Series Preview: Florida baseball kicks off conference play at Alabama

Florida baseball will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend to kick off conference play against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Rain has affected three of the last five Florida baseball games, but it should be nice enough in Tuscaloosa over the weekend for the Gators to get a full series in against Alabama.

Hunter Barco and Brandon Sproat will repeat as the Friday and Saturday night starters. For the Sunday spot, Kevin O’Sullivan has tried out Pierce Coppola, who has been dealing with a back injury, and Timmy Manning to no avail. As the team reaches conference play, shoring up the back end of the rotation is priority No. 1 for the team.

Alabama isn’t the fiercest opponent on the schedule, though, so the Gators still have some time to figure out who will be the third starter for the rest of the season. Sully has Florida on a nine-game win streak over Alabama and the team is 23-5 against the Crimson Tide under his guidance.

Both teams come into the series batting over .300, but Florida holds the edge when it comes to power with 31 homers to Alabama’s 22. The Gators also started the season off with a horrendous team average of .186 against Liberty in the opening series and have since raised it to above the .300 mark.

On the pitching end, Florida has the slight edge in ERA (2.78 to Bama’s 3.02), but the strikeout numbers are comparable at 166 (UF) and 165 (Alabama) on the year.

The last time Florida lost to Alabama was in 2015 and it hasn’t lost in Tuscaloosa since 2010. Sweeping a series isn’t easy as Seton Hall was able to prove by nabbing its first win of the year last Sunday. Sully expects the best from his team, but this club has slipped enough times early on to warrant some concern.

O’Sullivan is two wins away from his 600th with Florida, too, which may give the team an extra incentive to go win.