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Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan praised his team's focus and execution after a 9-2 victory over Texas A&M. Pitcher Aidan King excelled with eight innings pitched, while Caden McDonald shined with three hits.
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Florida baseball head coach Kevin O'Sullivan praised his team's focus, resiliency and execution following Friday night's 9-2 win over Texas A&M.
Aidan King set the tone for the series with eight innings of two-run ball, pushing himself to more than 120 pitches. Sully talked about the decision to let his ace go deep into the game, noting how it affects bullpen management for the rest of the year. King never likes coming out of the game, so the decision was O'Sullivan's to make, and at this point in the year, he's comfortable letting his starters push themselves a bit.
Florida's offense production was another point of pride for O'Sullivan, particularly Caden McDonald's three-hit night. McDonald had not gotten many opportunities to prove himself at the plate this year, but he was prepared for the moment and earned himself a spot in the lineup moving forward.
With the SEC being so tough this season, O'Sullivan stressed focus and attention to detail. The team has a meeting before this series, and that talk seemed to resonate with the players, bringing a new level of intensity to the dugout.
Here's everything O'Sullivan said after the win.
"Same thing everybody here probably saw. He was throwing strike after strike after strike. Did a really nice job getting the leadoff hitter. Their lineup is potent. Itâs as good a lineup as there is in the entire country. One through nine, theyâve got their shortstop, Kellner, hitting (ninth), and heâs going to be a superstar in this league.
"You've got two big leaders at the top. Youâve got Hacopian and Duer, who we saw last year at FAU, and the third baseman (Partida) is a freshman, and Kiel and Wilson, and you know about Bear Harrison. Itâs a really good lineup.
"So, for him to do what he did, I canât say too many great things about him because it was just an awesome performance. Youâve got to limit the walks. We talked about that because theyâre capable of running into a three-run homer at any point during the game. I thought he was great."
Kevin O'Sullivan praised his team's focus, resiliency, and execution following their 9-2 win over Texas A&M.
Aidan King pitched eight innings, allowing only two runs and throwing over 120 pitches.
Caden McDonald had a standout performance with three hits, earning himself a spot in the lineup moving forward.
With the SEC being particularly tough this season, O'Sullivan emphasized that focus and attention to detail are crucial for the team's success.

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"Caden McDonald, what a great story that is. He continued to work hard. Youâve watched all of our games. Weâve struggled in the bottom half of the order. So we tried to do some different things today, and it worked out.
"But the underlying message is that as you continue to work hard, youâre a good teammate, and when you get your opportunity, things like this tend to happen. So Iâm pleased with him. He'll be in the lineup again tomorrow."
"Huge, the way things set up, thatâs one of the things thatâs been hurting us. Weâve been having to go to the pen so early, and one thing affects the other.
"Karson moves the ball. He doesnât strike out. Then Cade does the same thing in the eighth and adds another run and a couple of other runs. To score four there in the eighth was huge. We didnât have to use McNeillie. We didnât have to use Josh.
"The thought process was that if we had a four-run lead, it was probably going to go to Josh and not mess around. But scoring those four runs in the eighth was huge for us. Then we didnât have to throw a couple of those guys. Some of those guys who threw on Tuesday are getting an extra day's rest."
"We won the first game last weekend, too. Weâre facing a really good pitcher tomorrow. It was good to get the first one out of the way. It can be a bit head-scratching when we play the way we did on Tuesday and then beat Texas A&M, one of the best teams in the country. Hopefully, we can continue on this trend.
"We talked about it yesterday at practice. We had a really good team meeting. Itâs a 12-game season moving forward. I know we have a game against North Florida, but it's one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, one game at a time. Donât look too far ahead. Donât look behind.
"We just could not let Tuesdayâs game or last weekend against Auburn leak into this weekend. We just cannot let that happen. Every game is a game in itself. They came out with the right attitude tonight. They were focused."
"There were some things going on in the dugout that kind of take away from concentration and focus, with the overhead clapping and stuff like that, doing stuff at second base after doubles. There are some things we've gotten away from our identity a little bit.
"Not to take away from the fun. I want them to enjoy the game. But sometimes when youâre not playing well, those things need to be addressed. I thought the focus tonight was as good as itâs been in a while."
"He gets upset with me every time I take him out. He did last week, too. If you look at Kellner's numbers, the nine-hole hitter, heâs got more walks than strikeouts. At that point, I was trying to avoid a two-inning save by Josh. It was a roll of the dice. If somebody would have gotten on, I would have gone to Josh in the eighth because it was only a two-run game.
"It was just a gut feel. That's what makes this game so interesting. You can make decisions, and they turn out right, and you want to be right most of the time. You can make decisions, and youâre not right. I had a gut feel with the way Kellner can control the strike zone, and the way Aidan was pitching, that getting the leadoff hitter in the eighth was vital."
"Weâve got to get that under control a little bit. I don't know the whole story. Thereâs nothing wrong with having emotion, but itâs got to be handled in a different way. I didnât talk about it tonight. Iâll talk about it tomorrow because I want him to enjoy the game.
"The last thing you want to do is get the other team excited. If we go into the ninth inning with a two-run game, why would we want to do that? I understand the emotion. It just needs to be done in a different way, maybe toward our team."
"I was watching in the seventh. Usually, you can tell when he starts getting tired, he starts falling behind in the count. He didnât fall behind in the seventh. He didnât have any drop in velocity. That did play into it a lot."
"Tomorrowâs a new game. Weâre facing a really good pitcher. Iâm pleased about tonight, but I donât want to get too far ahead of ourselves. You look at the standings, they're all bunched up. I don't remember there ever being this much parity in our league. Weâve got to show professionalism and be ready to go."
"I had David (Kopp) talk to him. I knew what the answer was going to be. I was thinking about some other things, offensively, if we had to pinch-hit here, or who we would put in the outfield if it came to a key spot. He was going to want to go back out.
"Last week, when I took him out, he said he could go more. Liam said the same thing. Weâre getting to that part of the season where managing pitch counts gives you the opportunity to extend a guy in a game like this. You canât do this in Week 4, 5 or 6 and ask a starter to go 100-plus pitches all the time. I donât know if heâs gone 100 pitches this year. If he has, heâs just touched it. Weâve been careful about pitch counts. Just one of those nights."
"Fell behind a couple of hitters, got right back on the saddle and didnât walk anybody. Duerâs a good hitter, stayed on the ball, hit it in the six hole. The play Cade Kurland made up the middle was a really nice play, too."
"They responded really well to our conversation. I said we kind of lost our identity a little bit. We usually have guys that are baseball players; they bear down.
"We went through the lineup yesterday. You ask who their center fielder is, where heâs hitting, and who leads off, and you get blank stares. Youâve got to know your opponent inside and out. Know the names, positions, who the threats are, who can run. Schoolâs out now, so theyâre going to have time to prepare.
"I brought up the quote from Derek Jeter about preparation: 'Preparation allows you to perform under control. When youâre not prepared, it brings anxiety and youâre not ready for your opponent.' Weâll continue to prepare them the best we can."
"This league this year, thereâs so much parity. Every mistake gets magnified â mental mistakes, physical mistakes, walks in key moments. Tonight was one of those clean games. We made one error, but that was a tough play. We didnât walk anybody.
"Thatâs the biggest fear with A&M. You walk a guy, then someone hits a gap, and then the big bats come up, and they can score in bunches."
"Every player in that locker room goes through something personally. (Cyr) went through a difficult time last year, but you can feel his energy. Heâs having fun, and itâs rubbing off on the other players. A game like tonight, where Caden gets three hits, thatâs a morale booster for everybody. It couldnât happen to a better teammate.
"Weâll see. Itâs one game at a time. Happy about tonight, but tomorrow wonât be a cakewalk."
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball HC Kevin O'Sullivan quotes after Texas A&M Game 1