The sixth-ranked Florida Gators resume midweek play with a two-game, home-and-home series against Jacksonville of the Atlantic Sun Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Florida travels to Jacksonville for a 6 p.m. road matchup on Tuesday before hosting the Dolphins at the same time on Wednesday. Although Tuesday’s matchup is not televised, Wednesday’s home game will stream on SEC Network+.
HISTORY
The Gators lead the all-time series 64-34 over the Dolphins, including a 24-19 record in away games and a 41-15 resume at home.
In the Kevin O’ Sullivan era, Florida is 19-6 against Jacksonville, holding a 4-2 record on the road and 15-4 mark at home.
The Gators moved up to No.6 in the D1Baseball top 25 on Monday, now ranking inside the top six in every major poll, peaking at No.2 in Baseball America and the NCBWA polls.
DOLPHINS BASEBALL
Jacksonville was picked to finish 8th out of 14 teams in the ASUN conference. The Dolphins hold a 5-3 record to start their 2023 campaign and are coming off a four-game sweep of Siena. Two of their three losses came against Kent State in a three-game series, while the other one came against FSU, where the Dolphins fell 11-2 to the Seminoles.
Chris Hayes’ squad is hitting .228 as a team and owns a 5.38 ERA backed by a .971 fielding percentage through eight games this season.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Tuesday
RHP Ryan Slater (1-0, 4.76 ERA) vs RHP Bryce Fisher (0-1, 21.00 ERA)
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Slater will make his first start of the 2023 season for the Gators. The right-hander has made two appearances this season, combining for 5.2 innings and allowing three runs, three hits and four walks while striking out six batters. Slater has had one really good outing, and another that wasn’t so good.
Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan flirted with the idea of placing Slater in the weekend rotation, as he had an impressive summer and fall. Sullivan said after the Cincinatti series that they need to find 1-2 more arms in the bullpen to help bridge the gap to Florida’s closer, Brandon Neely. This is a great opportunity for Slater to prove to coach Sullivan that he can be a quality arm in the Gators’ bullpen this season.
Bryce Fisher, the redshirt junior right-handed pitcher, is making his 2nd start of the 2023 season for the Dolphins. His first start was against FSU, where he pitched three innings and allowed seven earned runs and ten hits while striking out five batters.
In 2022, Fisher appeared in 20 games on the mound, all in relief. His 3.03 ERA marked the Dolphins’ second lowest ERA.
Wednesday
TBD vs RHP Richard Long (0-0, 7.36 ERA)
Florida hasn’t announced who will be starting their Wednesday home game against Jacksonville.
Richard Long, a two-way player, has appeared in two games this season for the Dolphins, completing 3.2 innings, allowing three runs, two hits and two walks while striking out three batters.
Long appeared in 11 games out of the bullpen in 2022, posting an ERA of 3.78 across 16.2 innings pitched.
The Florida Gators have 13 arms available for the two-game midweek set vs Jacksonville.
FLORIDA’S OFFENSE
Through the first two weeks, the Gators offense has established itself among the nation’s most elite. Florida ranks within the top-11 in the NCAA in the following: 102 hits (2nd), .685 slugging percentage (3rd), 23 doubles (T-3rd), .366 batting average (5th), 91 runs (5th), 20 home runs (T-5th) and a .461 on-base percentage (11th).
PITCHING / BULLPEN
All eyes should be on the pitching staff as Florida prepares for No.22 Miami this weekend. The Gators will need their bullpen to turn it around if they want to continue dominating and stay amongst the country’s best.