Gators Baseball Looks for Season Sweep at No. 5 Seminoles
The Gators are back to being unranked.
After suffering a 1-3 week against Jacksonville and Ole Miss, the Gators (24-9, 7-5 SEC) find themselves out of the D1Baseball top 25 once again and will head to the state capital to face the No. 5 Florida State (24-7, 9-3 ACC) for a chance to sweep the season series tonight.
Last weekend, Florida struggled at the plate, scoring just 11 runs across the four games. On Saturday, the game ended with back-to-back strikeouts for 10 times in the game.
“I thought Russ[ell Sandefer] was outstanding,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game. “As good as Aidan [King] was last night, and we were out a few starters, but we have to have the next man step-up mentality.”
Shortstop Brendan Lawson only played on Thursday due to illness, where he went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, as his average has fallen to a season low .352.
At the same time, infielder Cade Kurland finished the series with five hits in 12 at-bats with two RBIs. And, infielder Ethan Surowiec finished the series going 4-for-11 with three RBIs.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles moved up in Monday’s rankings. They went 3-1 in the week, and won a series against then-No. 10 Virginia in Charlottesville.
FSU’s lineup is without slugger Myles Bailey, who suffered a season-ending leg injury late last month.
What has gotten the job done for FSU has been its pitching. In 261 innings pitched, the Seminoles have struck out 339 batters and have walked only 121. The team has a 3.67 ERA, and has done a great job at keeping runners on base with a 1.25 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
However, FSU lost both games to the Gators. The first was a 6-3 loss in Gainesville on March 10 and the second was a 5-0 loss in Jacksonville on March 24.
In the last midweek game against Jacksonville on March 31, the Gators sent out five pitchers to the bump. However, after the Gators led 3-0 heading to the top of the seventh, the bullpen could not close the deal, as it gave up four runs in the seventh and eighth inning to lose the game 4-3.
Cooper Walls will be on the mound for the Gators at Dick Howser Stadium, as he looks for his fourth win on the season. Walls has a 4.91 ERA and will be making his first start since March 22 against Alabama, where he pitched 4 ⅓ innings and gave up just one earned run.
The Seminoles will start left-hander Cooper Whited, and he will look for his second win of the year. In his last start against the Gators on March 24, he pitched 3 ⅔ innings allowing just one earned run in the loss. He boasts a 3.31 ERA.
O’Sullivan is looking for his 40th win against the Seminoles Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF.
Category: College Baseball, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Baseball
