Florida baseball stumbled through its 2022 schedule to the tune of a 42-24 record overall while going just 15-15 in Southeastern Conference play. However, a deep run to the final game of the SEC Tournament against the top-ranked (at the time) Tennessee Volunteers had hopes high for a late surge from Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad, but the Oklahoma Sooners beat them two out of three games in the Gainesville Regional to end the Gators’ season.
It was the third-straight season Florida failed to get out of its regional round — the second-straight in which they played hosts — with the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign sandwiched in there, in which the Orange and Blue won its first 16-straight games until the Florida State Seminoles beat them right before the pandemic set in. The Gators had laid claim to the No. 1 spot at points during that stretch but have continued to fail to live up to the billing.
Now that SEC sister school Ole Miss has been crowned College World Series champions, the final rankings are rolling out including the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, which has Florida finishing at No. 21 overall — the same spot assigned by D1Baseball’s final rankings. The Gators are one of eight conference schools to make the cut, including the aforementioned Rebels in the top spot, Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively, as well as the Auburn Tigers at No. 7, Vols at No. 9, LSU Tigers at No. 22 and Vanderbilt Commodores at No. 24.
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