Florida baseball’s second weekend series of the 2023 season is against the Cincinnati Bearcats, and the Gators should come in with some extra motivation after a major meltdown against USF on Wednesday.
Cincinnati was picked by D1Baseball.com to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference, which is one spot higher than the Bulls were picked to finish. The difference between the two teams is that South Florida is considered a bit of a wild card that could finish much higher than seventh in the conference. Florida saw some of that potential in the ninth inning on Wednesday, but Cincinnati doesn’t have that same wildcard factor.
Florida should also benefit from some more depth on the mound after resting up several bullpen arms after their first appearances of the season. [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag], [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] should all push for six-inning starts.
Offensively, freshman infielder [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] leads the team with six hits in 10 at-bats. Caglianone is also on a hot streak at the plate. He’s hitting .500 through 16 at-bats and had home runs in each of the last two games. USF intentionally walked him twice on Wednesday.
The only Gators that aren’t hitting above .300 to start the season are [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag]. The coaching staff entered the season with a ton of confidence in Fabian at the plate, so this could be the game he gets started. Halter was an All-Star in the Cape Cod League this offseason, so he should get a long leash despite starting the season off hitless through 10 at-bats.