th was followed by 3 1/3 perfect innings from Fisher Jameson, who notched his 3rd save of the year without surrendering a baserunner.
“We were asking for them just to your job,” Caglianone said in the postgame interview, “and that’s exactly what they did.”
That’s how you survive a Regional.
Florida’s no stranger to that. Rooted in that anti-Florida crowd’s mindset wasn’t just Caglianone. It was the 10 Super Regional and 8 College World Series appearances during the O’Sullivan era. Giving a talented, well-coached team a chance is every outsider’s worst nightmare.
That crowd can continue to debate Florida’s NCAA Tournament credentials if it so chooses. Reality is that scheduling well in nonconference play and playing in the deepest conference in the country — the one that hasn’t come short in a College World Series since 2018 — gave Florida’s résumé the closing argument it needed.
Now the question becomes what the Gators will do for their closing argument. They’ll take on a Clemson squad who won all 3 of its games to claim its Regional. Even if Florida is unable to make a return trip to Omaha, what happened over the weekend should’ve at least pushed back on the notion that it didn’t belong. Even as random as the college baseball postseason can feel at times, you don’t win 4 of 5 games in this field without being one of the better teams in the sport.
As Caglianone spoke to the ESPN broadcast crew with the postgame headset, Florida celebrated together in the dugout. The All-American watched his team jump around as he answered the all-important question — what changed for this team since that Georgia series?
“Honestly, the vibes just kind of switched,” Caglianone said. “Everybody was just really amped up, and enjoying themselves, just having fun playing baseball. We kind of got away from that for a little bit, but I think we found that spark and it shows today.”
A fun day for Florida, it was. As for the “Florida doesn’t belong” crowd? It has seen better days.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
