If you were sitting in the stands of McKethan Stadium on April 7, watching closely as JJ Schwarz hit his fourth home run of the game, and then followed the freshman as he trotted around the bases and galloped back into his dugout, you might have thought this was the norm.
Soundless and still, Schwarz’s teammates didn’t stir.
They gave him the silent treatment after one of the most prolific performances Florida baseball has ever seen, and likely might ever see.
You, bemused from the bleachers, might have brushed off the home runs as four crazy, confined coincidences, something that will never happen again. But then, later that week, Schwarz hit three more homers to catapult himself into the national collegiate spotlight.
Like anyone else, coach Kevin O’Sullivan was in awe. But he wouldn’t let the success get to the freshman’s head.
"Those days, those weeks, I don’t know if it’s ever gonna happen again," O’Sullivan told Schwarz.
Perhaps Schwarz needed to hear those words. After his week of seven home runs, the freshman predictably dropped off — in batting average, in home runs, in nearly every statistical category.
Over his next thirteen games, Schwarz went 9-for-39 with just one more home run, fell almost a full point in slugging percentage and struck out nine times.
After the week he had and the inconsistencies that are expected from a first-year player, his temporary decline was more than excusable.
After all, as a team, Florida went through a similar slump just a few weeks earlier.
Before Schwarz’s statistical anomaly against Stetson in April, UF had lost three of its last four games, and dropped two of its last four Friday and Saturday night outings, a stretch that exposed its underperforming starting pitching staff.
Logan Shore and A.J. Puk combined to allow 25 hits and 15 runs over those four starts, and by the end, Puk was especially laboring, tallying the team’s second-highest ERA (4.20) of pitchers who had recorded at least 10 appearances.
"There was just something missing, and I couldn’t really put my finger on it. Maybe it was just more consistency more than anything else," O’Sullivan said. "We’d show flashes for a week or so and then we would back off a hair. Maybe some of it had to do with injuries … but probably a lot of it had to do with getting A.J. going."
And then, just like Schwarz against Stetson, the Gators took off.
They won seven of their last nine games, including a series win against Vanderbilt that seemed to foreshadow what was to come.
After an opening round loss to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, they breezed through their next nine opponents, scoring 83 runs against the opposition’s 18.
Their pitchers dominated, their offense produced, and the freshmen facilitated a forceful postseason run.
And Schwarz, well … he simply Schwarzed. He was named both the SEC Tournament and Regional Round MVP, and will look to do the same when No. 4 national seed Florida (49-16) faces No. 5 national seed Miami (FL) (49-15) on Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
"He’s just a special player," O’Sullivan beamed after UF clinched its ninth Omaha appearance on Saturday. "Special hitter, special catcher."
Schwarz is leading UF on a special run.
From a player standpoint, no one knows more about postseason runs, or lack thereof, than senior Bobby Poyner, who endured two years of Regional exits after advancing to the CWS his freshman year.
Last Saturday, when asked to put Florida’s complicated and arduous season into words, Poyner simply stated the truth:
"We just got hot at the right time."
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb.
UF's JJ Schwarz runs past third base and heads to score during the first inning of Florida's 13-5 win against Florida State in the NCAA Super Regionals on June 5, 2015, at McKethan Stadium.
