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Presto! Preston Priceless For Gators

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By ADAM ADKINS

aadkins@tampatrib.com

Published: June 5, 2009

GAINESVILLE - When Preston Tucker was being recruited to Florida, the message he continually received from Gators baseball coaches was cut and dried.

"They wanted me to come in and produce runs," said Tucker, a former Plant High standout.

It's safe to say Tucker accomplished that goal in his first season with the Gators, who open a best-of-3 NCAA super regional series today at McKethan Stadium against Southern Miss. The debut season turned in by Florida's freshman first baseman, the Southeastern Conference's Co-Freshman of the Year, includes a single-season program-record 83 RBIs.

"They coaches thought I had a lot of potential," said Tucker, who is hitting .357 with 13 doubles and a team-best 14 home runs. "I'm just trying to meet their expectations."

Tucker's success shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering his accomplishments in high school. He was one of Hillsborough County's most prolific run producers during his career at Plant and had a combined 128 RBIs during his final three prep seasons, including a single-season program-record 51 as a junior in 2007.

But the past success didn't immediately transfer over for the free-swinging lefty in his first test against collegiate pitching. Tucker struggled through the first month of the season and was hitting .237 with eight RBIs.

"That adjustment from high school to the college game is a big one. The thing that really helps him and has made him successful is he's been able to handle failures a lot better than a lot of people have in the past," said Gators senior third baseman Brandon McArthur, a former Armwood High standout. "When he hit that bump in the road, he just kept pushing and just kept working hard. I think that's one thing that really helped him do what he's done this year."

The turning point, Tucker said, came in the Gators' series against Vanderbilt in early April. He went 6-for-13 with eight RBIs in that three-game stretch, raising his average above .300.

Shortly after that, Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan moved Tucker to the cleanup spot and eventually to his current position in the No. 3 hole.

"He just started coming on and started having really good at-bats," O'Sullivan said. "We just felt like he was seeing the ball really well."

Meanwhile, the hits - and RBIs - have kept on coming.

Tucker has at least one RBI in 26 of Florida's past 33 games, and he has produced 18 of his team-leading 25 multi-RBI games during that stretch. That includes an SEC record-tying 11-RBI game against UCF on April 8 (which included three home runs) and two multi-RBI games last weekend at the Gainesville Regional, where Tucker earned Most Outstanding Player honors after going 9-for-13 with two home runs and six RBIs in three games.

"I didn't expect anything quite like this," Tucker said of his first season, which has led to multiple honors, including selection on the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American squad. "I wasn't sure what kind of role I was going to play, whether it was a big one or a small one. I was just trying to help the team out any way I could."

And that is Tucker's only focus this weekend as the Gators try to earn their first trip to the College World Series since 2005.

Tucker knows there will come a time for him to reflect on what he has accomplished. He's just hoping it comes after a trip to Omaha, Neb.

"I guess when it's all over I can look back and appreciate it," Tucker said. "But right now, it's all about the next game."

Reporter Adam Adkins can be reached at (813) 259-7616.

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