Long road trip begins at Rocky Top

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The baseball season becomes a long and winding road for Nos. 8 (Baseball America), 9 (USA Today/ESPN coaches), 10 (National College Baseball Writers Association) and 13 (Collegiate Baseball) Florida which begins an eight-game road swing at Southeastern Conference Eastern Division foe Tennessee Friday night. The Gators will be seeking their first series win at Lindsey Nelson Stadium since 2002.

This will begin the longest stretch away from Gainesville for the Gators since an eight-game journey between March 26 and April 7, 1985. Following the series, the Gators have a Tuesday visit to Florida State and then next weekend play a three-game series at Kentucky. The road trip ends with a April 21 game at South Florida.

Sophomore left-hander Alex Panteliodis (5-1, 1.93 ERA) will start Friday’s opener at 7 p.m. for the Gators (21-7, 6-3 SEC East) against the Volunteers (15-15, 2-7 SEC East) who will throw junior left-hander Bryan Morgado (2-3, 5.06 ERA). Panteliodis limited No. 17 Vanderbilt to one run on seven hits and had six strikeouts in 6.1 innings last Friday night but did not receive a decision in the 3-2 victory. Over a team-high 37.1 innings, the southpaw from Tampa has 34 strikeouts and issued seven walks while limiting opponents to a .211 batting average.

Freshman left-hander Brian Johnson (3-1, 3.09 ERA) will oppose Tennessee senior right-hander Stephen McCray (3-3, 2.08 ERA) Saturday at 4 p.m. in a game to be televised live on FOX Sports Florida. Johnson kept the Commodores off the scoreboard for the first 5.2 innings in game two of the series to improve to 2-0 in SEC action. In seven appearances, including six starts, Johnson has 20 strikeouts and issued just five walks in 32.0 innings. Johnson boasts a team-leading 1.04 ERA in his three league starts against Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

In the Sunday finale at 12:30 p.m. that will be televised on CSS, the Gators will send freshman right-hander Hudson Randall (2-3, 4.68 ERA) to the mound to face freshman left-hander Steve Gruver (1-1, 5.27 ERA). Randall will be making his seventh straight (and his 10th overall appearance) and has a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

Eastern Division Conference Overall

(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.


(17) South Carolina 7-2 .778 23-6 .793

(9) Florida 6-3 .667 21-7 .750

(19) Vanderbilt 5-4 .556 25-6 .806

Kentucky 2-7 .222 19-11 .633

Tennessee 2-7 .222 15-15 .500

Georgia 2-7 .222 10-19 .345

Western Division Conference Overall

(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.


(4) Louisiana State 7-2 .778 25-4 .862

(10) Arkansas 6-3 .667 23-6 .793

(18) Mississippi 5-4 .556 21-9 .700

Auburn 5-4 .556 20-10 .667

(25) Alabama 4-5 .444 20-9 .690

Mississippi State 3-6 .333 16-13 .552

(Rnk) Ranking is the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY / April 9


Alabama (So. LHP Adam Morgan 4-0, 3.60 ERA) at Kentucky (Jr. LHP Logan Darnell 3-2, 4.50 ERA), 6:30 p.m.

Florida (So. LHP Alex Panteliodis 5-1, 1.93 ERA) at Tennessee (Jr. LHP Bryan Morgado 2-3, 5.06 ERA), 7 p.m.

South Carolina (Sr. RHP Blake Cooper 5-0, 3.11 ERA) at Vanderbilt (So. RHP Sonny Gray 4-3, 2.33 ERA), 7 p.m.

Arkansas (So. LHP Drew Smyly 3-0, 1.60 ERA) at Mississippi State (So. RHP Caleb Reed 0-2, 4.20 ERA), 7:30 p.m.

Louisiana State (Jr. RHP Anthony Ranaudo 0-0, 0.90 ERA) at Auburn (Jr. LHP Cole Nelson 4-1, 3.29 ERA), 7:30 p.m. (CSS)

Mississippi (Jr. LHP Drew Pomeranz 5-0, 1.65 ERA) at Georgia (Jr. RHP Justin Grimm 2-3, 4.46 ERA), 8 p.m. (ESPNU)

SATURDAY / April 10

Arkansas (Jr. RHP Brett Eibner 2-2, 4.05 ERA) at Mississippi State (Fr. RHP Chris Stratton 3-3, 3.75 ERA), 3 p.m.

South Carolina (Jr. RHP Sam Dyson 2-1, 4.79 ERA) at Vanderbilt (So. RHP Jack Armstrong 4-0, 4.93 ERA), 3 p.m.

Louisiana State (So. LHP Chris Matulis 5-0, 2.57 ERA) at Auburn (TBA), 3 p.m. (SUN)

Florida (Fr. LHP Brian Johnson 3-1, 3.09 ERA) at Tennessee (Sr. RHP Stephen McCray 3-3, 2.08 ERA), 4 p.m. (Fox Sports Florida)

Mississippi (Sr. RHP Aaron Barrett 6-1, 2.22 ERA) at Georgia (Sr. RHP Jeff Walters 1-2, 8.62 ERA), 4 p.m.

Alabama (Jr. RHP Jimmy Nelson 4-0, 2.52 ERA) at Kentucky (Fr. LHP Taylor Rogers 3-3, 5.31 ERA), 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY / April 11

Florida (Fr. RHP Hudson Randall 2-3, 4.68 ERA) at Tennessee (So. LHP Steven Gruver 1-1, 5.27 ERA), 12:30 p.m. (CSS)

Alabama (TBA) at Kentucky (So. RHP Alex Meyer 4-2, 7.64 ERA), 1 p.m.

Louisiana State (So. RHP Joey Bourgeois 3-1, 5.50 ERA) at Auburn (Jr. LHP Grant Dayton 4-1, 4.86 ERA), 2 p.m.

Mississippi (TBA) at Georgia (So. RHP Michael Palazzone 3-3, 8.24 ERA), 2 p.m.

South Carolina (TBA) at Vanderbilt (Jr. RHP Taylor Hill 3-2, 3.95 ERA), 2 p.m.

Arkansas (TBA) at Mississippi State (TBA), 2:30 p.m.

POLLS

April 5, 2010

USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES


1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. UCLA (23-1); 4. Louisiana State (23-4); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. Florida State (21-6); 9. Florida (20-7); 10. Arkansas (22-6); 11. Clemson (20-8); 12. Texas Christian (20-6); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Miama, Fla. (20-7); 15. Oregon State (18-6); 16. Oklahoma (22-6); 17. South Carolina (22-6); 18. Mississippi (21-8); 19. Vanderbilt (24-6); 20. Kansas State (21-5); 21. UC Irvine (17-8); 22. Arizona (20-8); 23. Texas A&M (18-8-1); 24. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 25. Alabama (19-8).

BASEBALL AMERICA

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. UCLA (23-1); 4. Virginia (23-6); 5. Louisiana State (23-4); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Florida State (21-6); 8. Florida (20-7); 9. Louisville (24-3); 10. Arkansas (22-6); 11. South Carolina (22-6); 12. Texas Christian (20-6); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 15. Mississippi (21-8); 16. Clemson (20-8); 17. Oregon State (18-6); 18. UC Irvine (17-8); 19. Oklahoma (22-6); 20. Vanderbilt (24-6); 21. Western Kentucky (22-7); 22. Stanford (13-9); 23. Texas A&M (18-8); 24. Alabama (19-8); 25. Virginia Tech (20-10).

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. UCLA (23-1); 3. Georgia Tech (25-3); 4. Louisiana State (23-4); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. South Carolina (22-6); 9. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 10. Oregon State (18-6); 11. Florida State (21-6); 12. Oklahoma (22-6); 13. Florida (20-7); 14. Coastal Carolina (23-6); 15. Clemson (20-8); 16. Arkansas (22-6); 17. Mississippi (21-8); 18. Texas Christian (20-6); 19. UC Irvine (17-8); 20. New Mexico State (22-10); 21. Kansas State (21-5); 22. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 23. Vanderbilt (24-6); 24. Western Kentucky (22-7); 25. Rice (17-12); 26. Cal State Fullerton (15-11); 27. Charlotte (19-6); 28. North Carolina State (18-10); 29. Virginia Military Institute (23-5); 30. California (16-10).

NATIONAL COLLEGE BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION

1. Arizona State (25-1); 2. Georgia Tech (25-3); 3. Louisiana State (23-4); 4. UCLA (23-1); 5. Virginia (23-6); 6. Texas (21-7); 7. Louisville (24-3); 8. Florida State (21-6); 9. Arkansas (22-6); 10. Florida (20-7); 11. Texas Christian (20-6); 12. Miami, Fla. (20-7); 13. Coastal Carolina (23-5); 14. Clemson (20-8); 15. Oregon State (18-6); 16. South Carolina (22-6); 17. Oklahoma (22-6); 18. Mississippi (21-8); 19. Vanderbilt (24-6); 20. North Carolina (20-10); 21. UC Irvine (17-8); 22. Southeastern Louisiana (24-5); 23. Arizona (20-8); 24. Western Kentucky (22-7); 25. Alabama (19-8); 26. College of Charleston (23-7); 27. East Carolina (18-11); 28. Stanford (13-9); 29. Rice (17-12); 30. Kansas State (21-5).