Florida Gators Bait & Bits: Gators Keep on Winning and CeCe Jefferson’s Encouraging Words (Video)

Mandatory Credit: Matt Ryerson-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Bait & Bits, a series on Hail Florida Hail that will feature one “bait” about an opposing school and some bits about the Florida Gators. Have any links that you want on Bait & Bits? Tweet it at us @HailFloridaHail or @BrettKaplan13 or email it to us at BrettKaplanHFH@gmail.com.

Bait

Top-25 Baseball Teams. Florida’s baseball team has been inconsistent at times this season.  They’ve lost to teams they should have beaten, such as Florida Atlantic, Illinois, and Florida Gulf Coast. But they’ve also been pretty spectacular when they play ranked foes. The Gators are 10-5 against top-25 competition and an incredible 8-1 versus the top four. They swept No. 1 Florida State, No. 4 LSU, and took the series 2-1 (and probably should have swept them) from No. 4 South Carolina. And now at 23-13 (9-6 SEC) they sit atop the SEC East and in great shape for the conference and NCAA Tournament.

Bits

FLax Wins ALC. It was a pretty good weekend for Florida lacrosse. They sent their seniors off with a win against conference foe Vanderbilt 14-9 in their final home game of the season. Sammi Burgess scored four goals and Shannon Gilroy added two goals and two assists to become UF’s all-time single-season points scorer with 84. The Gators improved to 5-0 in the American Lacrosse Conference and clinched at least a share of the league title. But when John’s Hopkins beat Northwestern later on Sunday, Florida clinched the ALC championship outright. This is Florida’s fourth straight year of winning at least a share of the ALC regular season title. (GatorZone)

Women’s Tennis Finishes Strong at Home. The 11th-ranked women’s tennis team finished the season with two wins on their home court, something Florida fans have gotten very used to. The Gators swept the No. 5 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday and capped off the regular season with a 4-1 win against the Kentucky Wildcats. Those two home wins ran their incredibly ridiculous home winning streak to 131, the longest active win streak for any Division I women’s sport, trailing only Ohio State’s men’s tennis team. With Sunday being senior day, it meant that Alexandra Cercone, Olivia Janowicz, and Sofie Oyen never lost at home, going 49-0. They went 103-9 overall and 45-3 in the SEC. They also won back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012, and are looking for that third title in four years.

Men’s Tennis Splits Weekend, Finishes with Upset. It came down to the end, but the No. 15 Gators men’s tennis team started the weekend off with a 4-3 loss at Vanderbilt. They came back on Sunday to come up with the 4-2 upset win at No. 14 Kentucky, however, to finish the regular season on a strong note. Florida finished the season 13-8 and 8-4 in the SEC.

Seedings for SEC Tennis Tournament. The regular season is over and that means both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will be headed to the SEC Tournament. The men’s team locked up the four-seed in the tournament after finishing fourth in league play. Meanwhile, the women’s team finished in a three-way tie for second in the SEC and ended up with the four-seed as well. The men’s tournament will take place in Nashville April 16-20, while the women’s tournament will be played in Columbia, MO during the same time. Both teams earned a two-round bye for finishing in the top-four in league play.

2015 5-Star DE CeCe Jefferson Talks Florida. Baker County’s CeCe Jefferson would be a huge addition to the 2015 recruiting class if he committed, and by the sounds of it, it’s Florida’s commitment to lose. Check out the video that should have Gators fans very excited. (h/t Bleacher Report)

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