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The Back Nine comes at you after a really nice weekend for the mighty Gators on so many levels.
10. We will start with what happened with baseball, because after the Thursday loss I think a lot of us had the obits ready to go for this year’s team. Instead, the Gators had one foot in the grave, but one foot on the pedal and scored 25 runs in a 12-inning span over two games to take the series at Georgia and keep hope alive. I know they are now eligible for the NCAA Tournament, because they can’t finish under .500, but I never guarantee anything when a faceless NCAA committee is involved. Still, with an RPI of 24, more Quad 1 wins than all but four teams and the No. 1 strength of schedule, I’m sure coach Kevin O’Sullivan feels pretty confident. Don’t forget Georgia had won nine in a row and was 29-3 at home before the Gators won the last two.
11. Now, go make some noise in Hoover. The Gators went there from Athens and will play Vanderbilt at 5:30 p.m. ET Tuesday. Weather permitting, of course, and weather rarely permits anything to happen on schedule in the town that sidewalks forgot. I could see Florida playing its way into a No. 2 seed if the Gators made it to the SEC semifinals, but more likely will be a three. Vandy won two of three against Florida in the regular season, but that was in Nashville.
12. And then there is softball, which blew through its opponents to reach the Super Regionals. The Gators will host Baylor, which upset 13th national seed Louisiana in that regional. Florida’s offense has been ridiculous all year and certainly was in the regional, outscoring its opponents 24-2. This is a team that is peaking at the right time with 11 straight wins. Win two more and you’re in Oklahoma City. I don’t miss much about traveling the way I used to in my old job, but I do miss my friends in Bricktown.
13. It really is an amazing job by coach Tim Walton to get this team to rally from that run-rule loss to FSU at home and go on this run. The Gators looked like they were not going to even be hosting a regional – let alone a Super – before that series win in Athens (Hmm, sounds familiar). The reward is Florida gets to play a noon game Friday. Don’t worry, the press box has air conditioning.
14. It was amazing to me to see all of the media say they had never seen anything in golf like the Scottie Scheffler story last week. Um, did you guys forget the Tiger Woods story? My wife was struggling watching the tournament, because she kept mixing up Scheffler and Schauffele. Kind of like salsa and seltzer, right? Well done, Xander, although it would have been more fun if the course wasn’t so wet that you could hit a driver onto an island par 4 and make it stop.
15. That’s what former Gator All-American Alejandro Tosti did Sunday. After his 79 on Saturday, what did he have to lose? Even with that eagle, he shot even for the tournament, which got him tied for 73rd. But the bigger story was my man Billy Horschel shooting a 64 in the final round to finish T8. Billy Boy was golfing his ball Sunday. And if one more CBS talking head said, “smoother than Kentucky bourbon” I was throwing my remote through the TV screen.
16. Good luck to the women’s lacrosse and men’s golf teams as they try to keep their dreams alive. Lacrosse is in its second final four and takes on top seed and defending champion Northwestern at 3 p.m. Friday on ESPNU. The defending national champion golf team starts the NCAA Championships finals Friday as well. One is in North Carolina, the other in California. See, the NCAA is not worthless, because someone has to pay for the flights and run the tourneys.
17. I want to thank Josh Howard for inviting me to the Meldon Law/TV 20 25thanniversary banquet for high school scholar-athletes. It was inspiring and great to see Earnest Graham (father of the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Myles) and Ian Scott (head coach at GHS) as well as Steve Spurrier and his lovely wife Jerri.
18. Just to let you know, there will be no Back 9 next week. I’m spending time at Vilano Beach with my family. No Monday podcast either. Sorry. I need some down time. My sister actually asked me to bring my guitar. She has no idea what a mistake that is. Instead, maybe I should play these songs:
- “Deeper Well” by Kacey Musgraves. This song is awesome.
- “She Bangs the Drums” by The Stone Roses. I didn’t know this 1989 song, but that’s why I open up to so many different genres.
- And for a really old one, I tried to sing this to my wife, but she didn’t want to hear me sing. She did like the sentiment, however. “I Love You More Today Than Yesterday” by Spiral Staircase.
WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.
