The Florida baseball team will have to rebound this weekend against Missouri if they hope to stay atop the SEC East. The Orange and Blue dropped back-to-back games earlier this week to JU and Florida A&M. This was just the fifth time all season that the Gators were defeated in consecutive outings.
Friday night will be a matchup of two 6 foot 1 right-handers. On the mound for Florida will be Logan Shore, making his ninth start of the season. Shore picked up a win in his last outing, defeating Georgia. For the Tigers junior Brett Graves gets the call. Graves brings a 2.66 ERA into Gainesville alongside a 3-2 record.
Taylor Gushue and Harrison Bader will head the Florida offense. In his last outing Bader went an impressive 3 for 4 including his second home run of the year. Gushue leads UF in hits, RBIs, homers, doubles, and batting average.
Last year Florida took two of three games from the Tigers on the road. In the very competitive SEC East, Florida is in first place with a 12-6 record and the Tigers are in last place with a 6-12 league mark.
The Tigers are last in the SEC in hitting at .258 and are next to last in pitching with a team earned run average of 3.91. The Gators hit .267 and their team ERA is 3.35.
First pitch Friday night is set for 7, tune into ESPN 850 WRUF all weekend for live coverage.