Kevin O'Sullivan talks close game with Florida A&M, pitching staff
· Yahoo Sports
Florida baseball head coach Kevin O'Sullivan wouldn't go as far as to say his team played poorly in a 7-5 win over Florida A&M on Wednesday night. Instead, he praised the Rattlers for putting up a tough fight and his team for outlasting that effort.
O'Sullivan was largely happy with the pitching staff, despite rough innings from starter Luke McNeillie and Florida's first reliever, Billy Barlow. Defensive miscues piled on during those frames, allowing FAMU to score runs and keep the game competitive, but strong nights from Caden McDonald, Ernesto Lugo-Canchola and Joshua Whritenour allowed Florida to come back.
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Cade Kurland's injury has presented freshman Colton Schwarz a chance to show off, and O'Sullivan said he's making the most of it. Sully provided an update on Kurland's timeline to return, but praised Schwarz for playing well on both sides of the ball.
O'Sullivan also talked about the desire to get some of the younger relievers in the game, but noted that the team needs to have a bigger lead, so he can insert them in low-pressure situations.
Here's everything O'Sullivan said after Wednesday night's win.
On Luke McNeillie's performance
“I thought Luke in the first inning was really good. He’s just got to get the ball down in the strike zone a little bit more and have the ability to land that slider for a strike early. And he’s got to land it in a better spot with two strikes. I thought some balls just got to the middle of the plate, but he did limit the damage there in the second, just giving up the one earned run.
"It was unfortunate that we threw the ball away there at first to start the game. His stuff was fine. Like I said, he’s just got to get the ball down in the strike zone a little bit more. It just seems like it’s a little elevated at times. When he gets in advantage counts, he hangs his breaking ball sometimes. If he can locate that thing a little bit better, I think we’ll have more success.”
On the bullpen performance
“I thought Billy (Barlow) for the first two innings was really good. We scored two there in the bottom of the fourth, but then he walked the leadoff guy to start the fifth, and then we threw a bunt away. That kind of opened things up.
"Caden (McDonald) came in and threw three solid innings for us. Ernie (Lugo-Canchola) did his job, and they went to the bench with the right-handed hitter and kept his pitch count at 20. Their two best hitters hit right there in the middle of the order are left handed. Not that Ernie can't pitch against right-handers.
"Josh (Whritenour) threw 14 pitches and 12 strikes. He was outstanding again.”
On FAMU's performance
“I do want to give credit to A&M. They played really good. They played sound defense, had different looks on the mound, and made some really tough plays defensively. It seemed like Jamey (Shouppe) made every right move when he went to the bullpen. We were just fortunate enough where it was a freak play at first base with the first baseman.I thought it was a good game. I really do. I don’t think we played poorly. I think we made some mistakes.”
On the key mistakes
“We threw the ball away in the first, which cost us a run. We didn’t take an extra base with Sam at first with two outs, and then Yost comes up and gets a base hit. That cost us a run. But I thought Colton Schwarz played outstanding tonight, both defensively and offensively.”
On Colton Schwarz’s performance, allowing Cade Kurland to recover
“We’re trying to play as many guys as we possibly can, but he’s certainly making the most of his opportunities.He played really good defense. We turned a couple of double plays tonight. It was clean. The throws across the diamond were chest high. He made a nice grab on the line drive to his left and had a couple of really good at-bats.”
On whether the team played poorly
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we played that poorly. We made a couple of mistakes. You throw a bunt away; obviously, there’s going to be a crooked number on the board. We preach that when we score, you can’t go out there and walk the leadoff man and get things rolling for them.
"I thought Caden, when he gave up the fifth run, the line drive to center was on a good pitch. It was down. Their hitters battled at the plate. Like I said, I can’t sit here and say that we played that poorly. I don't think we did. I think Florida A&M honestly played well tonight.”
On production from the bottom of the lineup
“I think how that second inning started, Cole (Stanford) walked, and Colton hit the single to center field and advanced to third with really good baserunning because they bobbled the ball. Then Sam (Miller) came up with the single to drive in two. That was a big at-bat for us to get us back in the ball game.”
On Cade Kurland's return timeline
"We’re shooting probably for South Carolina, maybe Florida State, but probably SEC play. That’s the target date right now.”
On Blake Cyr’s injury
“He just jammed his thumb. There wasn’t any lac(eration)s in there, so I think it’ll be fine. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. I don't know; they have the mitt on, and they slide with the other hand. I'm not quite sure what's going on there. Maybe we need two mitts.”
On Josh Whritenour at the back end of the bullpen
"I couldn’t be more proud of him. He fought through a little bit of adversity and got through it. You look at the guys we threw yesterday, it gives us so much flexibility. If we can extend guys like we did down at Miami, we still have other guys we can go to.
"To be able to get Ernie out there for 20 pitches and then Josh out there for 14, I think that’s important. Now they’re fresher for the weekend.”
On getting Jackson Hoyt, other lefties back on the mound
"I hope so. I just want to put him in a position where they’re not such leverage situations. If we can distance ourselves a little bit, we’re going to have to find some time to get him in there. My job as their coach is to try to find situations to put them in positions where they can be successful. We never really got to that point tonight. Honestly, I wanted to, but you're still trying to win a ball game.
"I do believe in Jackson. I know he’s had a couple of rough outings, and I’ve had some conversations with him one-on-one to try to help his confidence a little bit. If we can build a lead where it’s a non-pressure situation, just get him in there for one inning, get him out, make him feel good about himself, then get him out there again. But we’ve got to put ourselves to where — you know, in a two-run game or tie game or where you're behind, tonight just never really presented itself.”
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball quotes: Kevin O'Sullivan after beating FAMU Rattlers