Down 6-4 to SEC rival Mississippi State in their NCAA Super Regional, the Florida Gators had Mike Zunino coming to the plate with two men on and no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan, naturally, decided to let the SEC Player of the Year and home run leader sacrifice bunt.
Florida Baseball Makes ‘Stupidest Bunt Call’ In NCAA Super Regional
↵Zunino did that effectively, moving runners from first and second to second and third, but the damage was done and the anti-bunting crowd was ablaze, including ESPN’s Keith Law, who torched the move in a tweet:
↵↵That might be the stupidest bunt call I have ever seen in my life. Epic coaching fail by O’Sullivan.
↵↵Fortunately for Florida, fellow slugger Preston Tucker gave the Gators the lead with a three-run homer right after Zunino’s bunt. But as Law obliquely pointed out, Zunino’s bunt prevented him from getting on base (he posted a .455 on-base percentage) for Tucker’s homer, likely costing Florida a run.
↵Florida leads Mississippi State now, and has added to it. But that’s not going to make the bunt any less dumb in retrospect.
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