The Florida Gators have another home-and-home series this week, and this time its the Jacksonville University Dolphins that the Gators have to deal with.
Last week, Florida split a home-and-home series with USF after an epic ninth-inning collapse led to the Gators’ first and only loss of the season so far. Jacksonville should be a significantly weaker opponent for Florida than USF or Cincinnati, though. The Dolphins aren’t picked to finish in the top half of the ASUN, and the Gators are marching their way to a top-five ranking.
The big question will be how Florida manages its pitching staff. Things fell apart last week when the bullpen was asked to work five innings each day, and Kevin O’Sullivan is already making changes to the pitching rotation to combat that problem. [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] is set to get the midweek start for Florida, and the Wednesday arm is yet to be determined.
Florida will probably let some of its younger players get in the lineup too, which could cause the offense to slow down a bit from its 13 runs per game average over the weekend. Regardless, this should be another series where Florida is heavily favored and able to deliver on the expectations.
UF will be down center fielder [autotag]Michael Robertson[/autotag] for at least the first game of the series, though. He got shaken up after colliding with the wall over the weekend and hasn’t played since the first inning on Friday. Sully says the team won’t rush him back, so it’ll be [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] in center field and [autotag]Richie Schiekofer[/autotag] in left field for now. [autotag]Cade Kurland[/autotag] has already seamlessly stepped into the leadoff role in the lineup and has a firm hold on the starting second base spot.