“A new season starts tomorrow.”
It was a sentiment echoed by multiple members of the Florida Gators baseball team on Thursday morning.
“Clean slate, forget about the past,” third baseman Jonathan India said. “It’s a new season, start over.”
The Gators begin the Gainesville Regional at home Friday against Columbia at noon at McKethan Stadium.
Florida also continues to pile up accolades. Singer was announced as the 2018 Baseball America National Player of the Year on Thursday.
He is the second player in Gator history to achieve the distinction after Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino was selected after his junior season with UF.
In addition to the recognition, the consensus first-round draft pick can add First-Team All-American to his resume. India and Byrne were also named to Baseball America’s list after their own stellar seasons.
Singer and India are expected to hear their names called early in the 2018 MLB Draft Monday night.
Singer admitted he was excited about the draft but remained adamant that his focus was on the games at hand. He said former teammate and current Detroit Tigers pitcher Alex Faedo was a role model for how to stay focused amid the chaos.
“Maintain your focus for the team, I think he (Faedo) did a good job of that,” Singer said. “Just want to take that into my own hands and follow what he did.”
India took a different approach regarding the draft.
“I don’t think about the draft until that day,” India said. “Just worrying about Columbia tomorrow.”
Singer is expected to return to play after a hamstring pull suffered before Game 1 of the Mississippi State series that began on May 17.
He will take the mound Saturday against Jacksonville or FAU. Freshman Tommy Mace will get the start Friday against Columbia after a solid showing in the SEC Tournament.
To try and help his team after it lost six of the last seven contests, coach Kevin O’Sullivan brought in former Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan to talk to the players about adversity.
“We looked back at those ’06, ’07 seasons with Billy and they were 27-2 and went on a skid there at the end, lost three of five.” O’Sullivan said. “We thought there were a lot of similarities between both teams, so we decided to reach out to Billy and he was really helpful.”
India said that Donovan expressed disappointment with the Gators during their skid. He also said that it’s good for a team to go through some adversity and that it’s only as strong as its weakest link.
UF will still be without catcher/first baseman JJ Schwarz as he is day-to-day after breaking a bone in his hand. According to O’Sullivan, Schwarz will play if he can tolerate the pain, but the Gators will likely go with freshman Cal Greenfield or junior Jonah Girand at catcher.
The bullpen struggled mightily in the Mississippi State series and the SEC Tournament, especially Byrne, but O’Sullivan remains confident in his team regardless.
“Butler’s been really good all year long…I trust him,” O’Sullivan said. “Byrne played really good against LSU. I think he needed that.”
O’Sullivan said it’s key to remain positive, but the veteran coach didn’t mince words regarding the upcoming game against Columbia on Friday.
“Right now, this team needs to play better baseball, and we need to get off to a good start.”
You can follow Chris O’Brien on Twitter @THEChrisOB and contact him at cobrien@alligator.org.
UF starting pitcher Brady Singer pitched 5.0 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits in Florida's elimination game loss to Arkansas on Friday.
