Florida baseball wrapping up regular season with must-win series at Georgia (2024)

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With Evans out of the lineup, Hayden Yost is shifting to right field, Tyler Shelnut is moving back to a full-time outfield role in left and Dale Thomas is once again the everyday third baseman.

David Rosenberg/Gators Wire

Pierce Coppola continues to improve with every start but the next step is letting him go longer in games. He should get to go about 70 pitches this time around after ramping up over the past few weeks. Against Kentucky, he threw 64 pitches and allowed just one unearned run.

Kolten Smith is a starter-reliever hybrid who is ranked third in the conference in strikeouts during SEC play. He features a fastball that runs up to 95 mph which he mixes with a changeup that’s good against batters on both sides of the plate. His slider can sometimes miss, but no one touches it when he lets it go right, according to D1Baseball’s Joe Healy.

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Liam Peterson is coming off his first quality start as a Gator and the goal is to repeat that performance against another top-10 opponent, and arguably the best hitter in the country. The biggest change for Peterson is that he’s learned to limit home runs. After giving up 12 homers in his first seven appearances, Peterson has allowed just one in his last six.

Leighton Finley has been consistent all season, and his 5.11 earned run average against SEC teams isn’t so bad considering he’s the only constant in the weekend rotation for Georgia. Finley’s at his best when his slider is working. The action on it is tighter than other sweeper-style sliders you might see, but that allows him to control the pitch better. His fastball comes in comfortably between 92-95 mph, and a mid-80s changeup can keep him going deep into games.

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It’s nice that Florida has Jac Caglianone to rely on to close out the season, but Florida could blow the series before he even gets on the mound. We know what to expect with Caglianone. A mid-to-high-90s fastball, a big sweeping slider and a changeup that fools batters on both sides. As long as Florida scores a few runs, Saturday should be a win.

Georgia hasn’t announced a starter for Saturday’s game, giving Florida even more of the upper hand.

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All eyes will be on Jac Caglianone and Charlie Condon (.454/.567/1.082, 34 HR) this weekend as the two best hitters in baseball square off. Condon has already broken Caglianone’s modern-era record of 33 home runs in a season. It would only be fitting for him to extend that record off Cags, right?

There’s also Corey Collins to worry about. The senior first baseman is batting .367 with a 1.398 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. His 16 home runs don’t seem like much next to Caglianone and Condon, but Collins has the second-most pop in the lineup.

THURSDAY (6 p.m. ET)

• Watch: SEC Network+
• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF
• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

FRIDAY (1 p.m. ET)

• Watch: SEC Network+
• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF
• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

SATURDAY (2 p.m. ET)

• Watch: SEC Network+
• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF
• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Game 1: Florida 9, Georgia 8

Game 2: Florida 7, Georgia 3

Game 3: Florida 5, Georgia 1

There is very little evidence to support a Florida sweep here, but it’s not out of the question if the Gators play to their full potential. Putting it all together is not exactly what the 2024 Florida baseball team does, but it’s never a bad time to kick poor habits. Florida needs two here to stay alive, but three gives the team some momentum heading into Hoover.

Prediction: Florida sweeps and gets stronger with each game.

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