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The No. 18 Florida Gators baseball team returns home after an eight-game road trip to host Georgia for a three-game Easter Weekend series. The Orange and Blue look to extend their three-game winning streak after defeating Florida Gulf Coast, 7-1 on Tuesday night in Fort Myers.
The Gators currently sit atop the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division after a successful road trip in which they went 5-3 (.625), highlighted by a series victory at No. 4 South Carolina and an 8-0 shutout at No. 1 Florida State.
Offensively, Florida is led by junior catcher Taylor Gushue (.338, 32 RBI), who also led with a .357 (5-for 14) average at USC as he has now hit in a career-best 11 straight games. Freshman Peter Alonso (.278, 14 RBI) also contributed, batting a team best .394 (13-for 33) on the eight-game road trip.
Gator coach Kevin O’Sullivan says his team is continuing to get better and better.
“I know I’m throwing out a lot of compliments here and I feel good about where we are at, but we have a long way to go. Every game is different and this is going to be a heck of a race to the finish in the SEC, but I do like the direction we are going,” says O’Sullivan.
Florida has won its last six regular-season series against Georgia and are 14-6 (.700) under O’Sullivan against the Bulldogs.
Freshman Logan Shore (3-2, 1.67) will take the bump for the Gators Friday night against Georgia’s senior lefty Ryan Lawlor (3-2, 3.44). Shore has pitched in at least five innings in all eight of his starts and is 3-1 in SEC play.
Coach O’Sullivan says he has nothing but confidence in Shore.
“We are starting to get to the point where we expect a lot out of him, and I feel comfortable with him going out there on Friday nights. He doesn’t act like a freshman, doesn’t pitch like a freshman, and he has a lot of respect from his teammates. He prepares himself for his starts and I feel very good with him out there,” says O’Sullivan.
Saturday night Coach O’Sullivan will send righty Aaron Rhodes to the mound (3-2, 2.63) against Georgia’s freshman righty Robert Tyler.
Tune into 103.7 The Gator to hear the entire series with Jeff Cardozo and Mick Hubert. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 7 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
To hear audio from Coach O’Sullivan click below:
