Schwarz may boost Gators during CWS
OMAHA, Neb. — JJ Schwarz hit three home runs Friday. All came in batting practice at TD Ameritrade Park, so they counted for nothing, but they were significant news for the injured Florida senior as the No. 1 Gators (47-19) prepared for their opening College World Series game today against Texas Tech (44-18).
Asked if he’ll play, Schwarz, second on the team in batting average (.325) and third in home runs (12) and RBI (46), gave a “We’ll see,” but all signs are positive after Friday’s practice session.
Schwarz, the first team captain coach Kevin O’Sullivan has named in his 11 seasons, took 28 swings Friday. He started practice with black tape bonding together the index and middle fingers on his broken right hand, but after a few warm-up throws he removed the tape.
Schwarz played first base much of last season and that’s where he fielded grounders Friday. Catching, he said, is out of the question for now. The pain in his still slightly discolored fingers is present but tolerable.
O’Sullivan said it is Schwarz’s call if he suits up again.
“He’s going to come to me when he’s ready,” O’Sullivan said.
Schwarz’s injury was the latest turn in an ever-twisting career for the Gators catcher. He took a foul ball off his right hand May 18 in a game at Mississippi State and hasn’t played since. He thought his college career was over.
“I was pretty emotional when it happened,” Schwarz said.
Eleven games on the bench — the first time in four years he’d been out of the lineup — included elimination games against Florida Atlantic and Monday’s 11-inning win against Auburn in decisive Game 3 of the Super Regional. After the latter, Schwarz prayed near home plate.
“I had a moment with God, talking to him about how I wish whoever comes after me, whoever steps on this field, gets the same impact I did,” Schwarz said.
Schwarz hit .332 with 18 homers with 73 RBI as a freshman and then saw those numbers drop to .290 with seven homers and 60 RBI as a sophomore. Worse yet, the Gators went 0-for-2 in the CWS. Schwarz hit 12 homers as a junior but also posted a career-low in batting average (.259) and RBI (56). That season, though, ended with Schwarz making the final putout as the Gators won their first national championship. The only snag that night was that somewhere in the postgame celebration, the ball from that last out was lost.
“New plan,” Schwarz said. “If I’m at first base, I’ll put it in my back pocket.”
There is no question about today’s starting pitcher. O’Sullivan mocked flipping a coin when asked if Brady Singer (12-1, 2.30 ERA) would be on the mound in response to the easiest-toanswer question in Friday’s pre-tournament news conference. Singer, who on Friday was named the national player of the year by the National College Baseball Writers Association, is “as good of a competitor as we’ve ever had,” O’Sullivan said.
Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock, whose Red Raiders beat the Gators in the 2016 CWS, said Singer was on the second-page scouting report then but now takes up a lot of Page 1.
“He’s honed his craft,” Tadlock said. “There are a lot of guys in the minor leagues that have the tools that don’t have the skill. He’s going to attack the strike zone with the fastball, you know he’s got that breaking ball, you know he’s going to hold runners.”
Tadlock, who had the most laugh lines of any coach Friday, did suggest a possible strategy.
“He did miss a bunt the other day. Maybe we should bunt it right back at him,” Tadlock said.
Tadlock, though, knows his players would dismiss the plan as quickly as he did.
“They’d look at me and say, ‘Coach, we don’t bunt,’ ” Tadlock said.
Texas coach David Pierce had high praise for the Gators, who came into the season No. 1 and have maintained that ranking all year. Pierce did the same when he led Rice to the 2003 national championship after topping the poll all summer.
“That’s tough to do,” Pierce said. “To maintain that No. 1 spot, that’s a tribute to his program and his players.”
… The Southeastern Conference allowed coaches to use an in-helmet wireless communication device to talk to catchers this season. O’Sullivan eschewed the earpiece, saying he trusted Schwarz to make the right decisions, but that he would probably embrace the technology next season. He would like to see some change to the rule to prevent what is a defacto coaching visit to the mound.
“It does slow the game down,” O’Sullivan said. “You can tell your catcher to go talk to the pitcher … and basically have multiple, multiple pitching coach visits to the mound.”
Ray Tanner, chairman of the Division I Baseball Selection Committee and athletic director at South Carolina, said the experiment “did slow the game down” and that “I just think coaches are a little bit too involved.”
Tanner added that the NCAA is hoping to find ways to quicken pace of play, including a pitch clock that the Big 12 employed this season.