Gators Baseball to Face South Carolina in Toughest SEC Matchup Yet

The Gators currently sit at No.3 in the NCAA with a record of  31-7 with the Gamecocks not far behind at No.6 with a record of 31-6. The SEC East rivals will play a three game series in Columbia, South Carolina from April 20th- 22nd.

Florida and South Carolina sit at second and third respectively in the SEC East. The Gators are yet to drop an SEC series, defeating Alabama, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia. The Gamecocks are 3-1-1 in the SEC, defeating Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi State while tying LSU and falling to Vanderbilt.

Under the Carolina Moon 🌙 #GoGators pic.twitter.com/YfrHmBWnJR

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 19, 2023

Looking Back

These two teams met four times last season with the Gators taking the series 3-1. They claimed two of their victories at home with the third coming after a ten inning battle in Hoover, Alabama during the SEC tournament. South Carolina and Florida are knotted up at 51-51 in the series all time.

Gators Last Time Out

The Gators downed the Florida A&M Rattlers in a 17-7  run rule victory in seven innings on Tuesday night. During this game, NCAA home run leader, Jac Caglianone, blasted his 22nd home run of the season. Luke Heyman and Deric Fabian contributed to the homerun total with one each. Heyman and Caglianone led the team in RBIs with four a piece. Florida drove in eight runs during the second inning, marking their highest single inning total on the season.

Gamecocks Last Time Out

The Gamecocks defeated Charleston Southern 10-4 in a midweek matchup on Tuesday. South Carolina leads the country in team homeruns so far this season with 88. Dylan Brewer and Gavin Casas added onto the total with one each on Tuesday night.

Insight from Mark Kingston

South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston shared his thoughts prior to the match up. He said that “[he] didn’t anticipate that [their] offense would be what its been this year” because the pitching was so impressive to start the year.

When asked his thoughts on Florida, he said that its a “typical Florida team with high end pitching.”

What to Watch For

This game will feature two of the top three homerun hitting teams in the country so it wouldn’t surprise anyone if a handful of balls made it over the fence. Not only are these teams strong hitters, but the pitching has been solid so far this year as well. The Gamecocks boast sub 4.0 ERA as a team while the Gators don’t sit far behind with a sub 5.0 ERA as a team.