Resume Check: Looking ahead to South Carolina baseball's next opponent, the Florida Gators
South Carolina baseball picked up a mid-week win on Tuesday with a 5-3 victory over the in-state Charleston Southern Buccaneers. The triumph was USC’s seventh in the last 10 games, the best stretch of victories for Paul Mainieri’s club over a 10-game span since winning six in a row to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.
Next up, the Gamecocks will host the recently resurgent Florida Gators in a weekend series at Founders Park. Following a dreadful start to the season that saw them lose their first eight games in conference play, Kevin O’Sullivan’s group will enter the Friday-Saturday-Sunday series having won 10 of 12.
Resume Check: Florida Gators
Record: 30-16 (8-13 in SEC play)
D1Baseball Ranking: N/A
Last Week: 2-1 series win over No. 5 Arkansas in Gainesville; UF had a Bye during the mid-week
Kevin O’Sullivan’s 18th year at the helm of the Florida Gators baseball program did not start well. Much like South Carolina, Florida struggled to beat ranked teams. However, that has changed in recent weeks for the Gators, and they enter this weekend playing their best baseball.
During the preseason, the SEC coaches selected Florida as the fifth-best team in the conference. The Gators even earned a first-place vote. Three position players (second baseman Cade Kurland, shortstop Colby Shelton, and catcher Luke Heyman) made the preseason All-SEC team.
As the Gators round into form, their offense has been most impressive. Kurland won’t make an All-SEC team this year because of an unfortunate shoulder injury, but Shelton, Heyman, and a couple of other Florida studs might. Shelton leads the league in doubles (19) and is second in batting average (.377), while Heyman, Brody Donay, and Bobby Boser have combined for 36 home runs and well over 100 in both the runs and runs batted in categories. Boser is also a real threat to steal bases with 13 swipes on the year.
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On the mound, an injury to Pierce Coppola has changed the dynamic for O’Sullivan’s pitching staff, but the blue and orange have trotted out some talented arms, regardless. Starters Liam Peterson and Aidan King have had good seasons. Peterson, in particular, boasts a ridiculous 80 strikeouts in 51.2 innings pitched. Jake Clemente and Luke McNeillie–primarily used as relievers–have been major strikeout threats, too. As a whole, though, the bullpen in Gainesville has been inconsistent. That fact has pushed the Gators to 14th in the SEC in overall ERA this season.
South Carolina hasn’t announced its weekend rotation just yet. Last series, Brandon Stone, Jake McCoy, and Dylan Eskew started games. Jarvis Evans took the mound on Tuesday night.
The South Carolina Gamecocks and Florida Gators will begin their weekend series with a 7:00 p.m. first pitch on Friday. Game two will begin at 4:00 p.m. Then, in the series finale on Sunday, the SEC foes will take the field at 1:30 p.m. None of the three games will be on traditional television. However, all three games will be available via streaming on SEC Network+.
