Florida pitcher Pierce Coppola reveals message Kevin O'Sullivan instilled during Gators' early struggles

Florida pitcher Pierce Coppola just wanted to stay the course with head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. There were some struggles early on for the Gators, but they turned it on later in the season.

Now, it’ll culminate in Tuesday’s SEC Tournament opener against South Carolina. At 37-19, Florida could be cruising to the NCAA Tournament before too long.

Now that Coppola and Florida know how to win and not shoot themselves in the foot, the Gators could be dangerous. That’s how the pitcher put it.

“I mean, I feel like it’s been pretty much the same,” Coppola said on Sirius XM. “I mean, I think in the earlier season, I just think we just found every possible way to lose, and I think we learned from that. And so we kept saying we’re going to turn this around … and I don’t think anyone ever doubted it as a team. We just kept doing what we were doing and it just ended up, you know, we kept our head down and kept working. We just started to find out how to win the game instead of losing.”

Florida, once 1-11 in SEC play, closed the regular season by winning six straight series. As of Monday, the Gators rank 13th in the college baseball RPI, per NCAA.com.

“It’s been pretty good,” Coppola said of rallying with the team under Sullivan. “I mean, we’ve had a really good relationship, and we’ve gotten pretty close over the years. And I mean, it’s gonna be hard at times, like every head coach, but you know, he just really wants you to perform the way you should. He knows what it looks like, and he knows when you shouldn’t perform any better than you are.

“And I think that’s when he gets, he gets on you a little bit because he knows that you should be performing at a better, not even just that, competing (at a higher level) and he could see it. When he starts getting mad again, riding on you and it’s good though, it’s what you need.”

Sullivan knows talent when he sees it. Florida had five players earn All-SEC honors from league coaches, which was announced Monday.

The group was headlined by catcher Luke Heyman’s first team selection. Right-hander Jake Clemente was named to the second team as a relief pitcher. Rookie phenoms Aidan King and Brendan Lawson earned spots on the 12-man Freshman All-SEC Team. Senior infielder Bobby Boser made the All-SEC Defensive Team at third base.