Florida baseball: Gators move to No. 1 in the nation

Fresh off a big road sweep at former No. 1 Miami, Florida baseball has taken its spot atop the college baseball rankings.

To say it was a statement made over the weekend might be a gross understatement for Florida baseball.

Freshman left-hander Hunter Barco threw 5.1 innings, striking out seven, walking just two and giving up just one earned run as the Gators topped then-No. 1 Miami 5-3 at Alex Rodriguez Field in Coral Gables.

The win gave the then-No. 2 Florida baseball team a three-game sweep of the Hurricanes in a thrilling series.

On Monday, that was enough to propel Florida baseball to be the new No. 1-ranked team in the country, according to D1baseball.com. The Hurricanes dropped down to No. 6.

Rounding out the top five were Vanderbilt, Louisville, Georgia and Texas Tech.

Florida baseball remains undefeated — only Arkansas and UCLA are also undefeated in the top 10 — at 8-0 overall.

In the final game of the series against Miami, the Gators jumped out to a lead after the second inning. Josh Rivera blasted a solo home run to left field in the second inning to push the Florida baseball lead to 3-0.

Sophomore outfielder Jud Fabian tacked another run to the lead in the fifth when he belted a solo home run to left-center field, giving the Gators a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Barco got in some trouble, loading the bases with two outs. But, he got out of the jam with a laced fastball that caught Miami clean-up hitter Raymond Gill looking.

Ten of the top 25 teams hail from the Southeastern Conference.

In the first eight games of the season, Florida baseball has blasted 11 home runs compared to just four by their opponents. They have outscored their opponents 65-24 during that stretch.

Florida baseball is back in action Tuesday when they host Florida A&P at McKethan Stadium. They will follow that with a road game Wednesday in Deland, Florida against Stetson. Their weekend series will be at home against Troy.