Gators set to begin regionals
Postseason play is upon us and with the Gator baseball team set to host a regional in the NCAA tournament this weekend, a lot will be happening this weekend.
Florida is the tournaments number one overall seed after finishing the regular season with a 42-17 record.
The Gainesville regional includes Jacksonville University, Florida Atlantic University and Columbia. The Dolphins are the two seed in the region, the Owls are the three seed and the Lions are the fourth seed.
The Gators open play Friday at noon against Columbia. Tommy Mace will make the start on the mound for Florida. Mace on the year posts a 4-0 record with a 4.44 ERA. Mace has pitched well each of the last two weeks against Mississippi State and LSU, allowing a combined two earned runs in 13.1 innings while recording nine strikeouts.
Should Florida win its opener, it would then face the winner of the JU-FAU game on Saturday night. A loss would mean the Gators would face the loser of that contest Saturday afternoon.
The Gators have played both Jacksonville and Florida Atlantic this season combining to go 3-1 against them.
Florida defeated FAU 6-1 on February 20. Jack Leftwich started the game going 4.1 innings and only allowing a run. Wil Dalton went 2-2 with three RBI’s and Jonathan India had a homerun.
Jacksonville gave the Gators some problems this season as the team split the season series with the Dolphins.
In the first matchup on March 21, the Gator easily defeated Jacksonville 10-3. Deacon Liput had a four hit night while Blake Reese drove in two runs.
The Dolphins got even on April 17 when they took game two 8-4. John Cassala drove in four runs for Jacksonville while Evan Fernandez and Cory Garrastazu each had homeruns.
Florida can play a minimum of three games this weekend and a maximum of five.
If Florida makes it out of the region, the team would then host a Super Regional the following weekend. The Gainesville region is paired with the Raleigh region that is being hosted by N.C. State. That region also includes Auburn, who the Gators took a series from in late April, Northeastern and Army.