GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- No. 1 national seed Florida defeated Florida State 7-0 on Monday night to advance to the College World Series. While the Florida offense certainly played well in Games 2 and 3, it was the Gators' dominant pitching staff that has the Florida faithful feeling good about their chances in Omaha.
FSU's explosive offense averaged over 14 runs a game in the Tallahassee Regional two weeks ago yet was held to only three total runs and a pedestrian .148 team average against the talented Gators' pitching staff in the Gainesville Super Regional. In fact, the Seminoles didn't score a run in the last 22 innings of the three-game series.
In the final two outings of the series, the Seminoles faced a total of four Florida pitchers -- Logan Shore, Dane Dunning (twice), A.J. Puk and Shaun Anderson -- who were drafted in the first three rounds of last weeks major league draft. Florida also have two other drafted pitchers, Scott Moss and Kirby Snead, they didn't even need to pitch in the final two games.
"I don't know if I've seen a stronger pitching staff [than Florida]," FSU head coach Mike Martin said after his team's 7-0 loss to Florida on Monday night.
Not only is there talent coming out of the Florida bullpen, there is much-needed postseason experience. The Gators will be making their second consecutive trip to the College World Series this weekend (all games on the ESPN family of networks). Shore, the SEC Player of the Year, has two CWS wins on his résumé.
"I think the fact that our whole rotation and half our relievers have pitched in Omaha before gives us a lot of confidence going into the College World Series," Shore said. "The depth of our staff is really good, and it showed this weekend against FSU. We lose the first [game] and we have more than enough arms to shutout FSU twice in a row. Is a great feeling knowing we have so many arms that can get the job done. We are ready to get back to Omaha and finish the job that we came so close to achieving last year."
While Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan is confident in his pitching staff that has lead the Gators to a 52-14 record with a team ERA of 2.93, he understands that each game is different and players can sometimes have an off night.
"You go out there and throw the sixth overall pick [Puk] and then you probably go with another first-rounder behind him and then you go to an All-American closer who's a third-rounder [Anderson]," he said. "If we're in a lefty/lefty situation we bring in a 10th-rounder in Snead to get a lefty out. So I feel good about it, but bottom line is the players have to go out there and perform."
Florida entered the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country with several potential high-round draft picks on a loaded roster. O'Sullivan, however, has been most impressed with how is pitching staff has managed expectations.
"We had the No. 1 ranking going in to the season, we have some guys that were high draft picks. It's very difficult to juggle those things and I couldn't be more proud of the way they've handled the expectations from a team standpoint and how selfless they were individually.," O'Sullivan said. "I'm just proud that we have a chance to go back out to Omaha and have these guys experience that again."
While the College World Series will be loaded with some of the top teams in the country, Florida fans can rest easy knowing it has arguably the best and deepest pitching staff in the country.