Gators Baseball Starts SEC Play at Home Against South Carolina
The 23rd-ranked Gators baseball team tests its luck in the Friday the 13th matchup against South Carolina to open SEC play.
The Gators’ (15-3)three losses came from a loss to UAB in the season opener and two losses to High Point in last weekend’s home series.
Some notable ranked wins include against then 17th-ranked Miami, in a two-game sweep after weather wiped out the Sunday game, and 20th-ranked FSU on Tuesday.
Against Florida State, Florida’s bullpen was the story, having a combined 16 strikeouts and only four walks.
Luke McNeillie got the win on 2.2 innings pitched, only allowing three hits and a run on three strikeouts. Joshua Whritenour got his second save of the season, allowing no hits or runs with five strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
South Carolina is approaching SEC play with a 12-6 record and coming off a loss to the Citadel.
Looking onto the mound, South Carolina and Florida both have nine pitchers with an ERA below 4.00, pitching at least five innings.
One of those pitchers is Gator ace Liam Peterson (1-0). The projected Friday starter, goes into SEC play tossing 34 strikeouts and only allowing eight earned runs in 19.1 innings of work.
In the Friday loss to High Point, Peterson threw his second highest strikeout count of the season with 11 in five innings pitched. He would allow only one hit and two runs.
South Carolina’s projected Friday starting pitcher Josh Gunther (2-0), has a 4.81 ERA on the season in 18.1 innings pitched to goalong with 26 strikeouts. He allowed three earned runs and eight hits in 3.1 innings of work in a 7-0 win against Princeton Saturday.
Off the bat, the Gators have more total runs and hits than the Gamecocks, with 153 runs and 183 hits compared to 114 runs and 167 hits.
South Carolina’s lineup is headlined by freshman Will Craddock who leads the Gamecocks in batting average (.432), runs (15) and hits (19). Craddock has reined in two RBIs in each of his last three games.
The swinging Gators’ lineup is headlined by centerfielder Kyle Jones and shortstop Brendan Lawson.
Jones leads the team in runs (24) and hits (28) and holds the second highest batting average on the team with .389.
Lawson, who was named Baseball America’s National Team of the Week, leads the Gators in batting average (.421), RBIs (26) and home runs (9).
Both Jones and Lawson are on a four game hitting streak.
The Gators start their first SEC series against the Gamecocks at 6:30 p.m. at Condron Family Ballpark on SEC Network+. Coverage begins on ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL at 6:25 p.m.
Category: Baseball, Gators Baseball, SEC
