Kevin O'Sullivan on Florida baseball's Tuesday loss to Jacksonville

"We had a really good head coaches meeting today and Mouse spoke. There's an expectation here at Florida in every sport and to put yourself in position to play for championships. It was a really good head coaches meeting, and I pulled a lot away from it. And I explained it to our players today: there are expectations here.

"The lack of energy at times is bothersome. Tonight was a great opportunity for us to put ourselves back in a better position going into the weekend, not to take anything away from JU because they obviously played better than we did tonight.

"But I didn't say a whole lot to the team at the end. I didn't want to say anything to make them feel worse than they probably do already. Probably need to have a day off tomorrow and we'll talk more about this on Thursday to get ready for A&M. But there is a — I'm not going to say a lack of understanding — but not a true understanding of what it's like and what the responsibilities are here.

"We've been Omaha more than anybody in the country over the last however many years that I've been here. We are expected to play for SEC championships. We're expected to be in Omaha. We're expected to be a top-eight national seed. And tonight was a night that we probably should have taken advantage of, honestly. And we'll keep trying to press the right buttons to try to get them going in the right direction.

"If I had all the answers, we wouldn't be sitting here right now, right? But now is not the time to point fingers, not the time to start blaming each other. But there does need to be a sense of urgency, quite honestly. We've got 15 games left; we've got 14 league games left.

"So the sense of urgency needs to come from within the players. You know? The only thing the coaches can do is try to prepare and look at your opponent and see what they do right and prepare for them. But they ultimately are the ones who have to go out and play and pitch.

"We can call certain things — a hit and run here or whatever, or we can call certain pitches in certain spots — but the players win the games. They deserve all the credit when we win, and unfortunately, when we lose, you know, that falls on the coaches, and we got to figure out how to get these guys motivated day in and day out.

"The disappointing part is the way we played this weekend. I thought they'd come out with a little bit more pep in their step, and for a reason, they didn't. I think they would admit that to you, too, if you ask them straightforwardly."

Do you have any updates on Jackson (Barberi) or Cash (Strayer)?

"Barb's out to 90 feet now, which is encouraging. I know Cash is going to get another X-ray on Friday, so we'll know exactly where he's at. And if he's good, then he'll start to hit this weekend — not necessarily in a game, but probably get him ready for Oklahoma."

What do you see in Texas A&M?

"I see from an offensive standpoint, I think they got six right-handed hitters, three left-handed hitters. Obviously, their top two hitters are two of the best hitters in the country with Grohovac and Sorrell. They're very offensive.

"Pitching-wise, they go Sdao, and then obviously two right-handers after that — they throw a ton of strikes. But it's no different than the other weekend. But I'm going to look at it as an opportunity for us to get going again. We've shown flashes of being a really good team, but then we've also shown flashes of being inconsistent.

"And I think we deserve the credit when we played well and I think we deserve the criticism when we haven't. It's just that's the nature of athletics or anything in life, you know? When things are not going well there's going to be some criticism. And in this case, I can't argue with that, to be honest with you. But I also believe in this team, that we can get hot with anybody in the country, but saying it and doing it are two different things."

How much do Mike Rivera and Mike Byrne help send the message of that expectation?

"I think they try to do that all the time. I think Michael does a great job in a bullpen, spends a lot of time talking with the pitchers one-on-one — not just about his time here at Florida, but his time in professional baseball. I think Mikey does the same thing.

"We got we've got three ex-players coming back this weekend: Hurston Waldrep, Danny Young, I believe, and Deacon Liput. It might be a great opportunity for some of these older guys — the guys who played here kind of explained to these players what this really means. They all have different stories.

"Hurston came here from Southern Miss — was here for a year (and he) talked about his road to the big leagues. Deacon was a starter for us on the national championship team. Danny Young's got one of the best stories that you'll ever hear. He was a walk-on here and just earned himself to the big leagues, and was a huge part of — not just of our program, but what it meant to be a Gator.

"So, I'm going to reach out to them, and at some point, I might get those guys to explain. Because the thing is, it's just not just our fans that come out — which I totally appreciate them coming out and supporting us, and it really does help us. But those guys will tell you, even the guys in the big leagues, first thing they do when they wake up in the mornings is look at that box score.

"People are following us, and I think that's the thing that needs to be driven home is there'll be people (seeing that) Florida lost 7-5 to Jacksonville; they lost to him twice this year; now they got A&M coming in. But the ex-players are following us and the fans are following us, and they're standing behind us, and I really appreciate that.

"But the energy — it needs to improve, and that falls on me. But at the same time, the players have to go play."

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball's Kevin O'Sullivan on Florida's loss to Jacksonville