Tag: Series Recap

Five takeaways from Florida’s midweek series against UNF

Florida baseball swept a home-and-home series against UNF this week, moving back over the .500 mark after a slow start to the season.

Florida baseball recorded its first two wins of the season on Tuesday and Wednesday, beating the North Florida Ospreys 10-0 and 13-4, respectively.

After a slow start to the season against St. John’s (and Mother Nature), Florida came out to play during the midweek home-and-home series. The first game was played in Jacksonville and only lasted seven innings thanks to the run rule. Freshman Liam Peterson made his debut on the mound and received plenty of run support from the offense.

Wednesday’s game was played back in Gainesville at Condron Family Ballpark and was a bit more competitive until the final innings. North Florida scored four runs by the seventh inning to pull it within three, but the Gators tacked on six insurance runs before the ninth.

This is how things are supposed to go against mid-major programs when you’re ranked inside the top five. Losing the season opener might end up being a good thing, if this is how Florida plays with a chip on its shoulder.

Let’s take a closer look at what we learned about the team this week.

Key takeaways from Florida baseball’s end-of-season surge

The regular season is over, but Florida just might now be playing its baseball of the year, which is pretty impressive considering UF won over 40 games this year.

The Florida Gators went a combined 5-1 against Kentucky and Vanderbilt over the final two weekends of the regular season to clinch the top seed in the SEC Tournament and a share of the conference title.

It’s no secret that the Gators have been one of the very best college baseball teams all season long, but everything seems to be clicking for Florida at the right time. Wyatt Langford is hitting the ball the best he has all year, Jac Caglianone is finally delivering quality starts week in and week out, and all the stars aligned for Florida to clinch the top seed in the conference.

Of course, there are still flaws surrounding this team, so winning it all is no guarantee. Still, it seems like the best chance Florida’s had since 2017 to claim a national title, and a relatively healthy regular season means that no major piece is missing heading into Hoover (and then Omaha).

Here are a few key takeaways from Florida’s final two weeks of regular season play.

Major takeaways from Florida’s humbling series loss to South Carolina

The Gators left Columbia, South Carolina with a bitter taste in their mouths after going 0-3 against the Gamecocks, but it’s how Florida responds to an ugly series that matters most.

For the first weekend in 2023, it was tough to be a Florida baseball fan.

The Gators were swept on the road by the South Carolina Gamecocks by scores of 13-3 (7), 5-2 and 7-5 in a three-game set that ran from Thursday to Saturday. It’s UF’s first series loss of the season and moves the club to 31-10 overall and 11-7 in SEC play.

The Florida pitching staff left a lot to be desired this weekend. Things seem to go downhill as soon as Kevin O’Sullivan turned to the bullpen, and the offense couldn’t do much until late in the final game of the series.

This might be the worst Florida fans will feel all season long, but that’s dependent on whether or not a team capable of competing for a national championship adjust after getting smacked in the mouth.

It’s ugly to go over, but there is no need for Gator Nation to sense doom and gloom. Florida is still a top-five program in the country that simply ran into a buzzsaw.

Major takeaways from No. 3 Florida’s series win over No. 11 Tennessee

The Gators looked like the best team in the country over the first two games of the series against Tennessee, and a sloppy Saturday loss shouldn’t take anything away from those wins.

Florida didn’t come away with the sweep over the weekend against Tennessee, but taking two games on the road against a top-15 team in the country is still a quality series win, even if the Gators got mercy ruled in the rain on Saturday.

The offense jumped all over Tennessee’s Chase Dollander and Chase Burns on Thursday and Friday, as [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] and [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] earned wins on the mound for Florida. Sproat was one out away from finishing off the sixth inning for a quality start, but he left with discomfort in his calf. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious, but it’s something to keep in mind moving forward.

The bullpen was strong in both wins, too. Although the ‘pen appeared to be Florida’s biggest problem early on, that’s no longer the case. There are viable arms from both sides, with lefty [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] and right-handed closer [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] providing the perfect finishing combo for a must-win game.

Sunday was a different story. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] continued to struggle on the mound, and he didn’t even make it out of the first. It was raining pretty hard all day, which isn’t really an excuse, but it helped lead to a lousy day all-around for the Florida pitching staff.

The Gators are now 27-6 overall and 9-3 in conference play. The SEC East is incredibly tough this season, and Florida is in the middle of the pack right now. Tennessee is the only division team UF has faced so far, but the Gators close out the season with five of their six final series against SEC East foes.

Georgia will be a bit of a tune-up series next weekend, but then it’s on to No. 6 South Carolina. Here’s what we learned about the team.

Key takeaways from Florida’s series win over Auburn

The Florida Gators took two of three from the Auburn Tigers this weekend to improve to 24-5 (7-2), but the team still has plenty to work on before the postseason comes around.

Florida survived a bit of a scare from Auburn over the weekend to win its seventh-straight three-game series of the regular season.

It was a bit of a mixed bag for the offense and defense against the Tigers. The Gators struggled on both sides of the ball Friday night en route to a 10-1 loss, which is by far the worst defeat of the season for the club. Saturday might be another bad day on the bump, but [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag] regained his composure after allowing a few early runs and earned a quality start.

Sunday was… weird. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], who is hitting just as well as he has all year, struggled with his command for the second game in a row. He was knocked out of the game during the fourth inning in line for the loss, but Auburn’s bullpen couldn’t buy a strike for the final five innings of the game.

What makes Sunday’s 17-8 win even more bizarre is that the Tigers opted to go to their bullpen relatively earlier. Starter Tommy Vail was at 92 pitches with one out to go in the fifth when he was pulled. Maybe the bullpen would have blown it eventually, but Vail seemed to know the game was already over when he handed the ball to his coach.

Here are some major takeaways from the weekend that was.

Major takeaways from No. 6 Florida’s midweek wins over FAU

The Gators finally took both games of a midweek series and will head into the weekend with a chance to put together the first five-game win streak of the season.

The No. 6 Florida Gators finally won both of their midweek games this week with victories over the Florida Atlantic Owls.

On Tuesday, UF outscored FAU, 18-11, in a game that was extended by a 41-minute rain delay. [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag] lead the night with three hits, including two home runs and nine RBIs, and [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] also had a three-hit night. [autotag]Ty Evans[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyler Shelnut[/autotag] both hit home runs as well.

Although it wasn’t a great outing for freshman [autotag]Yoel Tejeda Jr[/autotag]., Florida scored more than enough runs to take the game in convincing fashion. [autotag]Ryan Slater[/autotag], [autotag]Nick Ficarrotta[/autotag], [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] all got work in relief.

The pitching staff was much sharper on Wednesday. Starter [autotag]Tyler Nesbitt[/autotag] and left-hander [autotag]Phillip Abner[/autotag] combined for an eight-inning, two-hit shutout. [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] was the star on offense, collecting four hits on the day, including a walk-off grand slam that put the 10-run rule into effect.

Wednesday was the dominant win Florida has been looking for all year and finally leaves the team heading into the weekend on the right foot.

Siena might be Florida’s most favorable series of the season, and the Gatrors look like they are finally firing on all cylinders.

Major takeaways from Florida’s series win over Miami

Florida hosted No. 22 Miami over the weekend and took two of three games from the Hurricanes. Here’s what we learned.

Florida took two of three games against No. 22 Miami over the weekend, capping things off with an eight-inning, mercy-rule victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday.

While the weekend was an overall success, the Gators’ bullpen imploded once again on Saturday and wasted a career day from starter [autotag]Hurston Waldrep[/autotag]. Early relief pitching continues to be the Achilles’ heel of the team and has cost UF each of its three losses on the year.

Florida’s offense continues to be one of the best in the nation, though. The Gators increased their hit total to 164 and home run total to 35, both of which are good for the NCAA lead. [autotag]Wyatt Langford[/autotag] is living up to his projected top-five draft pick status, and [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] appears to be the second coming of Shohei Ohtani. Both could feasibly compete for the Golden Spikes Award if they continue at this pace.

Caglianone’s efforts don’t end in the batter’s box. He may be the most consistent piece of Florida’s weekend rotation so far, anchoring the staff as the Sunday starter.

Although it wasn’t a sweep, taking a series from a ranked team in dominant fashion gives the country a much better idea of how good this Gators team is compared to the Charleston Southern and Cincinnati series.

Here’s what we learned from the series win over Miami.

Key takeaways after Florida baseball splits series with Jacksonville

Florida can’t seem to figure out the winning formula on Wednesdays, but the Gators are still off to a hot start in 2023.

Florida failed to put together a perfect week once again and split a midweek home-and-home series against the Jacksonville Dolphins on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It took Florida until the fourth inning to get things going against Jacksonville on the road Tuesday, but the Gators ended up scoring in each of the final six innings of the ball game to beat the Dolphins, 18-8.

Wednesday was a different story. Florida jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through two innings at home, but Jacksonville fought back after the Gators turned to the bullpen. A six-run sixth inning for the Dolphins proved to be enough and Florida fell, 10-8, to split the series.

Once again, pitching depth appeared to be an issue for Florida during the second midweek game of the week. Kevin O’Sullivan is still searching for the right mix of arms to last through the week without taxing any one particular pitcher too much early on.

An 8-2 start is far from a disaster, though. Florida looks like it could have a special team this season, but pitching depth could be an Achilles’ heel throughout the year.

Here’s what we learned from Florida’s series with Jacksonville.

Key takeaways from Florida’s series sweep of Cincinnati

Florida baseball is off to a hot start and is now 7-1 after a series sweep of Cincinnati. Here’s what we learned over the weekend:

Florida swept the Cincinnati Bearcats over the weekend to bring the Gators to a 7-1 record to start the season.

After splitting a home-and-home series with the USF bulls over the week, Florida needed to bounce back in a big way. It did so to the tune of 13 runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while allowing Cincinnati to put up a combined 16 runs. It’s the second-straight weekend in a row that Florida has doubled its opponents, and the team looks pretty unstoppable out of the gate.

The weekend rotation is elite and needs significantly less help from the bullpen than the midweek starters. At the plate, everyone is hitting, and a new school record for home runs in a game being set on Sunday proves that this team has legitimate power.

It’s hard to find something wrong with this Gators team right now. The club will eventually face some true adversity, but this is a group that’s firing on all cylinders.

Recapping Tigers softball’s perfect season debut at the LSU Invitational

The Tigers began the season 5-0 with a combined run margin of 41-9 over the weekend.

Spring is just around the corner, and that can only mean one thing: Diamond sports are upon us.

The No. 25-ranked Tigers softball team began its season over the weekend, playing host for the LSU Invitational. It played five games, all of which it won with three coming via run rule, and the total margin in those contests was 41-9

LSU begins the season 5-0 with a pair of shutout wins against a ranked opponent. After playing five games in three days, the Tigers will have most of the week off before hosting a slate of games over the weekend that will feature matchups against Eastern Illinois, Ohio, Utah and Central Arkansas.

In the meantime, here’s how coach Beth Torina’s squad fared in each contest over the weekend.