The 2023 NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament begins on June 2, and the Florida Gators will host the Gainesville Regional as the nation’s No. 2 seed. UConn, Texas Tech and Florida A&M will compete in the double-elimination Gainesville Regional.
The Gators will face the Rattlers in the first round of the regional. Florida beat Florida A&M, 17-7, in seven innings on April 18, so the expectation is another dominant win. That would put UF in line to face the winner of Texas Tech-UConn, both of which are relative unknowns to the program.
Only one team can come out on top of the region, but playing at home should benefit the Gators greatly, especially if they have to play a win-or-go-home game.
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL
1️⃣ Florida
4️⃣ Florida A&M
3️⃣ Texas Tech
2️⃣ UConn#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/wqjyzZIPui— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 29, 2023
The winner of the Gainesville Regional will go on to play the winner of the Columbia Regional. South Carolina is the No. 15 national seed but has to get past Central Connecticut, Campbell and NC State first.
This will be Florida’s third-straight season hosting an NCAA Regional and 13th overall during Kevin O’Sullivan’s 16 years as Gators head coach (no NCAA Tournament in 2020). It’s the fifth time UF has entered the tournament as a No. 2 seed or higher, but the last time was in 2018.
Florida has hosted a regional 19 times in program history.
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