Florida baseball and head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] received a devastating blow on Wednesday when Kendall Rodgers of D1Baseball reported that ace [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] will be out indefinitely with elbow discomfort. The absence of its star pitcher will make the Gators’ attempt to pull a massive upset over the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers much more difficult. The series kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m. EDT at the newly named Condron Ballpark. Graham Hall of the Gainesville Sun reported that Florida Ballpark is renamed after Gary Condron, the largest donor in Gator Boosters history.
In Barco’s place, O’Sullivan announced that reliever [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] will start Friday. Then [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] will take the mound first on Saturday and Sunday.
The Volunteers are rolling currently and have only dropped one game so far in SEC play. They enter this weekend holding an outstanding 34-3 record. Tennessee also holds the NCAA lead for most dingers with 88.
Florida’s pitching staff will need to have its best stuff if it wants to pull off the series upset.