GAINESVILLE, Fla. – When they gathered in the clubhouse to watch the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday, they were sweaty from a late-morning practice at McKethan Stadium.Of course, they had been sweating for nearly a week.Following a loss in a back-and-forth game against Texas A&M in the first game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament six days prior, the Gators baseball team had no other option but to wait. UF could only watch what unfolded at conference tournaments around the country and what impact those results would have on its bid to make the tournament.For only the second time in head coach's 12 seasons, Florida (33-24, 13-17) finished below .500 in the SEC and faced the unusual position of living on the postseason bubble."It was hard,'' sophomore right-handersaid of the uncertainty. "We were just looking at D1Baseball projections and Baseball America, because after every game it changes."Still, by the time they sat down to watch the selection show, the Gators had a card in their pocket that they didn't find until the final weekend of the regular season. On the outside looking in according to most of those postseason projections, Florida discovered consistency on the mound at Missouri, sweeping the three-game series to make a loud final statement.The Gators limited the Tigers to seven runs in three games and collectively held them to 16 hits over 27 innings. Florida pitchers struck out 26 and walked eight to make some of those countless trips to the mound this season for O'Sullivan seem a little more tolerable."I've been kind of waiting the whole time,'' O'Sullivan said Tuesday of his team's last-minute response.Startertossed 6 2/3 innings in the first game of the series to earn the win, followed by a two-hit shutout from Leftwich in the second game. In the final game of the series, freshman right-hander, who has strung together three consecutive solid outings heading into the NCAA Tournament, tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings.For a program built around formidable starting pitching during his tenure, one of O'Sullivan's youngest teams finally looked the part."We had to play really well. But this time of the year, sometimes your team responds. You've got your back against the wall and it's either figure it out or your season is going to come to an end,'' he said. "But once again, going back to Tommy, it all started on Thursday night and his start. That kind of leaped into the Friday night game with Jack and he kind of built off that. And then Nick. I think Nick's confidence level, at least on that Saturday game, had a lot to do with the first two guys setting the tone."We've got just enough bullpen pieces that if we can get good starts out of our starters, I feel good about three or four of these guys out the pen. They've pitched in some really tough environments. They've had some bright moments, they've had some tough moments, but obviously this time of the year they're not freshmen anymore."Next, the Gators seek similar performances on the mound when they open the Lubbock Regional on Friday night against Dallas Baptist University, marking the first time in six years the Gators have opened the NCAA Tournament on the road. While they didn't know for sure if they were in when they turned on the selection show Monday, they had a much better feeling than when they stepped off the bus at Missouri.The Gators took a business-like approach to the news."I never really wanted to think about that, but it definitely was in the back of my mind,'' senior outfieldersaid of the prospect of not making it. "I don't think if we sweep there that last weekend, I don't think we make a strong résumé for ourselves. We did it. We showed that we were capable of competing with these other teams and I'm glad we got in."The Gators depart for Lubbock on Wednesday afternoon and have a practice day scheduled Thursday. The Florida-DBU winner will face the Texas Tech-Army winner on Saturday in the second round of the double-elimination regional.Mace is scheduled to start the opener. The Gators took their lumps on the way to extending the program record for consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to 12, but now that they are here, they want to prove they not only deserve to be in the field, but that they are dangerous.They want to hang around."I'm so happy for this opportunity and I think all the upperclassmen deserve this," Mace said. "I think that just giving us the opportunity, hopefully we can show that we're better than what our season has shown so far. I think that we're just growing and that we're really young. I think that this is going to be a good time."