Florida baseball plummeted out of the D1Baseball top 25 rankings this week after getting swept by the No. 23 Georgia Bulldogs this past weekend despite defeating No. 5 Florida State in Jacksonville in a mid-week matchup. The road doesn’t get much easier this upcoming weekend or next as the Gators are set to host the No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks and the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.
Florida rebounded nicely and beat Florida A&M on Tuesday, 13-3, after it lost three straight to the Bulldogs. Center fielder[autotag] Jud Fabian[/autotag], third baseman [autotag]Deric Fabian[/autotag] and first baseman [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] all homered in Tuesday’s game.
The Razorbacks enter Gainesville, holding a 22-5 record. They grabbed two out of three games versus Mississippi State before dropping the series finale, 5-3, in extra innings.
The Gators are in a critical part of their season and in the final stretch where they play five straight SEC weekend series against top 25 teams. Its SEC schedule will then get easier as it finishes the season out playing against four teams that aren’t ranked.
If coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] has any hopes of salvaging this season and making a serious run in the NCAA tournament, he has to find a No. 2 and 3 starter for his weekend rotation. His starters outside of [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] have struggled mightily in SEC play.