No.4 Florida has turned the page to North Florida after suffering a 9-5 loss to St. John’s in their lone game of the scheduled three game series. Following Friday night’s loss, games two and three of the weekend series were canceled due to weather conditions in Gainesville.
“We will just have to put this outing behind us, you know we are not used to losing opening nights, but like I said, congratulations to St. John’s for paying better than we did tonight,” Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan said following Florida’s opening day loss.
After going 0-1 on opening weekend, Florida dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in the D1Baseball Top 25. The Gators are a consensus top-six team, sitting at No. 5 per Baseball America and No. 6 at Perfect Game.
The Gators travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for a 6 p.m. Tuesday tilt on ESPN+ before hosting the Ospreys at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. with coverage on SEC Network+.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Tuesday: RHP Liam Peterson (DNP) vs. LHP Tony Roca (1-4, 7.96 ERA)
Wednesday: TBD vs TBD
Florida will start freshman phenom Liam Peterson on Tuesday, who is set to make his Gators’ debut against North Florida. The 6’5 right hander was scheduled to start during Saturday’s opening weekend contest but did not make an appearance due to the game cancelation.
Peterson came in as the No.34 ranked player nationally and the No.3 ranked RHP in the state of Florida, according to Perfect Game. The flame throwing freshman has dominated Florida’s preseason intrasquad scrimmages, displaying good command with all four of his pitches, a mid to high 90’s fastball, and excellent movement on breaking balls.
“He looks the part,” O’Sullivan said on Peterson preseason. “He’s 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, he’s got a really good arm, he commands the ball, he’s got a really good curveball and slider, he’s got feel for a changeup. He’s another one. He’s extremely competitive, too. He’s a little bit advanced.”
“Liam Peterson came in with a lot of hype, so to speak,” O’Sullivan added. “He’s certainly lived up to the bill, obviously it’s a little different now that the season has started. Hopefully he can continue to do what he’s been doing in intrasquad games.”
I expect Peterson to be on a strict pitch count on Tuesday night so he remains in his Saturday weekend role.
“We are going to see how he handles this as the season goes on,” O’Sullivan said on Peterson’s workload this season. “Liam’s physically more advanced than most freshman at this stage.”
UNF enters the two-game midweek slate with a 1-1 record after splitting their home series with Delaware during opening weekend.