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Florida Baseball: Journey of 2023 Gators begins vs Charleston Southern

By Benjamin Henderson

Florida's Wyatt Langford, back left, runs on a home run against Central Michigan in the top of the third inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.Ap Ncaa Cent Michigan Florid 3
Florida's Wyatt Langford, back left, runs on a home run against Central Michigan in the top of the third inning during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.Ap Ncaa Cent Michigan Florid 3 /
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As Rage Against the Machine once said “It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?” And for Florida baseball, that time is now as the Florida Gators will take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers at 7 PM in the first of a three-game set to kickstart the 2023 season.

Florida enters with high hopes, as they are ranked 7th in the national preseason poll. But Florida will avoid the letdown they had to open the 2022 season.

Florida Baseball: Get the party started

Charleston Southern comes into Gainesville as the Big South Conference runner-up from 2022. At 24-30 overall at 13-11 in conference play, the Buccaneers had a pathway to make games competitive last season.

Charleston Southern snuck inside the top 100 nationally last year in hitting with a .285 average, good for 98th in the country. They were led by Nick Rodriguez, who has since left the program. They will have Tyrell Brewer, who has put together back-to-back seasons above .300.

Their .285 average is better than the average Florida baseball posted last season (.273).

Florida has announced their rotation to be Brandon Sproat, Hurston Waldrep, and Jac Caglianone. While Sproat is well known to fans of Florida baseball, Waldrep and Caglianone will be making their debuts on the mound in the Orange and Blue.

Waldrep was a Third Team All-American last season for Southern Mississippi and Caglianone played 28 games last year at first base and hit .288 with seven home runs, but did not make any appearances on the mound.

On the flip side, pitching was a problem for Charleston Southern last year. With a team ERA last year of 6.73, the Buccaneers were 231st out of the 293 teams that play D1 baseball. Zac Robinson, a transfer from junior college level Wabash Valley College, will get quite the D1 debut tonight as he has to face Wyatt Langford and the rest of the Gator’s offense. Virginia Tech transfer Ryan Gleason will go Saturday and sophomore Evan Truitt, who posted a 4.28 ERA last season with Charleston Southern, will take the mound Sunday.

Anything short of a sweep will disappoint Florida, but the Gators did drop two of three to Liberty last season to open the year.

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