SWINGING FOR THE FENCES
First steps to Omaha Florida baseball not satisfied with CWS Finals appearance By Adam Pincus 20 GATOR COUNTRY | DEC/2011
Once the South Carolina centerfielder squeezed the ball in his glove for the final out, the dream was over. All the Florida Gators could do was watch. Watch their Southeastern Conference rival celebrate back-to-back National Championships. Florida players hugged coaches and teammates to cope with the crushing defeat, but there were some Gators determined to be the team the TD Ameritrade Park crowd cheers for next season. UF is hungry to complete the dream of winning it all this season. Right fielder Preston Tucker has reached the College World Series twice in his career.
“We know what it takes to get there,” Tucker said. “We still need to find out what it takes to finish. We can’t be satisfied. We are not going to be satisfied.” A potential trip to Omaha could be seven months away, but Florida baseball started preparing for the 2012 season with six weeks of official fall practice, which ended Nov. 4. Florida entered fall practice missing eight players who left due to graduation and the Major League Baseball amateur draft. Tucker was among a school-record 11 Gators drafted last June. He decided to return for his senior year to continue his pursuit of a degree and a national championship.
Fact: In 2007, the Gator trio of Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah became the first threesome ever to be drafted in the first 10 picks of the same NBA draft.