Florida Gators baseball hits the road to face Ole Miss

For the first time this season the No. 1 Florida Gators (19-3, 2-1 SEC) baseball team will hit the road for a weekend SEC series against the Ole Miss (11-9, 1-2 SEC) Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi.

The Gators are riding hot — winners in nine of their last 10 games — but are bringing a very young team on the road in conference play for the very first time. How will freshmen like JJ Schwarz, Mike Rivera, Dalton Guthrie and Jeremy Vasquez handle a hostile environment playing ball in the SEC West — where fans are as diehard about college baseball as they come?

After dropping their SEC season opener a week ago to Tennessee, Florida bounced back to win the next two against the Volunteers before ending their 10-game home stand with a dominant win over instate rival Florida State.

Ole Miss comes in after a series against LSU. The Rebels lost on Friday before evening the series on Saturday, only to get blown out on Sunday. Ole Miss then narrowly beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 7-6 on Wednesday night. Ole Miss needed three runs in the ninth inning for the comeback win.

Weekend Rotation:

Friday: RHP Logan Shore (3-1, 1.78 ERA) vs. LHP Christian Trent (3-1, 3.45 ERA)

Shore had a rough outing against Tennessee last Friday. The sophomore did last six innings, striking out four, but gave up three home runs in the first inning and a fourth in the third. Shore took his first loss of the season but will look to bounce back against an Ole Miss team that is hitting just .250 as a team coming into the weekend series.

Trent won the first 12 games of his career at Ole Miss — a school record. Trent lost his first career game last Friday against LSU and will — like Shore — look to get back to his winning ways on Friday against the Gators.

Saturday: LHP A.J. Puk (4-1, 3.70 ERA) vs. RHP Brady Bramlett (2-1, 1.55 ERA)

Puk was able to right the ship against Tennessee following Florida’s loss on Friday. Puk picked up the win after five innings of work, struck out a career-high eight batters, giving up two runs.

Bramlett — much like Puk — helped his team bounce back after a Friday loss. Bramlett threw a career-high seven innings without allowing an earned run on the road at LSU. Bramlett has missed the 2013 and 2014 seasons due to injury but has looked sharp so far this season.

SUNDAY: Neither team released a projected starter for Sunday.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC