June 17--GAINESVILLE -- Preston Tucker had no idea what to expect in the College World Series last season.
He was thrilled that the Gators had made it to Omaha and enjoyed the sights, sounds, atmosphere and pageantry of the event's final year at Rosenblatt Stadium. But things changed quickly once Florida took the field against UCLA in its first game.
"When we went to Omaha last year we were kind of overwhelmed," Tucker said. "No one on the team had been there so I think everyone was excited, everyone wanted to win, but I think we were a little young and inexperienced and we weren't ready for it."
That was evident in the results -- an 11-3 crushing by the Bruins, followed by an 8-5 loss to Florida State. Two losses in three days and the Gators were back in Gainesville before the championship series.
This year, Tucker and his teammates say, things will be different.
They may not win the national title, but they won't be intimidated.
"I don't think we went into it with the right mindset [last year]," designated hitter Daniel Pigott said. We know winning it all is the ultimate goal.
"It's a great experience, it's a lot of fun, but winning baseball games is what's important, not the rest of the stuff that goes on around you."
Even coach Kevin O'Sullivan admitted he got caught up in the hype surrounding Florida's first CWS appearance since 2005. He's taken some steps to make sure that didn't happen this year, making sure hotels, tickets and everything else was done early in the week so all he and the team would have to focus on was tonight's opponent, Texas.
"It felt like everything was rushed when we got out there and the next thing you know it's the fifth inning and we were down [to UCLA]," O'Sullivan said. "I just thought to try to do the best job we can this year, starting [Monday] night, of preparing for Saturday night."
The Gators (50-17) need to eliminate distractions because they're facing a Longhorns squad that is making its 34th appearance in the College World Series. Coach Augie Garrido has won five national titles, including 2005, when Texas beat Florida 2-0 in the best-of-three title series.
Texas (49-17) will start right-hander Taylor Jungmann (13-2, 1.38 ERA), who has thrown three complete-game shutouts and a one-hitter this season. The junior, who was the Big 12's Pitcher of the Year and a Louisville Slugger first-team All-American, was the 12th overall selection in this month's amateur baseball draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Texas also had three other players selected in the first nine rounds of the draft: pitcher Sam Stafford (second round, New York Yankees), shortstop Brandon Loy (fifth round, Detroit) and pitcher Cole Green (ninth round, Cincinnati).
In addition, pitcher Corey Knebel was named the Freshman Pitcher of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He tied the single-season team record with 19 saves.
The Gators aren't overly concerned with the strength of Texas' pitching staff because they've found themselves in holes in big games before and have rallied.
"Coming from behind, not only [in the Super Regional], but in regionals and in the SEC championship really showed a lot about this team," Tucker said. "That's one thing I didn't think we had last year that we're kind of starting to get a feel of: Scoring runs late in ballgames and coming up in the clutch.
"It's going to happen in Omaha. We know there's not going to be any gimmes."
And there won't be any starry eyes, either.
