The No. 13 Florida Gators (36-19, 17-13 SEC) made it past its first postseason hurdle against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday morning with a 4-1 win in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Now they face a much more formidable opponent in the No. 8 Mississippi Bulldogs (40-13, 20-10 SEC) who earned a first-round bye and is kicking off its tournament run Wednesday morning against the Gators starting bright and early at 10:30 a.m. EDT.
The Bulldogs have had a great year on the baseball diamond this season finishing in the top 10 in most major polls, reaching as high as No. 2 in Baseball America’s rankings and similarly ranked in several others. The squad hit a bump in the road on the way to the postseason dropping a three-game series to the Missouri Tigers, but then beat the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and swept the Alabama Crimson Tide to finish off its schedule.
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Historically, UF holds a modest edge on the MSU coming into Tuesday with a 66-51 record since the two teams first met on in 1923. It seems like the two schools would have played more than 117 games over that stretch given that they have both long been members of the SEC. The series started off extremely one-sided as the Bulldogs won the first 10-straight games — their longest winning streak in the series — while the Gators won nine straight from 1996 to 1998.
Things have tilted in Mississippi State’s direction in recent years as well, having won five in a row before Florida won their very last meeting in 2019, along with eight of the last 11 meetings. Suffice to say, MSU is not exactly a school Florida wants to face right now.
Here is a look below at the starting pitchers lined up as well as details on how to follow Tuesday night’s action, along with the projected starting lineup.