Gator Baseball Orange and Blue Game

Florida Gator Baseball will host an Orange and Blue scrimmage on Friday at 3:45 PM.  This will give fans a first glance at what has been stated as the # 1 recruiting class in baseball and should bring big things for Florida Baseball over the next couple years.  On top of the recruiting class, Florida returns 20 players including 10 pitchers and 5 others who played a major role in the baseball team last year.

The Gator Baseball team will start their season in February of 2010 with a 3 game series against USF here in Gainesville at McKethan Stadium.  Last year, Florida was able to snag the SEC East title but fell short of the big one and looks to carry over it’s successes and build on them this year.

Now the fun begins for Baseball

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Finding and signing Florida’s Class of 2009 baseball class had been one of the goals of head coach Kevin O’Sullivan and his staff since they arrived in Gainesville during the summer of 2007.

Now that they know one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country will show up on campus with minimal harm from the Major League Baseball Draft in June, it’s hard for the coaches to hide their excitement.

Full article at Gator Country for insiders.

The Gators might be able to consider themselves lucky with how well they came out after this last draft season.  Yeah we lost the supposed phenom left hander due to weird circumstances.  Kevin O’Sullivan considers himself lucky:

“Any time you get a lot of good players, you inevitably going to lose some,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought we came out pretty well. The guys who are coming to school are all really excited. They all really want to win a national championship. They’re certainly talented enough, but they’ve all got good work ethics. We’re all excited about their physical abilities, but I like the mental makeup of this group.”

I don’t know if the first year we should be aimed for a National Championship.  If we can make a run to Omaha, I’m all for it but I wouldn’t be disappointed if we fell short this year.  But I am really excited for what could be of this team in the 2nd and 3rd years of these young player’s college careers.

The building up for this class wasn’t something that started this year.  It began all the way back in 2007.  So coaches have seen these players develop over the past couple years and the anticipation is very high to see what these players do:

“I remember our first Labor Day camp, we had Brian Johnson coming to it,” O’Sullivan said.” We’ve been on these guys for a long, long time. That’s the thing with baseball recruiting. You get on them early, they commit, then sign in November. But you’ve got to keep recruiting them until they decide to come to campus or not. We got to know all of these kids real well.”

The talent that was in the class for the Gators was enough to rank it #1 in Baseball America’s eyes.  The predictions of these prospects signing with teams that selected the players were very high.  Most of the lower round picks chose to continue on with school first which could yield bigger bucks in the future for them.  I’m always for a kid finishing their education before going off to make money.

Florida Gator Baseball Sign Hudson Randall

With the Sunshine State loaded with baseball prospects last season, there wasn’t much of a need for Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan to leave the state to complete his recruiting class.

But when O’Sullivan went into Georgia and inked Dunwoody High School right-handed pitcher Hudson Randall, he knew the pitcher would be a big piece in the future of the Gators’ baseball program.

“I narrowed down all the offers I had to Florida or Georgia so I could stay close to home,” Randall said. “I like the SEC. I met Sully and the rest of the coaching staff and they’re all nice, good guys. Sully being the pitching coach and the head coach was a big bonus. He did really good work at Clemson as the pitching coach.”

Full story at Gator Country

This could be what we need to get back to the College World Series.    Hudson Randall will be competing for playing time as a Freshman with his next visit to UF Campus.

Six Gator Baseball Players Sign Pro Contracts

Right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.), left-hander Tony Davis (Cooper City, Fla.) and catcher Buddy Munroe (Miami, Fla.) recently signed professional baseball contracts with the Minnesota Twins and will forego their senior seasons at the University of Florida. In addition, three Gators who completed their eligibility also inked deals: outfielderAvery Barnes (High Springs, Fla.) (Colorado Rockies), righty Patrick Keating (Harrisburg, Ill.) (Kansas City Royals) and lefty Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.) (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim).

Full story at Gator Zone

Billy Bullock Bio

BULLOCK’S CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2007	6.31	2	7	15	15	0	0	1	0	61.1	82	48	43	24	37
2008	5.01	4	5	18	11	0	0	0	0	82.2	87	54	46	29	63
CAREER	5.56	6	12	33	26	0	0	1	0	144.0	169	102	89	53	100
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2007	8.42	0	4	10	10	0	0	0	0	36.1	57	37	34	17	19
2008	4.43	3	1	10	9	0	0	0	0	63.0	64	37	31	23	43
CAREER	5.89	3	5	20	19	0	0	0	0	99.1	121	74	65	40	62
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2008	33.75	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.1	6	5	5	1	2
CAREER	33.75	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.1	6	5	5	1	2
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2008	18.00	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	5	4	4	1	2
CAREER	18.00	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	5	4	4	1	2

BULLOCK’S CAREER HIGHS
Innings (Starter): 8.0 vs. Ole Miss (3/21/08)
Innings (Reliever): 6.0 vs. Siena (2/22/08)
Strikeouts: 7, 2x, last vs. South Carolina (5/2/08)
Hits Allowed: 12 vs. Georgia (4/25/08)
Runs: 8 vs. Vanderbilt (4/29/07)
Earned Runs: 7, 3x, last vs. Georgia (4/25/08)
Walks: 5 vs. Kentucky (4/18/08)

Tony Davis Bio

DAVIS’ CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2007	7.27	2	2	7	4	0	0	0	0	17.1	17	14	14	9	9
2008	5.12	0	2	34	0	0	0	1	0	19.1	24	15	11	12	13
CAREER	6.14	2	4	41	4	0	0	1	0	36.2	41	29	25	21	22
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2007	10.22	1	2	4	4	0	0	0	0	12.1	14	14	14	7	5
2008	6.75	0	1	15	0	0	0	0	0	6.2	8	7	5	3	5
CAREER	9.00	1	3	19	4	0	0	0	0	19.0	22	21	19	10	10
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2008	0.00	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	0	0	0	0	1
CAREER	0.00	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.1	0	0	0	0	1
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2008	13.50	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	4	3	3	1	2
CAREER	13.50	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	4	3	3	1	2

DAVIS‘ CAREER HIGHS
Innings (Starter): 5.1 vs. Georgia (3/31/07)
Innings (Reliever): 2.2 vs. Bethune-Cookman (3/27/07)
Strikeouts: 3, 2x, last vs. LSU (3/30/08)
Hits Allowed: 5 vs. Georgia (3/31/07)
Runs: 5 vs. Arkansas (4/14/07)
Earned Runs: 5 vs. Arkansas (4/14/07)
Walks: 5 vs. South Carolina (4/7/07)

Buddy Monroe Bio

MUNROE’S CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2008	.237	38-33	97	15	23	4	0	3	17	6	30	1-1
CAREER	.237	38-33	97	15	23	4	0	3	17	6	30	1-1
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2008	.259	21-20	58	11	15	4	0	3	12	3	17	1-1
CAREER	.259	21-20	58	11	15	4	0	3	12	3	17	1-1
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2008	.167	2-2	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0-0
CAREER	.167	2-2	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0-0
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2008	.000	1-1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0-0
CAREER	.000	1-1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0-0

MUNROE’S CAREER HIGHS
At Bats: 4, 9x, last vs. Florida State (5/31/08)
Runs Scored: 2, 3x, last vs. South Carolina (5/2/08)
Hits: 2, 3x, last vs. South Carolina (5/2/08)
RBI: 3, 2x, last vs. LSU (3/28/08)
Doubles: 2 vs. Auburn (3/15/08)
Triples: None
Home Runs: 1, 3x, last vs. Alabama (5/9/08)
Walks: 1, 6x, last vs. Vanderbilt (5/21/08)
Stolen Bases: 1 vs. South Carolina (5/4/08)
Hit Streak: 4 games (3/18-3/26/08)

Avery Barnes Bio

BARNES’ CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2006	.227	15-3	22	4	5	1	0	0	1	1	4	0-0
2007	.293	47-37	147	40	43	7	2	3	27	18	31	4-6
2008	.360	56-55	225	65	81	11	4	2	19	29	39	26-29
CAREER	.327	118-95	394	109	129	19	6	5	47	48	74	30-35
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2006	.250	6-0	8	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0-0
2007	.250	21-14	64	17	16	1	0	3	18	7	11	4-5
2008	.355	30-30	124	32	44	6	2	1	11	12	24	12-13
CAREER .316	57-44	196	50	62	8	2	4	29	19	36	16-18
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2007	.200	3-3	10	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	4	0-0
2008	.125	2-2	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	1-1
CAREER	.167	5-5	18	3	3	1	0	0	1	3	6	1-1
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	AVG.	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB-ATT
2008	.100	2-2	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0
CAREER	.100	2-2	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0

BARNES’ CAREER HIGHS
At Bats: 6, 2x, last vs. Kentucky (4/19/08)
Runs Scored: 4, 4x, last vs. Campbell (3/4/08)
Hits: 5 vs. Kentucky (4/19/08)
RBI: 10 vs. Tennessee (5/18/07)
Doubles: 2 vs. Brown-1 (3/8/08)
Triples: 1, 6x, last vs. USF (5/13/08)
Home Runs: 2 vs. Tennessee (5/18/07)
Walks: 3, 2x, last vs. Brown (3/9/08)
Stolen Bases: 2, 4x, last vs. Alabama (5/9/08)
Hit Streak: 14 games (3/1-3/26/08)

Patrick Keating Bio

KEATING’S CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2006	16.88	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	2.2	6	5	5	2	1
2007	5.79	3	2	21	1	0	0	1	2	42.0	57	37	27	13	27
2008	4.16	8	1	17	14	1	0	1	1	84.1	104	48	39	25	52
CAREER	4.95	11	3	41	15	1	0	2	3	129.0	167	90	71	40	80
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2006	19.29	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2.1	6	5	5	1	1
2007	9.00	2	1	8	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	30	19	16	4	11
2008	3.28	7	0	11	9	1	0	0	1	57.2	66	26	21	15	38
CAREER	4.97	9	1	21	9	1	0	0	1	76.0	102	50	42	20	50
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2007	5.06	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.1	8	5	3	2	5
2008	7.50	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	6.0	9	6	5	3	1
CAREER	6.35	0	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	11.1	17	11	8	5	6
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2008	18.00	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.0	10	8	8	2	3
CAREER	18.00	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.0	10	8	8	2	3

KEATING’S CAREER HIGHS
Innings (Starter): 9.0 vs. LSU (3/29/08)
Innings (Reliever): 4.1 vs. Tennessee (5/19/07)
Strikeouts: 6, 2x, last vs. Georgia (4/27/08)
Hits Allowed: 10 vs. Florida State (5/31/08)
Runs: 8 vs. Florida State (5/31/08).
Earned Runs: 8 vs. Florida State (5/31/08)
Walks: 3, 2x, last vs. Vanderbilt (5/21/08)

Stephen Locke Bio

LOCKE’S CAREER STATISTICS
Overall Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2005	4.04	5	2	16	11	0	0	1	0	64.2	72	33	29	14	46
2006	Injured – Out for Season
2007	6.95	3	3	9	9	0	0	1	0	33.2	55	29	26	7	11
2008	3.17	5	2	21	12	2	0	1	2	82.1	92	36	29	13	46
CAREER	4.18	13	7	46	32	2	0	3	2	180.2	219	98	84	34	103
SEC Regular-Season Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2005	4.58	1	0	5	2	0	0	0	0	17.2	21	9	9	4	11
2006	Injured – Out for Season
2007	9.35	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	8.2	15	10	9	2	2
2008	2.91	3	1	10	5	2	0	0	2	43.1	49	20	14	5	22
CAREER	4.13	5	1	17	9	2	0	0	2	69.2	85	39	32	11	35
SEC Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2005	6.75	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.1	9	5	4	1	7
CAREER	6.75	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	5.1	9	5	4	1	7
NCAA Tournament Statistics
YEAR	ERA	W	L	APP	GS	CG	SHO	CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2005	9.00	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.0	5	4	4	1	3
2008	4.50	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	6.0	10	3	3	0	3
CAREER	6.30	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	10.0	15	7	7	1	6

LOCKE’S CAREER HIGHS
Innings (Starter): 9.0, 2x, last vs. Alabama (5/10/08)
Innings (Reliever): 3.2 vs. Ole Miss (3/19/05)
Strikeouts: 8 vs. Kentucky (4/20/08)
Hits Allowed: 10, 2x, last vs. Tulane (5/30/08)
Runs: 6 vs. Mississippi State (3/17/07)
Earned Runs: 6 vs. Mississippi State (3/17/07)
Walks: 3 vs. Florida State (5/3/05)

Interview: Teddy Foster

Foster played in 39 games in the 2009 season that fell a hair short of the college world series. Teddy batted .321 with 25 RBI’s and 7 home runs.  Our friends at Gator Sports Nation had the chance to do some Q & A recently:

GSN: What were your fondest memories at UF?

TF: The bond I had with all the guys, all the different guys I became close with, I still talk to a lot of the older guys. Anytime we beat Miami or FSU was always a good memory haha, the walk off hit this year against Bethune will always stay with me.

GSN: Did anybody ever give you any nicknames while at UF?

TF: Some of the fans call me wheels because I was 4-4 at stolen bases last year and 3-4 this year.

GSN: What was the point behind your intro/walk up song?

TF: I didn’t think I was going to play much last year, so I picked a song I thought would be funny if I actually got up to bat a lot, and sure enough I played a lot last year so i just kept it for this year. I actually changed it the last series of the year (Kentucky) and I got booed my first at bat, haha. I was shocked when I came up my 2nd at bat with the new walk out song I got booed again I hit a HR my first at bat with the new song.

GSN: How did it feel reaching the super regionals this year?

TF: Obviously that was a great accomplishment, not having done that since my freshman year, but we still feel like we let a golden opportunity go. we got outplayed, no doubt about it.

GSN: What do you plan on doing now since you graduated from UF?

TF: I enrolled in grad school this past spring and i’ll finish that up next summer and then look to get into baseball somehow, either working for a MLB club or coaching or something.

GSN: Who was the most influential person in your life?

TF: Gotta be my parents, they supported me in baseball and paid for travel/AAU ball, made it easy for me to be successful.

Brandon McArthur Captures Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award

University of Florida third baseman Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.) received the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award at the NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium on Friday. The award, chosen by a nationwide vote of coaches, media and fans, is presented annually to college baseball’s outstanding NCAA Division I senior student-athlete. Gator pitcher Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) collected softball’s version of the award prior to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award has grown into the nation’s premier tribute to college seniors. The award identifies personal qualities that define a complete student-athlete, with criteria including excellence in the classroom, character and community, as well as competition on the field.

“When my phone rang letting me know that I had won the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, I couldn’t even finish my meal because I was very excited,” McArthur said. “This is an honor that I would have never expected entering the season. Having so many people support me throughout my career at the University of Florida, this recognition will be a great source of pride for them too. Knowing what the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award represents, it is an honor for me to be the recipient, especially knowing that the other nine finalists were all deserving candidates who easily could have won.”

Full story at GatorZone

Billy Bullock Taken In Second Round Of MLB Draft

University of Florida junior right-hander Billy Bullock (Balm, Fla.) was selected in the second round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft on Tuesday night by the Minnesota Twins. The second-team All-Southeastern Conference recipient was tabbed with the 70th choice. Bullock is the highest Gator pitcher chosen since Justin Hoyman went in the second round to the Cleveland Indians in 2004, 47th overall.

Bullock made 34 appearances for second-year head coach Kevin O’Sullivan and was 3-3 with a 2.64 earned run average. The righty collected 11 saves, third in the SEC, and tied for the fourth-most in a single-season by a Florida hurler. Over 47.2 innings, Bullock registered 50 strikeouts, issued 22 walks and limited opponents to a .231 batting average.

He was voted as one of the two relievers on the All-SEC team after collecting seven saves during conference activity. Bullock had a 1-2 league ledger with a 2.29 ERA in 15 appearances, with 22 K in 19.2 innings. The right-hander was the first Gator reliever to earn All-SEC since Connor Falkenbach in 2005.

Full story at Gator Zone