Florida baseball had a sour end to its 2014 campaign.
After winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title for the 13th time in program history and earning the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Gators’ season came to a skidding halt in the Gainesville Regional after going two-and-out in the tournament for the second straight year.
But even after losing 3-2 to College of Charleston and then 5-2 to North Carolina to cap off the season, Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan did not dwell on the negatives of how the season ended.
"I don’t want these last two games to be a reflection of what this team is about," O’Sullivan said after the loss to UNC on May 31. "We accomplished a lot, and I know in this day and age you’re always judged on how you do in the postseason — I understand that. But as far as the people in that locker room, and our coaches and our staff, and the people that are involved with our program, we’re gonna be awful proud about what we accomplished this year."
UF released its 2015 schedule on Tuesday, and its road to the NCAA Tournament will be anything but easy.
Florida faces five teams that finished the season ranked in the top 25 of the Baseball America poll — No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 3 Ole Miss, No. 19 Florida State, No. 23 Miami and No. 25 South Carolina.
The Gators also face the task of replacing two key starters in Taylor Gushue and Casey Turgeon, who opted to forgo their senior seasons and sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.
During his three-year tenure at Florida, Gushue started 162 games and posted a career .274 batting average with 16 home runs and 103 RBIs.
The catcher paced UF with 71 hits, 16 doubles, six home runs, 49 RBIs and a .467 slugging percentage in 2014. Gushue led the SEC in league play with a .389 clip at the plate and was en route to first-team All-SEC and second-team All-America honors.
Turgeon started 185 games — including 177 at second base — during his three-year career at Florida, finishing with a .269 batting average with 112 runs, 95 RBIs and 13 home runs. In his junior campaign, the Palm Harbor, Fla., native had a team-high 35 walks last season while also being second with 36 runs, 33 RBIs, 11 doubles and four home runs.
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Taylor Gushue runs toward first base during Florida’s 4-0 win against Maryland on Feb. 14 at McKethan Stadium.
