Florida Gators Host Mercer Bears in Mid-Week Contest

The Florida Gators are going into a mid-week contest against the Mercer Bears on Tuesday night. The Gators are coming off a series win against the Kentucky Wildcats over the weekend. They won the first two meetings 11-2 and 9-4, but fell 3-2 in the last game against the Cats. Top ranked Florida has a 34-8 overall record and is 14-4 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Bears have a 28-14 overall record and are coming off a series win over Western Carolina.

https://twitter.com/MercerBaseball/status/988766332907917313

Previous meetings

It wouldn’t be unheard for Mercer to pull off an upset biased on their previous success in Gainesville. The Gators and the Bears have played a total of 58 times dating back to 1913. The Bears have won the last two meetings back in 2006 and 2014. In 2006 the Gators were ranked number 1 and the Bears won 3-2 and in 2014 the Gators were ranked 8th and the Bears won 4-2.

Players to Watch

Sophomore Wil Dalton has been tearing it up offensively. Last week, Dalton put up a .263 batting average with 3 home runs and 10 RBI’s. Dalton leads the league in homers with a whopping 15 on the season. Wil Dalton was named SEC Player of the week for his performance against Kentucky and Jacksonville last week. Dalton is now the third Gator to win the title after JJ Schwartz won Co-SEC player of the week last week and Jonathan India won the distinction earlier in the season.

ICYMI…#Gators Wil Dalton was named the @SEC Player of the Week!

STORY: https://t.co/iT6I0ppnii pic.twitter.com/aZcBzYoKWk

— Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 23, 2018

Outfielder and left handed pitcher, Nick Horvath, currently has a .295 batting average with 12 doubles, five home runs and 25 RBI’s. Off the field, Horvath was named as a finalist for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate baseball.

Game Time

The Florida Gators will host the Mercer Bears Tuesday night at 6pm. You can watch on SEC Network+ or listen on ESPN 98.1 FM. Starting Thursday the Gators will host Auburn in a three game series: Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 6:30pm, and Saturday at 2pm.

Perfect weather in sight as @GatorsBB hosts @MercerBaseball this evening. Tune in to hear the call starting at 5:55. pic.twitter.com/KFGm4jwhe5

— ESPN 98.1/ 850 WRUF (@ESPNGainesville) April 24, 2018