According to all four major polls — Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and USA Today/ESPN— Florida is the top-ranked team in the country.
But if the No. 1 Gators continue to lose focus on the basepaths, they won’t hold their ranking much longer.
Despite a sour loss Tuesday to recent nemesis Florida State, the Gators (7-1) enter tonight’s pivotal series against Miami (4-4) playing solid baseball in nearly every facet of the game, except baserunning.
While it is still early in the 2011 campaign, the blunders have become an area of concern for Kevin O’Sullivan’s club, as his players’ minds seem to wander once they reach base.
“It’s something we just have to stay focused on,” shortstop Nolan Fontana said. “We’ve had a few mental mistakes, and we’ve just got to fix it.”
Florida’s inconsistency on the basepaths has developed into a frustrating problem for a team that preaches fundamentals and doesn’t particularly run much.
While the Gators’ baserunning statistics are less than gaudy, their “mental lapses” routinely occur on pickoffs, sacrifice flies or hits.
Down 5-0 in UF’s lone loss against FSU, senior second baseman Josh Adams worked a walk, placing runners at first and third with one out. But Adams completely misread the ball on a Preston Tucker single and was easily thrown out at third, killing a potential rally.
“It happens,” Adams said. “It’s early in the season. The grass is high, grass is low, sometimes the ball goes faster, slows down. It’s something that could be mental or just [players] making mistakes.”
Both Adams and Fontana said the way to improve is by simply practicing more and just staying focused.
When asked if O’Sullivan had addressed the issue, Adams smiled and responded, “Definitely.”
In its first eight games, UF is 7 for 11 in stolen bases, but that doesn’t include four pickoffs.
The Gators have been picked off the second-most times of teams ranked in Baseball America’s top 10 despite placing in the bottom half in stolen-base attempts. Only No. 10 Arizona State has been picked off more times than Florida, with five, and the Sun Devils have swiped 27 bases.
“We’ve got to keep working at it,” O’Sullivan said. “You’re not going to be perfect in this game. You just learn from your mistakes and hopefully not make the same ones over and over.”
UF’s coach stressed that he does not expect the issue to plague the team for the rest of the year.
“It’s the early part of the season, so come talk to me in June,” O’Sullivan said. “If we’re still making the same mistakes, we’ll take full responsibility for it.”
Etc.: Florida won four of five against Miami last season and swept the Hurricanes in the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional, ending their year for the second consecutive season. … For the third straight weekend, UF’s rotation remains the same. Brian Johnson will start tonight’s opener, followed by Hudson Randall on Saturday and freshman Karsten Whitson in the series finale. … In Tuesday’s loss to FSU, Fontana’s seven game run-scoring streak ended. … The Gators have won a school-record 21 straight in McKethan Stadium.
