GAINESVILLE, Fla. – He got the first one on a Friday night 13 years ago, a home win over Siena in his inaugural game as Florida's head coach. The date was Feb. 22, 2008, and Kevin O'Sullivan was a newbie eager for his opportunity.

He got his most recent one Tuesday night, a 5-1 victory over Georgia State at Florida Ballpark. This victory came with a bonus.

"When you get into this profession, I don't know that you can ever predict you're going to have an opportunity to coach at Florida,'' O'Sullivan said afterward. "And then certainly you don't try to think too far ahead. I think that's maybe what successful coaches have been able to do. They don't get too far ahead. And then as time goes on, good things end up happening."

Good things have definitely happened for the Gators under O'Sullivan. First, let's quickly go back to that first game.

It was a festive pregame with the usual trimmings of opening day. A bridge to the past threw out the ceremonial first pitch that night. Dave Fuller, Florida's all-time winningest coach and a Gators icon, was in his early 90s and suffering from a weak heart. Still, that couldn't keep Fuller away from the ballpark and from throwing that pitch. Fuller died 19 months later at age 94, leaving behind his 556 career wins as UF's head coach from 1948-75.

At the time of Fuller's death in September 2009, former Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley wrote what many were probably thinking about Fuller: He would win more games than any other Gator baseball coach and it's likely the record will never be broken.

Of course, no one could have known what O'Sullivan was about to ignite at UF. They had no way of peering into the future, or watching O'Sullivan stand at the steps of the dugout after Florida's win over the Panthers on Tuesday night, fist-bumping his players and accepting congratulations. But if they could have, what they would have seen in O'Sullivan's 14th season at the helm is a coach at the top of his profession.

"He knows how to win, and that's the biggest thing,'' Gators designated hitter Kirby McMullen said after the Gators presented O'Sullivan with a game ball Tuesday.

O'Sullivan has been piling up wins for more than a decade, and after his 816th game at Florida, he got a bonus: career win No. 557, moving O'Sullivan one ahead of Fuller to become the program's all-time wins lead. Fuller coached 918 games in his career, or 102 more than O'Sullivan has so far, which shows the rate of success the Gators have enjoyed under O'Sullivan's leadership.

"It's a special night. Anytime you reach a milestone like this, there are so many people that are involved, whether it be staff, coaches, players," O'Sullivan said. "It just seems like yesterday that I got hired by Jeremy [Foley]. And having Chip [Howard] here tonight. They went out on a limb and gave me the opportunity to run a program. I'm forever grateful for the opportunity."

In O'Sullivan's latest victory, Gators starter Garrett Milchin retired the first eight batters he faced Tuesday on the way to tossing four shutout innings. McMullen set the tone for the night when he connected for a long home run to left to put the Gators up 2-0 in the first. The Gators added a run in the second, two in the third and let the bullpen do the rest for their fourth consecutive win. If there was a downer it was that outfielder Jacob Young's school-record 30-game hitting streak ended. Young set the record with a hit in his final at-bat in Sunday's win over Florida A&M, but against the Panthers on Tuesday, Young went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

But this night was about another record of consistency and longevity, one that started when Young was still in elementary school.

A journey that includes seven trips to the College World Series, a school-record 12 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, a national championship in 2017, five Southeastern Conference titles and three SEC Coach of the Year awards.

O'Sullivan has accomplished a lot since he arrived and took over a program that had been consistently good but not great. The Gators have been great with the 52-year-old O'Sullivan manning the dugout.

"We've been very fortunate to have had really good players come through who have certainly made our job a little easier,'' he said.
 

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UP NEXT: The fifth-ranked Gators (10-3) host Stetson on Wednesday night at Florida Ballpark. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network +.