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Familiar foe will stand across from Florida Baseball with season on the line

The Gators will take on the Kentucky Wildcats at 7 PM with the season on the line for both teams

By Benjamin Henderson

Jun 17, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; The Florida Gators celebrate the win against the NC State Wolfpack at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 17, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; The Florida Gators celebrate the win against the NC State Wolfpack at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
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Life comes at you fast at the College World Series and after knocking off NC State to keep their season alive, Florida Baseball will have no time to rest as the Gators will be right back at it tonight with their season on the line once again.

For better or for worse, the squad Florida will face tonight is one they saw not too long ago.

Florida Baseball: Who Are We? The Wildcats!

After losing last night to Texas A&M, the Kentucky Wildcats have been sent to the loser's bracket to face the Gators tonight in an eliminination game. The winner of tonight's contest will then need to beat Texas A&M twice in order to advance to the championship series.

Despite being the number two national seed in the country with a record of 46-15, Kentucky is also a bit of an underdog story. This is their first appearance ever in the College World Series, and this was only the third time in program history they had even made it to the Super Regional round.

Florida and Kentucky faced off in the second to last series of the regular season. Kentucky won the series two games to one, but Florida had their chances to pull off a sweep and gave them away. In game one of the series, Florida had a two run lead in the 9th with two outs before Luke McNeillie gave up two walks followed by a three-run home run. Even though Florida tied it in the bottom of the 9th and scored two runs in the bottom of the 10th, the Gators fell after Cade Fisher gave up three runs in the top of the 10th.

The third game of the series payed out in a somewhat similar manner. Tyler Shelnut hit a game tying home run in the bottom of the 9th, only for Brandon Neely to surrender four runs in the top of the 10th.

Florida will be throwing Pierce Coppola as their starting pitcher today, but expect the bullpen for the Gators to once again be in overdrive unless Coppola pulls a rabbit out of the hat. Since making his debut midway through the season after missing last year due to injury, Coppola has yet to go more than 4.1 innings in any of his seven starts this season.

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