Tag: series preview

Series Preview: No. 6 Florida set for big weekend against No. 22 Miami

No. 6 Florida will host No. 22 Miami over the weekend in what will be the Gators’ first real test of the 2023 season.

Florida swept each of its first two weekend series of the season against Charleston Southern and Cincinnati, but now the Gators face a major test as the No. 22 Miami Hurricanes come into town.

Miami is 7-2 on the season with losses to Penn State and FAU, while Florida is 8-2 with losses to Jacksonville and USF. Both teams have a strong weekend rotation but Miami’s bullpen might be stronger right now. Florida has scored 40 more runs in just five more innings of action, though.

The annual series is always filled with emotions. Plenty of the state’s top prep players pick between the two (and Florida State) and are familiar with each other, so it’s fun for everyone involved. Florida took two of three last year in Miami, and the Gators enter the matchup ranked a good bit higher than the Hurricanes at No. 6 in the country.

A sweep of Miami would almost guarantee a bump up into the top five, but Kevin O’Sullivan would probably settle for taking the series. It will be the first real challenge for his team this year, but the expectation is that Florida will handle its in-state rival at home.

Series Preview: Florida set for home-and-home series with USF

Florida’s first midweek series is a home-and-home matchup with the USF Bulls. Will the Gators start 2023 off 5-0?

The Florida Gators will play a two-game series against the University of South Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday, but both games will not be at the same venue.

Tuesday’s matchup is in Tampa at USF, and Wednesday’s is in Gainesville. It’s a fun way to make a series between two schools separated by no more than two hours on I-75 unique.

The Gators are coming off a dominant performance against Charleston Southern, but the Bulls should provide a bit more of a challenge. Still, USF was picked by D1Baseball.com to finish seventh in the American Athletic Conference, so it’s not like facing an East Carolina or UCF.

The Wednesday arms are still to be decided, but Florida will throw freshman left-hander [autotag]Cade Fisher[/autotag] on Tuesday. [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag], who was expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, is taking over the closer role, so young players like Fisher will have a chance early.

Offensively, the Gators are simply looking to keep hitting after outscoring the Buccaneers 37-5 and invoking the mercy rule twice over the weekend. Right fielder [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] led the team with a .500 batting average and 10 RBIs in the Charleston Southern series, and several other Gators collected multiple hits as well.

Third baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] is still looking for his first hit. He should be in the lineup Tuesday with USF throwing a right-hander, so he’ll get a few chances to break the seal and get the season going. Wyatt Langford is always a name to look out for, but he might be a bit angry after going 0-for-4 on Sunday.

USF shouldn’t be taken too lightly. The Bulls beat No. 13 Maryland to start the season but lost the next two games of the series. There are a few dangerous bats on the team, so Florida needs to take its opponent seriously to enter the second weekend of the season undefeated.

Series Preview: Florida begins 2023 season with series against Charleston Southern

Baseball is back and the Gators are looking to start the 2023 season with a few wins over Charleston Southern.

The grass is cut, the lights on the scoreboard have been replaced and it’s time once again to begin another Florida Gators baseball season.

UF starts its season with a weekend series at home against the Charleston Southern Buccaneers, and it will be a chance for the Gators to see how the new-look starting rotation fares against a beatable opponent. Gone is [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] after being selected in the second round of the 2022 MLB draft, but head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] has reloaded with Southern Miss and Preseason All-American [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag]. Not to mention Florida’s retention of last year’s No. 2, [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag], despite a third-round selection in the draft.

Two-way sophomore [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], who spent the second half last season as the team’s designated hitter, should get the Sunday start. It’ll be his first competitive game back on the mound since undergoing Tommy John surgery as a senior in high school.

On offense, all eyes are on projected first-round pick [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag]. The Gators’ left fielder tied the team’s season record for home runs a season ago and led Florida in nearly every major offensive statistic. He’ll be the biggest bat in the lineup this year, but there are plenty of others that can hit on the team.

Catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag], shortstop [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] and third baseman [autotag]Colby Halter[/autotag] all return despite interest from the pros. They’ll be looked at as the leaders of the team early.

Finally, there are the freshmen. As usual, Florida has an incredibly strong freshman class on the roster and they are most likely to get playing time early in the year. Fans could be seeing some of the future this weekend.

Series Preview: Gators baseball travels to Missouri for weekend series

A sweep this weekend against Mizzou would put the Gators back over .500 in conference play.

Florida baseball has a chance to get back above .500 in conference play this weekend with a three-game series in Columbia against the Missouri Tigers. UF needs a sweep to get it done and history is in the team’s favor after winning 15-straight against Mizzou.

[autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] has been shut down for the year, but the duo of [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] has served the Gators well in his absence. Both are better at keeping opponents subdued than their respective counterparts on the Tigers, so the games could get fairly lopsided if the numbers prove true.

Offensively, Florida seems to be hitting its stride after shaking up the top of the order against Kentucky. The top of the order now goes [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag], [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag]. Fabian is the only one who is in the same spot as he was when he started the season, and the other two are hitting over .350 since the switch. The trio of Fabian, Langford and Riopelle also leads the nation with a combined 49 homers.

The bullpen has also seen some improvement in recent weeks with the additions of guys like [autotag]Fisher Jameson[/autotag] to mainstays like [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag] and [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] who have got it done all season.

Florida could be peaking at the right time, but they’ll need to take this series convincingly to get to where they want to be with only one more weekend left in the regular season.

Series preview: Florida travels to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs

Florida baseball needs to at least grab the series versus the Mississippi State Bulldogs this weekend.

Florida baseball head coach [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] received devastating news on Tuesday that his team will have to finish the rest of its season without ace [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag]. He announced via his social media that he won’t play another game this season and will undergo Tommy John surgery.

That’s a tough blow for the Gators that are in a last-minute push to make the NCAA tournament. They have another chance to improve their resume when they travel to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs this weekend.

In Barco’s absence, starter [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] has stepped up quite nicely. He has only allowed four hits and two earned runs in 17 1/3 innings over his last three starts. O’Sullivan will need Neely to keep his dominance going if Florida wants to grab the series this weekend.

Series Preview: Florida looking to pull off massive upset versus No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers

Florida’s chance to upset the Volunteers this weekend after Hunter Barco was ruled out with elbow discomfort.

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.

Series Preview: Florida baseball travels to Vanderbilt for weekend matchup

Another weekend, another three days of SEC baseball. Florida and Vanderbilt both need a series win to get back to the top of the conference.

Florida is back on the road after a tough loss to Florida State in Tallahassee to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in a weekend series in Nashville.

The Gators have a had a rough go in conference play early on, starting out with a 5-7 record against the SEC. Things opened up well with a road-series win against Alabama, but UF’s pitching was exposed against LSU after [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] was taken out of Game 1. Then, Georgia swept Florida in Athens and the panic level was raised back home.

A series win against No. 2 Arkansas got the Gators back in the top 25, but all progress seemed to be lost on Tuesday in a 5-0 loss to FSU. For the first time this season, Florida had been shut out and it leaves plenty of question marks around the team heading into another road series.

The good news is [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] does seem to be figuring things out as the team’s No. 2, but there’s still the Sunday spot to address and a lineup that’s hitting beneath its capabilities in conference play.

Vanderbilt is going through similar struggles right now. The Commodores were swept at the hands of No. 1 Tennessee two weeks ago and couldn’t bounce back against Auburn last week.

Here’s a look at everything you need to know about the weekend series between Florida and Vanderbilt.

Florida baseball looks to right ship versus No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks

Florida baseball needs a heroic effort from its pitching staff if it wants to pull the series upset versus No. 2 Arkansas.

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.

Series Preview: Florida baseball kicks off 2022 against Liberty Flames

Baseball is back! The Florida Gators kick off the 2022 season with a weekend series against Liberty.

College baseball finally returns on Friday as the Florida Gators host the Liberty Flames for the first weekend series of the season.

Florida entered 2021 as the No. 1 team in the country, but it didn’t finish the season anywhere near the top. The Gators went 38-22 and were bounced from the Gainesville regional after two quick losses. Expectations are lower this season, but Florida does return six positional starters in 2022.

Those veterans will need to balance out a rather young pitching staff that’s led by sophomore Hunter Barco, Friday’s starter. Brandon Sproat is not in the rotation this weekend, which comes as a bit of a surprise, and Kevin O’Sullivan has decided to go with an all-lefty rotation for the first time while at Florida.

Last year’s starting left fielder Jacob Young is now in the pros and there’s no clear answer just yet on who his everyday replacement should be. Sophomore Wyatt Langford will get the opening day start, but Sully said that multiple players could see time at the position over the season.

Catcher is another position with a bit of a question mark around it. Sophomore Mac Guscette will be behind the plate on Friday, but Coastal Carolina transfer BT Riopelle should get some playtime this weekend as well.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see different lineups thrown out early in the season in an attempt to figure out Florida’s best group before SEC play. O’Sullivan needs to be cautious, though, as last year’s season started off rocky dropping two of three games to Miami.