Florida A&M baseball is preparing to face the University of Florida Gators in the NCAA Division I Gainesville Regional. The Rattlers finished the regular season 29-28 overall and 18-12 in the SWAC which includes winning the conference tournament. The University of Florida, 44-14 overall and 20-10 in the SEC, is the No. 2 seed overall and the No. 2 team in the nation, as both teams will open the tournament in Gainesville, Florida.
The Gainesville Regional marks the third time in program history that the Rattlers have made it to the NCAA Tournament… all three times under Coach Jamey Shouppe. This matchup will be the second-ever postseason against the Gators. Florida defeated the Rattlers 19-0 in the 2015 Gainesville Regional.
The Gators are 29-1 all-time against the Rattlers and are 13-1, including 11-straight, under current head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. This is the second meeting of the season between the programs, as Florida posted a 17-7 victory in seven innings back on April 18.
What sits between these two baseball teams? Florida is a storied perennial baseball powerhouse program and Florida A&M is an upstart program making headway under head coach Shouppe.
The Florida Gator baseball program will host an NCAA Regional for the 19th time in program history, as the NCAA has tabbed Gainesville as one of 16 regional hosts for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Championship.
Both teams enter this weekend in Gainesville, Florida, looking to advance and extend their seasons.
Florida will play in a regional for the thirty-eighth time in school history while this marks the third overall NCAA Tournament appearance for the Rattlers and first since 2019. FAMU heads to Gainesville as a number four seed and faces the host on Friday, June 2nd at 6 p.m. ET.
Both head coaches recruit well for their programs. This game is a test of two baseball coaches who enjoyed a dominant regular season in 2023.
Jamey Shouppe was hired as the head coach of the Florida A&M Rattlers baseball team in July 2013. He has led FAMU to two MEAC Conference championships (2015 and 2019) during his tenure. The 2015 championship led to the program’s first ever NCAA Regional Tournament appearance. FAMU has also won three MEAC regular season Southern Division titles in Shouppe’s tenure and Shouppe has twice been voted MEAC Coach of the Year.
Coach Shouppe spent 21 years as an assistant coach at Florida State University. While there, he spent 21 seasons as recruiting coordinator, 19 as pitching coach and served as the programs associated head coach for nine seasons. Shouppe assembled a top 25 nationally ranked recruiting class in all 21 years at FSU, with 13 of those classes ranked in the top 10 nationally. His pitching staffs were consistently ranked nationally, and FSU led the Atlantic Coast Conference in pitching ERA 10 of his 19 seasons as pitching coach.
Prior to joining Florida A&M, Shouppe has also been involved with USA Baseball coaching and assisting in the selection of the 18U National Team represented USA in the World Cup Games and won Gold Medals.
Kevin O’Sullivan was hired to lead the University of Florida on June 13, 2007, becoming the school’s 21st head coach. In his first season, he led the Gators to a 34-24 record leading Florida to an NCAA Regional. O’Sullivan has had success at every baseball program that he has held a position with.
O’Sullivan arrived after nine seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson, where he helped the Tigers to nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and College World Series berths in 2000, 2002 and 2006. Prior to Clemson, O’Sullivan was the pitching coach at Virginia in 1996 and 1997 when the Cavaliers won their first ACC Tournament title and finished with a 44-21 overall record.
O’Sullivan has transformed the Gators into one of the marquee programs in college baseball, winning the program’s first national title in 2017 and turning the program into a regular at the College World Series in Omaha helping Florida to postseason berths since his arrival. Ninth-nine Gators have been selected in the Major League Baseball Draft.
Offensively, the Rattles are led by HBCU Baseball Black College Nines’ (BCN) All-Elite Player First Team Janmikell Bastardo, hitting .342 with 12 home runs and 53 runs batted in and Ty Jackson, batting .374 with 8 doubles 4 home runs and 30 runs batted.
Other offensive leaders include Ty Hanchey, batting .356 with 10 home runs, 48 RBI, Jared Weber, with 18 doubles, 10 home runs and 52 runs batted in, Joseph Pierini 20 doubles, 7 home runs and 53 batted in, as well as Sebastian Greico hitting .271 with 15 doubles, 17 home runs and 68 runs batted in.
On the mound, the Rattlers are led by senior right hander Hunter Viets (8-2) with a 3.12 earned run average and 78 strikeouts and RHP Caleb Granger (6-4) with a 6.61 ERA and 56 strikeouts. Coach Shouppe can pick by committee RHP Raylan Wagner (3-1), RHP Zach Morea (4-3) with 40 appearances and 6 saves and Grant Harrison 48 strikeouts in relief should see game action if needed.
Florida is one of the best hitting teams in the nation. The Gators rank No. 2 nationally and boast 13 wins versus 2023 Regional host teams – more than any other team in the country. Florida ranks in the top 10 nationally in home runs (third with 119) and slugging (sixth with an average of .557) while ranking 16th with 484 runs scored. Through 58 games, the Gators have scored 45.2% of their batted innings (209 of 462) and are averaging 10.0 hits per game.
Florida features Wyatt Langford hitting .398 with 22 doubles, 17 home runs with 43 runs batted in, Josh Rivera batting .363 with 15 home runs and 61 runs driven in, and Jac Caglianone hitting .349 with 13 doubles, 28 HR and 76 runs driven in. Additionally, BT Riopelle is hitting .266 with 13 HR and 60 RBI and Cade Kurland has 16 home runs and 45 RBIs.
On the pitching side, Ryan Slater is 9-0 with a 3.72 earned run average, while striking out 46 batters. Brandon Sproat, 7-3 with a 4.71 ERA has struck out 106 batters. O’Sullivan can move his starters around with Hurston Waldrep who is 7-3 in 78.1 innings pitched, striking out 117 batters and Jac Caglianone who is 6-3 with 74 Ks and a 4.14 ERA.
Florida A&M enters the contest having won its last four of five ballgames including the SWAC title. The Gators have won three of its last five games including a loss to Vanderbilt which knocked them out of the SEC tournament.
The challenge for Florida A&M this weekend will be pitching. The Rattlers must get through Florida’s heavy hitters who ripped apart the SEC playing long ball and looking for the big run producing inning.
Florida A&M showed they can hit Gator pitching. In the April 18th midweek contest in Gainesville, Rattlers bats produced 10 hits and scored 7 runs in losing 17-7. This is a different ball club. That April game against Florida was a good road test. Friday’s game will be in front of 10,000-plus home fans.