Well, this is it… either Florida or Florida State will be going home early in the 2010 College World Series at 4:30 pm today. It’s going to be a battle between both of them.

Both teams seem like they just can’t get enough of each other. This is going to be the fifth time the Gators and Seminoles have faced each other this year, but this game means a lot more.

FSU (47-19) landed up in the losers bracket after a 8-1 defeat against TCU last Saturday, while Florida was chomped 11-3 by a solid 6th seed UCLA team.

Everybody make sure to tune into the game today, it will be aired live on television on ESPN2 and may also be seen online. Just search for a live video streaming site or espn3.com has it.

The last time these two teams met during the post-season in 2008, the Seminoles put the Gators season to an end during the Tallahassee Regional. But according to Antonya English of Gator Report, the Gators have a 10-3 advantage in the NCAA tournament games against the Seminoles and has also won the last seven of the eight meetings.

Looking back at the four games played earlier this year, FSU won three of the four.

The Gators will go with freshman pitcher Hudson Randall on the hill today. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan has a lot of confidence starting Randall today, but it’s a wise decision. Randall will be making his 17th start which is a team high, and has not lost one game in his last 10 outings. Randall also leads second on the teams in strikeouts with 68 in 94 innings. He has also kept his opponents down with an .266 batting average.

If you look back at the last time Randall pitched against the Seminoles, it wasn’t picture perfect. With this being his fourth appearance, he is 0-1 with 7.71 ERA against FSU. He has allowed 13 hits and nine runs in 9 innings.

It has been a good while since the Gators have lost consecutive games in a row, and they can’t afford it now either. Looking back in late March against Ole Miss, May 22nd against South Carolina and May 26 against LSU in the SEC tournament are the last time the Gators have recorded consecutive losses.

Antonya English caught up with Matt Den Dekker:

“We’re going to come out ready to play and put this behind us,” senior Matt den Dekker said following the UCLA loss. “We played them already four times this year, so we have an idea of what to expect. We’re going to come ready to play, come out with some intensity and get ready to go.”

Den Dekker wants it more than anyone. Matt and I had a little conversation the other day on facebook and I can just tell you this… he is wanting to bring a championship back to Gainesville, and his time is limited. I don’t see how he could sleep because I can only imagine whats going through his body right now. His current facebook status:

Matt Den Dekker: Game 2 today vs FSU at 430… win or go home!!!!

Key for today’s game:

• No pitching miscues.
• Stay ahead of FSU with the bats.
• DEFENSE (wins ball games)

Shortly after the game, Gator Sports Nation will have a post-game story published. In the meantime, take a second to visit the GSN Forum and discuss the game in the College World Series thread that is created. Florida Gator Forum

Florida’s trip to the College World Series is not what they pictured so far, but it’s not over yet.

What was real huge that cost the Gators (47-16) is that they let eight UCLA Bruin players get at least one hit last night in the 11-3 loss.

The Gators will now have to face their rivals Florida State at 4:30 pm on Monday which is the elimination game. It will also be aired on ESPN2.

Florida sophomore pitcher Alex Panteliodis allowed a season high of five runs, four of them were earned. He only allowed four earned runs in his first two NCAA tournament starts this season. Panteliodis struggled a bit last night. Only hitting three batters coming into last nights game, he hit the first two at the start of the game. Steven Rodriguez also hit two Bruin batters, hitting none in his 27 innings pitched earlier this year.

UCLA’s pitcher Trevor Bauer (11-3) came up real big in yesterday’s victory, recording 11 strikeouts in seven innings pitched, allowing six hits and three runs.

It all started when the Gators took a 2-1 lead early in the first inning, then the Bruins scored three runs off of three hits and that is when the momentum shifted to their side throughout the whole entire game.

Florida’s World Series hopes are still alive, but the pitching and hitting are going to have to step up big on Monday against the Seminoles.

(Info gathered by Antonya English, Gator Report.)

Courtesy of Gatorzone

Florida Gator left hand pitcher Brian Johnson has received an invitation for the 2010 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Trials that begin on July 5 and go through until July 11 located at the National training complex in Cary, N.C. Johnson will be battling for a shot on the 22 man roster that will be chosen and decided who made it on Sunday, July 11. The 22 players who will be chosen will be traveling all across the country, and with the summer season will be wrapping up on July 30-August 7 at FISU World University Baseball Championships that will be located in Tokyo, Japan. Johnson will also be at the trials with his teammate Nolan Fontana.

Both Louisville Slugger and NCBWA chose Johnson as the Freshman All-American, he earned his spots on the SEC’s All-Freshman Team and will contribute as a starting pitcher and as well as a DH. With Johnson’s 15 appearances and 14 starts on the hill for Florida, he held a record of 6-4, 3.97 ERA and 48 strikeouts in a total of 70 innings.

Johnson can not only pitch, but he has a mean stroke at the plate as well. He was the Gators DH in 26 games this season with a .413 BA, 19 RBIs, 13 runs scores, five doubles, four home runs, and two grand slams. Yeah…. pretty impressive huh?

Johnson was honored as the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Gainesville Regional when he finished batting 5-for-8 (.625) and pitched seven shut out innings in the championship game. During the Florida Atlantic game, he went 3-for-5 along with a lead off homer that was belted in the third inning. During the second game against Florida Atlantic, Johnson hit the stick real well, going 2-for-3 and not to mention he earned his first career triple in the victory against Oregon State.

In last weeks sweep against the Hurricanes, Johnson hit a team high of .429 and also drove in three runs. He received freshman player of the week back on April 5 and repeated it on May 3, putting his name on the Watch List for the John Olerud Award that is given to the countries best two way player which Johnson is.

Florida is set to play UCLA in the college world series on Saturday, starting at 7:00pm on ESPN. This is the Gators 64th College World Series appearance.

(Info gathered by Gatorzone.)

The #3 seed Florida Gators will face the #6 seed UCLA Bruins (48-14) Saturday in the second game of doubleheader scheduled to begin at 7pm.  The Gators (47-15) are making their first appearance since 2005, when they lost in the championship series to eventual National Champion Texas. The game will be aired live on ESPN. 

The losers of Saturday’s two games will play one another at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, while Saturday’s nights winners face each other at 9 p.m. Monday. The losers of Sunday’s games will play each other at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, while Sunday’s winners will play Tuesday night at 9 p.m.

2010 NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE 

Saturday, June 19 

Game 1 – 2 p.m.     Florida State (47-18) vs. TCU (51-12)

Game 2 – 7 p.m.     No. 6 UCLA (48-14) vs. No. 3 FLORIDA (47-15) 

Sunday, June 20

Game 3 – 2 p.m.     South Carolina (48-15) vs. Oklahoma (49-16)

Game 4 – 7 p.m.     Clemson (43-23) vs. No. 1 Arizona State (52-8)

Monday, June 21

Game 5 – 4:30 p.m.     Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 6 – 9 p.m.     Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Tuesday, June 22

Game 7 – 4:30 p.m.     Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 8 – 9 p.m.     Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

Wednesday, June 23

Game 9 – 7 p.m.     Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6

Thursday, June 24

Game 10 – 7 p.m.     Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8

Friday, June 25

Game 11 – 4:30 p.m.     Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 6

Game 12 – 9 p.m.      Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 8

Saturday, June 26

Game 13 – 2 p.m.                      Game 13 will be only necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11. 

If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 7 p.m.

Game 14 – 7 p.m.                           Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. 

If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 27

No games scheduled

MEN’S NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES FINALS

Monday, June 28

Game 1 – 7:30 p.m. (ESPN HD)                        Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Tuesday, June 29

Game 2 – 7:30 p.m. (ESPN HD)                        Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Wednesday, June 30

Game 3 – 7:30 p.m. (ESPN HD)                        Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

                (if necessary)

 Courtesy of Gatorzone

For the first since 2005, the Florida Gators will be taking a visit to Omaha for the College World Series. The Gators clinched their spot after another Miami miscue resulted in a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth inning, leading to the eventual game winning double by Austin Maddox that put them up 4-3 in the top of the tenth of inning.

Miami recorded a dismal nine errors in the two combined games, and their miscues proved to be the main factor that ended their season. The Gators are the first team to clinch a spot in Omaha (as of now).

For now, the Gators will enjoy the moment, and will have to wait to see who they will square up against in the opening game of the College World Series.

Courtesy of GatorZone.com

Florida Gator freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana has been invited 2010 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Trials that will be going on July 5th through July 11th in Cary, N.C.

Fontana will be competing for a spot against several other players for the 22 man roster that will be chosen on July 11th. After the team is selected, they will be traveling and competing across the country for the summer season that starts on July 20th and goes all the way through August 7th that will be at the FISU World University Baseball Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

Fontana has really contributed for the Gators. He has started in all 42 games over at shortstop and has only made one error which is pretty impressive. His fielding percentage is sitting right at .995. Also leads in walks, second on the team with runs (34), and third on base percentage (.429). Batting wise, Fontana is fourth with a .280 average along with 15 RBI.

(Antonya English from Gator Report contributed to this article.)