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With the regular season winding down, the Florida Gators begin a pivotal road series at South Carolina starting Friday.
Since starting 1-11 in conference play, Florida (30-16, 8-13 SEC) has won seven of its last nine SEC games and are looking for their fourth straight series win.
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This weekend they take on a South Carolina (26-20, 5-16) team that has not had the season they’ve envisioned. The Gamecocks sit 15th in the conference and have only won one SEC series.
With Florida’s recent success, the Gators have gone from out of the tournament to safely in for now. D1Baseball had the Gators slotted in as a three-seed in the Tallahassee Regional in this week’s field of 64. It is the same spot they were in last week with the only difference being off the last four in line to squarely in.
The SEC foes have squared off 110 times, with South Carolina leading the all-time series 56-54. The Gators have handled business at home, but have struggled on the road — posting a record of 19-31 all-time and 10-13 under coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
South Carolina has dominated the Gators at Founders Park in Columbia by sweeping each of the last two series. The Gamecocks also hold a 6-4 edge in the last 10 matchups.
This might not be the same South Carolina team from years past, but O’Sullivan knows the importance of the series.
“We can’t take anything for granted and literally I told them this morning that today is the most important game of the year. Friday is the most important game of the year. Saturday is the most important game of the year,” O’Sullivan said.
The pitching staff came up big for the Gators when it needed to on Sunday’s rubber match versus Arkansas and will need to keep building momentum heading into this weekend.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Liam Peterson (7-2, 3.83 ERA) struck out a career-high 13 batters in his last outing and will look to set the tone again for Florida. Peterson will start Game 1 per usual and freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan King (4-2, 3.47) will go Game 2 for Florida.
This Gamecocks’ lineup does not score a lot of runs and has a lot of strikeouts. The Gamecocks have scored 282 runs this season, which ranks 170th in the nation, and struck out 370 times.
To make it worse, they could be down multiple starters heading into this series. South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri announced Tuesday that junior outfielder Ethan Petry will miss multiple weeks with an AC joint sprain. Petry leads the team in home runs (10) and is second in batting average (.329).
Florida is also dealing with an injury. Shortstop Colby Shelton has a hand injury that is expected to keep him out the next three weeks. However, starter Pierce Coppola, who hasn’t pitched since Week 3, is active and could make an appearance this weekend.
Junior outfielder Nathan Hall is questionable heading into the weekend with a heel injury he suffered at Texas A&M on April 11. Hall leads the team in batting average (.345), hits (57), RBIs (37), and is second on the team in homers (7). Manieri said he’s hopeful to get him back by Friday following Tuesday’s 5-3 win against Charleston Southern.
Regardless of who’s in the lineup, Peterson and the rest of this pitching staff must continue attacking the zone and limiting the free passes.
For Florida, it will be all about getting the lead so they can hand the ball off to right-handed pitcher Jake Clemente to shut things down. The Gators’ closer has continued to shine since taking over the role, holding a powerful Arkansas lineup scoreless over 5.2 combined innings across two appearances. Clemente has allowed one run in his last six appearances and during that span has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 19-3.
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Amid this midseason revival tour, the Gators have found itself offensively. In the last 12 games, Florida is averaging 8.1 runs per game, with 121 hits (10.08 per game), hitting .304 as a team with 19 home runs, 89 RBIs, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 66-to-14.
A big reason for all this is the consistent play of senior infielder Bobby Boser, who is riding an on-base streak of 26 games.Boser has been a constant headache for opposing pitchers all season, especially since taking over the leadoff spot. He is hitting .333 in SEC play, and leads the team in home runs with 14. Freshman first baseman Brendan Lawson has been scorching hot at the plate during this run- hitting .375 with 18 hits, eight extra-base hits, and four RBIs.
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The Gators will face a Gamecocks pitching staff that has struggled this year consistently throwing strikes. South Carolina pitchers have allowed 262 free passes this season and come into this series with a 5.40 ERA.
It will be right-handed pitcher Brandon Stone (2-5, 4.96) throwing Game 1 and left-handed pitcher Jake McCoy (4-3, 6.38) going Game 2. Neither team has announced a starter for Sunday’s game.
Looking Ahead
The first pitch from Founders Park in Columbia is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and all three games can be seen on SEC Network+ or listened to live on ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM. Game 2 is set for a 4 p.m. start Saturday and Sunday’s finale starts at 1:30 p.m.
Signature Series Victory
Through the Players’ Eyes pic.twitter.com/uJmOT3Ejft
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 30, 2025
