Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida Baseball: No. 2 Gators meet No. 9 Florida State in second Sunshine Showdown of the season

By Andrew Schutte

Jun 13, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators center fielder Buddy Reed (23) and pitcher Kirby Snead (13) celebrate after defeating the Miami Hurricanes during the inning in the 2015 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Florida won 15-3. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 13, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators center fielder Buddy Reed (23) and pitcher Kirby Snead (13) celebrate after defeating the Miami Hurricanes during the inning in the 2015 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Florida won 15-3. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Florida baseball prepares for one of its toughest weeks of the season when it faces FSU Tuesday night and conference foe Texas A&M in a weekend series.

The No. 2-ranked Florida Gators (23-3, 4-2 SEC) and the No. 9-ranked Florida State Seminoles (18-5, 6-1 ACC) meet for the second time this season on Tuesday at 6 PM at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

It’ll be the second of three Sunshine Showdowns of 2016, with the Gators claiming the first game in a 6-0 shutout on March 15 in Gainesville. The series finale is set for April 12 when these two squads clash in Tallahassee.

UF enters this matchup with its in-state rival after splitting four games last week 2-2. The Gators defeated Florida Atlantic 2-1 last Tuesday and SEC Eastern Division rival Kentucky 12-5 in the weekend series-opener, but then dropped the next two against the Wildcats by scores of 4-7 and 4-5 (10 innings) on Saturday and Sunday.

The loss on Saturday ultimately brought an end to Florida’s impressive 17-game winning streak, the second-longest stretch in school history.

Florida Gators
Florida Gators /

Florida Gators

Now, it’s time to see how the Gators respond after suffering back-to-back conference losses.

Drawing the start for Florida Tuesday night is freshman right-hander Jackson Kowar (2-0, 3.10). He’ll oppose Florida State sophomore righty Drew Carlton (4-0, 3.08). Kowar has made seven appearances and three starts in 20.1 innings of play. Throughout that span, he’s totaled 26 strikeouts and six walks. Additionally, in his last start against FAU, Kowar registered six strikeouts over 4.1 innings.

Florida’s offense struggled a bit against Kentucky last weekend as the Gators were limited to a .248 batting average, collectively. That simply won’t cut it if UF is to survive arguably one of its most challenging weeks of the season.

The Gators face the eighth-ranked team in the country on Tuesday before hosting the nation’s new No. 1 team, the Texas A&M Aggies (21-3, 4-2 SEC), in a weekend series starting on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.

Make no mistake, UF’s focus will be solely on securing its second straight win over the Garnet and Gold before it seeks redemption in league play.

Florida cut into Florida State’s series lead earlier this season when it notched a win in mid-March, but the ‘Noles still hold a comfortable 127-108-1 (.540) advantage in the all-time set, including an 11-9 edge (.550) at neutral sites.

More gators: Graduate transfer CB considering Gators

Overall, head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is 16-15 (.516) against FSU: 10-1 (.909) in Gainesville, 4-5 (.444) in Tallahassee and 2-9 (.182) at neutral locations.

The game can be heard on the Gator IMG Sports Network and live stats will be available via FloridaGators.com. There will be no television coverage of the contest, however.

Home/Florida Gators Baseball