Brian O'Connor shares admiration for Kevin O'Sullivan

Two of the top programs in college baseball will face off in the College World Series on Friday when Florida and Virginia meet in their first games in Omaha.

Virginia is coached by Brian O’Connor, who has led the Cavaliers to Omaha six times, including winning the 2015 national title. The Gators are led by Kevin O’Sullivan, who has been to the CWS eight times, including winning the national title in 2017.

O’Connor shared this week ahead of Friday’s matchup that he has a lot of respect for O’Sullivan.

“I admire the job that Coach O’Sullivan has done at Florida. It’s a great job in college baseball, and he has done as good as anybody has done in — I believe he has been there 15 years,” O’Connor said.

“What he has done to get his teams to Omaha, to win a national championship, to compete year in and year out is impressive. This game is hard. There’s a lot of great teams that don’t get here, and you come here as much as Florida has been speaks to the level of his coaching ability, his staff, and certainly his players.”

The Gators are back in Omaha, despite needing to come out of the losers bracket to even advance to a super regional. Florida beat Texas Tech in two straight games in the regionals to advance to face off against South Carolina. The Gators then swept the Gamecocks in a pair of games to reach Omaha.

Virginia also faced adversity during its run to the College World Series, dropping Game 1 of its super regional matchup with Duke, before winning the next two.

Now O’Sullivan and Florida will face his alma mater on the sport’s biggest stage at the College World Sereis.

“He obviously played at the University of Virginia. I’m sure he is very fond of his time there at the university and has had one heck of a coaching career,” O’Connor said of O’Sullivan. “I admire the work that he has done.”

Brian O’Connor explains how much of a role Virginia’s experience in Omaha will play this year

Virginia is back in the College World Series after also making it to Omaha in 2021. The experience carried over from that recent run is not lost on Cavaliers head coach Brian O’Connor.

Key players on the 2023 Virginia squad like catcher Kyle Teel and infielder Jake Gelof were also on the 2021 team that made it to Omaha. Just having them around to explain to younger players what to expect has its advantages, O’Connor explained.

“I certainly think it helps having players that have played in Omaha before. And the couple of guys that we have had do that were integral in that run in ’21 and our performance in Omaha. And having them understand and be able to share with their teammates about the feelings they’re going to have, standing on that field on Friday night at 6 p.m. when they play the national anthem in front of the largest crowd they’ve ever played in before, having experience doing that and them being able to share it with their teammates is really important,” O’Connor said.