Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan talks to his players on the mound during Tuesday's loss against Bethune Cookman. — Florida has lost in regionals three out of the last five years. (Bayden Armstrong/WRUF)

Florida Baseball’s Hopes to Host an NCAA Regional Aren’t in the Dirt Yet

When the majority of a baseball team’s losses come at the hands of unranked opponents, its dreams of hosting an NCAA regional might as well stay in the distance.

But for Florida baseball, that dream isn’t totally out of reach.

The Gators own the nation’s best record against ranked opponents at 10-1 and entered this week off a dominant series win over No. 4 Georgia. But when Florida returned to Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday, it couldn’t break the cycle that’s been haunting it all season: dominating ranked opponents then falling apart against unranked teams.

Florida collapsed 13-7 to Bethune-Cookman, leaving the night with a 17-10 record against unranked teams.

That pattern puts the Gators’ chances of the NCAA selection committee naming them a regional host in jeopardy while simultaneously bringing them one step closer.

Yes, it’s an oxymoron, but that’s the only way to look at Florida’s record this season. While the team is ranked in the top 25 across multiple college baseball outlets, where the school sits is a coin toss.

Baseball America put the Gators at No. 7 while Perfect Game and D1Baseball.com put them at No. 11 and No. 20, respectively. The top-16 seeded teams are awarded regional site locations, so Florida is certainly not out of the running. It also helps that Florida leads the nation in Quad 1 wins with 11 and sits at No. 5 in RPI rankings.

The NCAA baseball selection committee will also take Florida’s strength of schedule — currently positioned at No. 2 — into consideration. Florida is 27-11 and 9-6 in conference play against said schedule.

With 17 games left in the regular season, Florida will need to tighten up against unranked foes if it wants to earn a bid at a regional site for the first time in three years.

Luckily for Florida, nine of its next 10 games are against ranked teams including, No. 6/13 Auburn, No. 10/9 Texas A&M and No. 14/11 Oklahoma.

And it’s definitely proven it can stump ranked teams. Florida limited No. 4 Georgia to just 14 runs across three games this weekend — its lowest series total of the season.

Then again, it gave up 13 runs to Bethune-Cookman in just one ballgame. So, if Florida wants to play in familiar territory come regionals, it needs to start winning the games that were meant to be a breeze.

Category: Baseball, Gators Baseball