Florida Baseball: National spotlight will shine on Gators against Tennessee

While Florida baseball has shot out to a 25-5 record and is once again established as one of the legit contenders to win the national title come June, the college sports world as a whole is just now turning its attention to baseball.

With March Madness over, Florida has a prime opportunity this weekend to showcase its talents in front of a national audience during its weekend series against Tennessee.

Florida Baseball: Rocky Top Showdown

Last season Tennessee was the bad boys of the college baseball world. They bat-flipped every chance they got, they weren’t afraid to gesture and dance, and for the most part, they were able to back up their brash play.

They amassed a record of 57-9 but fell short of the College World Series after being bounced by Notre Dame in the Super Regionals.

This year’s squad seems to be holding onto the aura of last year’s team when it comes to their ranking. Tennessee, with a record of 21-8, is already one loss shy of matching last year’s total. The Vols opened their season with losses to Arizona and Grand Canyon University, were swept by Missouri, and last weekend they dropped two-out-of-three games to top-ranked LSU.

Propping up Tennessee’s ranking was a sweep against then-21st-ranked Texas A&M.

Tennessee is led by Christian Moore, sporting a .349 batting average and a .504 on-base percentage. Moore also has 12 stolen bases on 13 attempts.

Blake Burke is hitting .330 with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs in 28 games.

Dylan Dreiling will also be one to keep an eye on. He only has 12 starts, but has appeared in 24 games and sports a .340 batting average over 53 plate appearances.

The strength of Tennessee will come from their starting rotation. Drew Beam sports a 2.51 ERA while Chase Dollander is sitting with 3.92 ERA. Combined with seven other pitchers Tennessee can bring out of the bullpen that are all sporting an ERA under two, there is a reason why Tennessee has the second best ERA in the country with a team average of 2.72.

So for Florida baseball, the test this weekend will be staying within themselves even if their prolific offense isn’t clicking out of the gate. One of the main reasons why Tennessee has such a low ERA is because they don’t allow baserunners in the first place. The Vols are second in the country in WHIP at 1.03.

And given that Saturday’s game will be on ESPN2 in front of a national audience that might be tuning into college baseball for the first time this season, that test to stay within themselves will be challenging.

This series might also be defined by the weather. There is a 60% chance of rain in Knoxville tonight, with rain in the forecast all day Friday. Things might clear up by Saturday and it is entirely possible Florida and Tennessee will be playing a doubleheader this weekend.

But if Florida wants to keep its place atop the national elite, it will find a way to power through.