Last year, we tried 50 For 50, and got halfway done before things cropped up. This year, Alligator Army is coming back with 100 For 100, with 100 articles in the 100 days leading up to the first Florida Gators football game of the 2012 season, and will run down storylines, profile players, examine history, and make some predictions, possibly all haphazardly. The only thing we can promise is that each day's entry will bring us all one step closer to "Herrrrrrrrre ... come the Gators!"

Florida won its first national championship in the 1996 season. You know that. What you might not know is just how great a Florida fan born in 1996 — call her Allie Gator, and say she was born in March — has had it.

• Allie has seen Florida win three national titles, more than any other team in the country in that span.
• Three of the four times Florida has won the SEC in Allie's lifetime, the Gators have gone on to win the national title.
• Florida has won three of the five national titles won by Floridian teams since 1996.
• In exactly a quarter of the Florida seasons Allie has been alive for, the Gators have lost only one game.
• Florida seems very clutch: The Gators have the best record in BCS games of any team with more than three appearances in BCS bowls, have won all three of their national championship games, and have won three of their four SEC championship games.
• Florida has won 10 games in eight of the 16 seasons Allie has "seen."
• The last two seasons of Florida football, in which the Gators went 15-11, are by far the worst in Allie's memory.
• Florida is 156-50 since Allie was born, for an absurd .757 win percentage.
• Florida has never had a non-winning season in Allie's lifetime; hell, the Gators have never been under .500 during Allie's life.

Continue reading this post »

Chomping At Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB.

Patric Young should work on his dribble: No, really. It makes sense. (Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News)

Full field for 2012 NCAA Baseball Tournament: Three Regionals in Florida is kind of like the good ole days, except Miami totally didn't deserve one this time. (Alfie Crow, SB Nation)

The Gator Grind's concept: A little behind-the-scenes talk, a little will-it-work wondering. (Paul Sjoberg, Bourbon Meyer)

For Springsteen fans: A great essay on "Born to Run," including one of its first live performances. (Mark Richardson)

As always: Talk about any and all of this and/or anything else you have to say in the comments. Need more Alligator Army in your life? Like AA on Facebook, follow AA on Twitter, and download the SB Nation Android app to take all of our Gators content — and the rest of SB Nation — with you on the go.

Tom Haberstroh's superb profile of injured Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh has a lot of insight on what it is like to be Chris Bosh and injured in the playoffs, but the best quote has more to do with Bosh's reaction to Miami's loss in the 2011 NBA Finals.

"What are your dreams?" Bosh asks. "What do you want the most out of anything in this world? Dangle it in front of you, work hard as hell to get it, and then take it away. Gone."

Call Chris Bosh soft if you want. But don't say he doesn't get it.

Maryland's run to the national championship game of the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament featured a lot of stingy defense and timely scoring. Against Loyola (Md.) in Monday's championship game, it was the Greyhounds, not the Terrapins, who got all of that, taking a 9-3 victory for their first national title.

Eric Lusby had four goals on the day for the Greyhounds, giving him a record 17 in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Three came after halftime, as Loyola shut out Maryland 4-0 in the second half. The Greyhounds finished the game on a 7-0 unanswered run.

The national championship evens the Greyhounds' mark in title games at 1-1 (Loyola lost to Syracuse in 1990) and makes Loyola the smallest school to ever win the Division I men's lacrosse title.

On the other side of the field, this was Maryland's second consecutive loss in the national championship game; the Terps fell 9-7 to Virginia in 2011.

For more on the men's lacrosse championship game, visit SB Nation's lacrosse blogs College Crosse and In Lax We Trust. For a Maryland perspective, visit Testudo Times.

Maryland's made a Cinderella run in the 2012 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament, going from being unseeded to making the NCAA Tournament final. But Loyola (Md.) has been on a Cinderella run all season, from being unranked and unheralded at the season's outset to being the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Greyhounds are 30 minutes from finally getting that glass slipper to fit, leading Maryland 5-3 at the half.

Loyola got goals from Mike Sawyer, Eric Lusby and Davis Butts in the first half, and came back from a 3-2 deficit in the second quarter to take the lead on the Terrapins.

Maryland's gotten goals from Jesse Bernhardt, Dan Chanenchuk and Kevin Cooper, but did not score in the final 10:40 of the first half.

For more on the men's lacrosse championship game, visit SB Nation's lacrosse blogs College Crosse and In Lax We Trust. For a Maryland perspective, visit Testudo Times.

Happy labor day....Enjoy it

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) May 28, 2012

I can't. Metta World Peace is beyond words.

Update: World Peace admits his mistake, offers a rational explanation:

Hey , it's not Labor Day.. Enough.. I partied like three rockstars yesterday.... Woke so twisted I thought I was labor day..Mistake.move on

— Metta WorldPeace (@MettaWorldPeace) May 28, 2012

The Florida Gators entered the 2012 college baseball season with as much talent as any team in the nation, and ripped off a white-hot start that showed how good they could be at their best. Despite faltering to an extent in SEC play, the Gators were rewarded with the No. 1 national seed in the 2012 NCAA Baseball Tournament as the field was announced during an ESPNU selection show on Monday.

Florida, already announced as a NCAA Regional host site, will welcome Georgia Tech, College of Charleston, and Bethune-Cookman to Gainesville for Regional play beginning Friday, June 1. The Gators will meet the Wildcats first in double elimination play on Friday.

The national seed means the Gators will host a Super Regional at McKethan Stadium if they can advance from the Regional round; the Gainesville Regional is matched up with North Carolina State's Raleigh Regional, which also features red-hot Vanderbilt, UNC-Wilmington, and Sacred Heart. It is also the Gators' first-ever No. 1 national seed.

The Gators will be looking to make their third straight trip to Omaha for the College World Series. Florida has never won the national title in baseball, falling to South Carolina in the championship series in 2011 and to Texas in the same round in 2005, but would become one of an elite group of teams with national championships in football, men's basketball, and baseball if it can.

Novak Djokovic is still pursuing a French Open title, which would be the final piece of his career Grand Slam. But he's off his blistering 2011 pace and struggled early at the 2012 French Open in his first round matchup with Potito Starace before putting him away in straight sets.

Djokovic needed a first-set tiebreak to fend off Starace, then took advantage of Starace's regression to his mean, dusting him 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-1 to move onto the second round. Djokovic had 39 winners, Starace posted 25 unforced errors, and that was the story of this match in a nutshell.

After it, Djokovic, being Djokovic, delighted the Roland Garros crowd by informing it that he would only speak French for the next two weeks.

You can see a full French Open scoreboard at SI.com.

For more updates on the 2012 French Open, please stay tuned to this StoryStream. For lots more on all things tennis, keep checking SB Nation's dedicated tennis hub.

Chomping At Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB.

Florida lacrosse honored; more from Stony Brook: Five All-Americans, Mikey Meagher as Goalie of the Year, and two All-Rookie performers, and all of them should return in 2013. #Flax is loaded. And Scott Carter makes a lot of good points about the game in a wrap. (GatorZone / Scott Carter, Carter's Corner | GatorZone)

Allie Will bows out of NCAA Championships: No Gators singles or doubles team will win a national title in 2012. You know, just the team as a whole. (GatorZone)

NCAA Baseball Regional tickets on sale: If you go, let me know, and I'll try to meet up with you. (GatorZone)

The opposite of loneliness: This is an uncommonly good column for a senior graduating from her school and her college paper, with a tragic twist: Its author died in a car accident a week after its publication. (Marina Keegan, Yale Daily News)

As always: Talk about any and all of this and/or anything else you have to say in the comments. Need more Alligator Army in your life? Like AA on Facebook, follow AA on Twitter, and download the SB Nation Android app to take all of our Gators content — and the rest of SB Nation — with you on the go.

Surprising no one, Florida baseball got one thing it had been looking for all season on Sunday: A chance to host a NCAA Baseball Regional in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The University of Florida was awarded one of 16 Regional host sites for the first step in the road to the College World Series in Omaha, and the Gators will almost assuredly be a No. 1 seed in the Gainesville Regional.

Florida is marking its fourth straight year as a Regional host, having also stayed at home for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 2009, 2010, and 2011, and the Gators have won the Gainesville Regional in all three years. Gainesville has hosted regionals 10 times since 1989, including five times before the NCAA introduced Super Regional play.

The Gators also hosted Super Regionals in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2011, winning in both Regional and Super Regional play at home in 2005, 2010, and 2011 to advance to the College World Series. Florida is in line to host a Super Regional in 2012, as well, as a likely national seed, but both national seeds and seedings for the Regionals will be announced on Monday at noon on an ESPNU selection show.

Regional play follows a double-elimination format, and play will begin on Friday, June 1.

Last year, we tried 50 For 50, and got halfway done before things cropped up. This year, Alligator Army is coming back with 100 For 100, with 100 articles in the 100 days leading up to the first Florida Gators football game of the 2012 season, and will run down storylines, profile players, examine history, and make some predictions, possibly all haphazardly. The only thing we can promise is that each day's entry will bring us all one step closer to "Herrrrrrrrre ... come the Gators!"

We've mentioned it before around these parts, but it's still awesome: There's a nearly 30-minute clip of The Greatest Game Ever Played In The Swamp, Florida's epic 32-29 win over Florida State in 1997, on YouTube.

There's also an unembeddable clip of the game's final scoring drive, and another five-minute clip, and you should really watch all three of them — I might, given that it's about to turn really rainy this afternoon in Gainesville, with Beryl bearing down on North Florida. But you should also appreciate that one win sometimes makes a season.

Florida had a damn good shot to repeat as national champion in 1997, despite Doug Johnson taking over for Danny Wuerffel and the departure of many of Wuerffel's weapons: After opening with a 21-6 win over Southern Miss, Florida shellacked Central Michigan 82-6 and topped Tennessee 33-20 in Knoxville to take the No. 1 ranking in the country.

But then LSU beat Florida in Baton Rouge, in a 28-21 game that the Gators never led, and Georgia thumped Florida 37-17 in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party on the strength of a 16-0 fourth quarter that gave the Dawgs their only win over Steve Spurrier. The Gators lost the SEC East for the first time in the history of the SEC East in 1997, snapping a streak of four consecutive SEC titles, and were playing for pride more than anything against the Seminoles.

With that riotously fun victory, they restored it.

Chomping At Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB.

Mike Rosario is maturing: After getting caught up in nightlife and women on his first pass at making the Puerto Rican national team, Rosario is focused this time around, and looking for his breakout moment. (Adam Zagoria, Zags Blog)

Ryan Buchanan likes the Gators: It's probably between him, Tim Boyle (regarded as the front-runner), and Asianti Woulard for the one possible quarterback scholarship in UF's 2013 recruiting class. (Andrew Spivey, Gator Country)

It's not Title IX, it's the NCAA: This isn't completely right, nor does it have a perfect solution, but it goes to show how the NCAA has sort of screwed up the application of Title IX. (Peter Keating, espnW)

This story involves a toilet: You should still read it, though. (Disco Hayes)

As always: Talk about any and all of this and/or anything else you have to say in the comments. Need more Alligator Army in your life? Like AA on Facebook, follow AA on Twitter, and download the SB Nation Android app to take all of our Gators content — and the rest of SB Nation — with you on the go.

Jason Dufner has a fairly good shot at a second straight PGA Tour title at the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational. He will start Sunday at 15-under and has made 19 birdies on the week. But Zach Johnson is right behind him, at 14-under, and will have a chance to match Dufner shot-for-shot in the final pairing on Sunday.

No other golfer is likely to challenge Dufner or Johnson without collapses by both of the front-runners: Tom Gillis is in third place at 7-under, and only four golfers have shot the 6-under 64s this week that Gillis would need to tie Johnson if Johnson shot a 71 — and two of those golfers are Dufner and Johnson.

The full list of tee times for the final round of the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational are below. All times are Eastern.

12:55 p.m.: Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson
12:45 p.m.: Tom Gillis, Bo Van Pelt
12:35 p.m.: John Huh, Ryan Palmer
12:25 p.m.: Kelly Kraft, Jonas Blixt
12:15 p.m.: Jim Furyk, Louis Oosthuizen
12:05 p.m.: Ryan Moore, Rickie Fowler
11:55 a.m.: Tommy Gainey, Jonathan Byrd
11:45 a.m.: Kevin Chappell, David Hearn
11:35 a.m.: Y.E. Yang, Corey Pavin
11:25 a.m.: Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan
11:15 a.m.: Sung Kang, Charley Hoffman
11:06 a.m.: Greg Owen, Harris English
10:57 a.m.: Ken Duke, Chris Stroud
10:48 a.m.: Roberto Castro, Ben Crane
10:39 a.m.: Brendon de Jonge, John Daly
10:30 a.m.: Vijay Singh, David Mathis
10:21 a.m.: Kyle Reifers, Trevor Immelman
10:12 a.m.: Geoff Ogilvy, Chris Kirk
10:03 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Tim Clark
9:54 a.m.: Carl Pettersson, Bobby Gates
9:45 a.m.: Boo Weekley, J.J. Killeen
9:36 a.m.: Jerry Kelly, Chad Campbell
9:27 a.m.: Blake Adams, Martin Flores
9:18 a.m.: Jason Bohn, Michael Thompson
9:09 a.m.: Seung-Yul Noh, Greg Chalmers
9:00 a.m.: Bryce Molder, Brandt Jobe
8:51 a.m.: Will Claxton, Kevin Na
8:42 a.m.: John Senden, Charlie Wi
8:33 a.m.: Miguel Angel Carballo, John Mallinger
8:24 a.m.: Bill Haas, Pat Perez
8:15 a.m.: Rory Sabbatini, Josh Teater
8:07 a.m.: George McNeill, Chris DiMarco
7:59 a.m.: Mark Wilson, Nick Watney
7:51 a.m.: William McGirt, Aaron Baddeley
7:43 a.m.: Marc Leishman, Gary Christian
7:35 a.m.: Kris Blanks, Andres Romero

For a live leaderboard, visit Golf.com.

For news and updates on the Crowne Plaza Invitational throughout the week, stay locked to this StoryStream. For more news and analysis on the PGA Tour, visit SB Nation Golf.

Last year, we tried 50 For 50, and got halfway done before things cropped up. This year, Alligator Army is coming back with 100 For 100, with 100 articles in the 100 days leading up to the first Florida Gators football game of the 2012 season, and will run down storylines, profile players, examine history, and make some predictions, possibly all haphazardly. The only thing we can promise is that each day's entry will bring us all one step closer to "Herrrrrrrrre ... come the Gators!"

We remember Florida's 2011 team as a young one that couldn't quite get over the hump in a lot of ways: The young defense wasn't as ferocious as it promises to be this fall, and the young secondary got torched; the young receiving corps was invisible on all but a few afternoons, and the young offensive line was rarely better than miserable.

Here's good news for 2012: Those Gators aren't so young anymore.

Phil Steele's got the rankings of teams by percentage of lettermen returning, and Florida tops the FBS list with 55 of 65 lettermen from 2011 coming back for 2012. That's 84.6 percent, better than all FBS/FCS teams but the University of Texas at San Antonio, a program in its second year.

That total isn't automatically good, of course. Florida doesn't return its starting quarterback, top two running backs, or two of its top three receivers, and it's only because the people in that accounting are John Brantley, Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps, and Deonte Thompson that we don't think those are such huge losses. (You can play this game with fellow top-five-in-returning-lettermen teams Stanford and Oregon: Andrew Luck isn't back for the Cardinal, nor is most of a great offensive line, and the Ducks lost Darron Thomas and LaMichael James.)

That said, another year under Will Muschamp can't possibly make the Gators who were often in games in 2011 worse in 2012, can it?

The Miami Heat will be heavy favorites heading into the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, even without Chris Bosh. But they do not have what Boston has: Kevin Garnett, master of staring into your soul.

Continue reading this post »

After struggling to score for the better part of seven games, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers finally heated up late in the fourth quarter of Game 7. And one of the most improbable things possible in the series happened: Rajon Rondo came through in critical moments with his jumper, giving the Celtics an 85-75 victory and the series win.

Rondo, long lamented as a poor and reluctant shooter, hit consecutive shots from more than 23 feet out in the middle of a personal 9-2 run that followed Paul Pierce's sixth foul on a charge and extended Boston's lead from 71-68 to 80-70. Rondo had all 11 of his fourth-quarter points after Pierce's exit. Rondo's 18 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds gave him his second triple-double of the series and ninth in his postseason career, tying him with Wilt Chamberlain for fourth all-time.

Boston got double-digit scoring nights from all five of its starters, making up for a bench that put in just seven points, and Pierce (15 points, nine rebounds), Kevin Garnett (18 points, 13 rebounds), and Ray Allen (11 points, including two late threes) all contributed to giving the Big Three another trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they will play the Miami Heat.

Andre Iguodala gave the Sixers 18 points, and Jrue Holiday and Elton Brand each chipped in 15, but Philly shot just 35 percent as a team in the game, and had no answers for Rondo's nascent shot(s) late in the game.

For all news and information regarding the Philadelphia 76ers, please visit Liberty Ballers or head on over to SB Nation Philadelphia. For updates and perspective on the Boston Celtics, check out Celtics Blog or stop by SB Nation Boston.

The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers have done very little to advance the aesthetic appeal of the game of basketball in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Fortunately, their final game is half over, and the Celtics lead in another slobberknocker 41-33.

Brandon Bass leads all scorers with 10 points. He is, in fact, the only player in double digits in points in the game. Kevin Garnett, victimized by the vicious effects of aging and the rim on a dunk attempt in the first half, has nine points and seven rebounds. Rajon Rondo has five points, five assists, and five boards.

For the Sixers, who had 13 points in the second quarter, Elton Brand (eight points), Andre Iguodala (seven points), and Jrue Holiday (seven points, three assists, two boards, two steals) have led the way. But Philly is shooting a pitiful 28.2 percent from the field.

For all news and information regarding the Philadelphia 76ers, please visit Liberty Ballers or head on over to SB Nation Philadelphia. For updates and perspective on the Boston Celtics, check out Celtics Blog or stop by SB Nation Boston.

The original title of this article was Florida Baseball Beats Vanderbilt 4-3, Advances To SEC Tournament Final. You have my solemn promise that I will never pre-write a headline for a Gators game recap again, because the astonishing top of the ninth in Florida's 8-6 loss to Vanderbilt happened moments after that.

Here is what happened in the top of the ninth inning, in order:

• Connor Castellano, pinch-hitting for Jack Lupo, doubled to right off Austin Maddox, in to close out a game that Florida led 4-3.
• Andrew Harris, pinch-hitting, sacrifice bunted Castellano to third.
• Maddox hit Tony Kemp on the foot with a pitch, putting runners on first and third with one out.
• Mike Yastrzemski (yes, relation) sac bunted up the first base line, scoring Castellano ... and made it safely to first, as his bunt was perfect. Vandy ties the game, 4-4.
• Kemp and Yastrzemski attempt a double steal, but Mike Zunino's throw to second appears to be in time and Yastrzemski is called out. Replay shows that he just beat the tag.
• Anthony Gomez slaps a seeing-eye single to the gap between short and third that Nolan Fontana can't quite get to, giving Vanderbilt a 5-4 lead.
• Gomez steals second, opening up first for Conrad Gregor to be intentionally walked.
• Gomez and Gregor execute a double steal, putting runners on second and third. Spencer Navin is intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a force at every base.

• This:

  Vanderbilt executes a friggin' triple steal, with Gomez, Gregor, and Navin all moving up a base safely, to give the Commodores a 6-4 lead.
• Will Cooper, a freshman who has never had more than a hit in any collegiate game, raps a two-run single to right to put Vanderbilt up, 8-4.
• Connor Harrell singles to left, because Justin Shafer slips on his approach of Harrell's bloop, but Shafer throws out Cooper at third, mercifully ending the inning.

Vanderbilt's six stolen bases in the inning were more than any other team had ever had in an SEC Tournament game.

If that's not the weirdest half-inning in the history of Florida baseball, it's got to be close. And yet two of the worst things about it were contextual: It could have been avoided, if only a different decision were made in the bottom of the eighth, and it was followed almost immediately by a frantic rally from Florida that fell just short.

Continue reading this post »

Maryland, the Cinderella of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in men's lacrosse, needed to knock off another top seed to get to the NCAA Tournament final. With a 16-10 win over No. 3 seed Duke on Saturday, the Terrapins did just that, advancing to their second consecutive championship game and setting up an all-Maryland affair in the final.

Drew Snider pumped in four goals for the Terps, Owen Blye added three, and Billy Gribbin and Kevin Forster each added two for a Maryland team that never trailed and led by two goals throughout the second half. After Duke closed to 10-8 early in the fourth quarter, the Terrapins responded with six straight goals in the next 11 minutes to put the game well out of reach.

Duke got two goals and an assist from Justin Turri and two goals from Robert Rotanz, but couldn't crack Maryland's defense, despite outshooting the Terps.

Maryland moves on to Monday's final, where the Terrapins get fellow Maryland representatives Loyola (Md.), the tournament's top seed.

For more on Maryland, visit Testudo Times. For more on the world of college lacrosse, head to In Lax We Trust.

Maryland's men's lacrosse team came into the NCAA Tournament Final Four as the only non-seeded team. After 30 minutes against Duke, the Terrapins have a 7-4 halftime lead on their ACC rivals, and are looking like a team that will play for a national title.

Maryland got two goals from Billy Gribbin and three assists from Joe Cummings in the first half, built 3-0 and 6-3 leads, and never trailed against a Duke team that couldn't quite match the Terps' aggressiveness.

Duke didn't get more than a goal or an assist from any one Blue Devil, and Robert Rotanz, Josh Dionne and Christian Walsh, three of Duke's goal-scorers, needed a combined 11 shots to put in their three balls. Duke outshot Maryland in the first half, 17-12.

If Maryland can hold onto its lead, it will set up an all-Maryland NCAA Tournament final: the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds earned their berth in the final game of the season by knocking off Notre Dame earlier on Saturday afternoon.

For more on Maryland, visit Testudo Times. For more on lacrosse, make sure to check out In Lax We Trust.

Jason Dufner's got a great chance at earning his second straight PGA Tour win at the 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational on Sunday. But he'll probably have to fend off Zach Johnson and no one else in the final round.

Dufner fired a 4-under 66 on Saturday to drop to 15-under after three rounds at Fort Worth's Colonial Country Club, but Johnson made up a stroke on Dufner with a 5-under 65 that moved him to 14-under for the tournament.

The two golfers are likely each other's only worry on Sunday: no other player is lower than 7-under, where Tom Gillis sits after a 1-under 69 on Saturday, and even Kelly Kraft's 6-under 64 on the day couldn't get him lower than 4-under for the competition.

Dufner and Johnson will be paired together on Sunday.

For a live leaderboard, visit Golf.com.

For news and updates on the Crowne Plaza Invitational throughout the week, stay locked to thisStoryStream. For more news and analysis on the PGA Tour, visit SB Nation Golf.

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Yankees manager Joe Girardi is a no-frills guy and a hands-on manager, the kind you might imagine having a bowl of sawdust and steel for breakfast. Instead, he apparently snacks on Cap'n Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios — dry, because he's lactose intolerant, and occasionally with protein powder sprinkled on, because he's Joe Girardi.

This made the train with a full load of Cap'n Crunch derailing on his mother's family farm a fun formative event in Girardi's childhood.

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Florida's bats took a day off from taking the day off against good pitching against South Carolina on Friday. But the real star of the Gators' 7-2 win over the SEC East champion Gamecocks, which eliminated South Carolina from the SEC Tournament, was Brian Johnson — for what he did on the mound.

Johnson threw the first complete game of his Florida career against the Gamecocks, going the distance, allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out five batters, and using just 90 pitches (67 of which were strikes) to do it all. It was the first time Johnson had pitched more than seven innings in his career, and came just a week after he had matched that mark against Auburn; it was also the sort of performance that got Perfect Game's Kendall Rogers raving about Johnson ($), and one that reaffirms that the Gators have at least two great college pitchers at the top of their staff (Hudson Randall and Johnson) even if Karsten Whitson continues to scuffle.

In light of Johnson's career outing, Florida's offensive revival was almost overshadowed, but the Gators acquitted themselves nicely against South Carolina's Colby Holmes and Evan Beal. Each Gamecocks pitcher allowed at least three earned runs in their respective 2.1 innings of work, and Florida built a 7-0 lead by the middle of the fifth.

Mike Zunino figured in that attack, with a two-run homer and three RBI, and Casey Turgeon added two more RBI from the No. 6 spot. Preston Tucker, elevated to the No. 2 spot in the order, went 2-for-5, and Nolan Fontana's two hits, two walks, and three runs from the leadoff spot showed that he's still one of the collegiate game's finest table-setters.

After the cut, highlights via GatorVision.

Continue reading this post »

Chomping At Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB.

Florida lacrosse's "sunburn": I really enjoyed this Scott Carter piece on the end of Florida's season on Friday. (Scott Carter, GatorZone)

Allie Will, Embree/Mather head to "Elite Eight": Will's made up for her struggles in team competition with a strong singles push at the 2012 NCAA Championships, and the indefatigable team of Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather is now pushing for a national title, too. (GatorZone)

Florida women's golf finishes 12th at NCAA Championships: And, because I know you care: 19 shots back of winner Alabama. Isabelle Lendl starred with a fantastic final round 66. (GatorZone)

Chandler Parsons has torn labrum: So CP's second-team NBA All-Rookie good with a torn muscle? That's cool. (Adam Silverstein, Only Gators)

Movie recommendation of the week: I saw The Five-Year Engagement late last night, and I found it well worth my time and my Amazon Local-bought Fandango ticket, despite being a bit long and meandering for a while. It's uncommonly honest, and has one side-splittingly funny scene (Alison Brie is FANTASTIC throughout), but the best parts about it were the cinematography and the youngish couple of five years who groaned throughout the movie because of its relevance to their life. Also, venerable Ann Arbor sandwich shop Zingerman's is both lampooned and showcased. ("Hell," he thought, "I'll write about the movies I see somewhere.")

As always: Talk about any and all of this and/or anything else you have to say in the comments. Need more Alligator Army in your life? Like AA on Facebook, follow AA on Twitter, and download the SB Nation Android app to take all of our Gators content — and the rest of SB Nation — with you on the go.

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The young Florida Gators were flying high, looking for all the world like the nation's most potent and complete women's lacrosse team. Then the Syracuse Orange worked their magic again to get another dramatic comeback victory — and hand the Gators their second loss in sudden victory overtime of the year.

Sarah Holden beat Mikey Meagher at the 2:02 mark of double overtime to get Syracuse to the NCAA Tournament final with a 14-13 win over Florida on Friday night. For the Gators, it was a bitter end to what seemed like a dream run to the highest heights the program has ever achieved.

Florida built a lead that stretched to seven goals at 11-4 and 12-5 in the second half, with Shannon Gilroy pumping in five goals and Brittney Dashiell scoring four to stake the Gators to a huge advantage. But Syracuse dominated the final 20 minutes of play, ripping off an 8-1 run and allowing just three Florida shots in the final 17:15 of regulation to send the game to overtime.

And while Florida got a stop and a draw control to allow itself a chance to score last in the second three-minute period of the first overtime, the Gators' heartbreak would only get more acute, its collapse more seismic: Gabi Wiegand scored with nine seconds left in that first overtime, giving the Gators a seemingly unassailable 14-13 lead, but her goal was disallowed after a stick check revealed illegal pocket depth, and the Gators were forced to head to the second overtime period.

Syracuse had given Florida its last loss of the season prior to the Gators' 15-game winning streak in sudden victory in March. On Friday, the Orange gave the precocious Gators another — and a painful memory to consider for months and months to come.

We'll have more on this game after a bit of time to reflect.