Gators Looking to Continue Dominance over Florida State in Super Regional

The Florida Gators are looking to stay unbeaten against Florida State this season as NCAA Baseball Super Regional play approaches.

This is the second year in a row that the Gators will face the Seminoles in the Super Regionals. The Gators swept the series last year, winning 13-5 in Game 1 and 11-4 Game 2.

FLORIDA IS ON TO SUPER REGIONALS!

It's trip #8 to Supers for the Gators. #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/xQFK9URHpi

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 6, 2016

Florida is 3-0 on the season against FSU. Their last match up was in Tallahassee on April 12, with the Gators winning 8-2.

Florida State although has been on a hot streak in the postseason. After dropping six of their final eight games in the regular season, the Noles have won six of their last seven games.

This success has been due in large part to their bats. Florida State outscored their regional play opponents 43-14 in three games.

However, the story of the season for the Gators has been phenomenal pitching and almost error-less defense. Coming into the Super Regional, the Gators lead the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (9.8) and rank second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.11).  To go along with the lights-out pitching, comes the SEC-leading .982 fielding percentage.

As of Thursday, Coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced the projected starters for the weekend. Sophomore Alex Faedo will be on the hill for Game 1 on Saturday night and junior Logan Shore will get the start for Game 2 on Sunday.

Shore started Game 1 of Super Regional play last year, going 5 2/3 innings with four hits and no earned runs.

With a 10-1 win over Georgia Tech last Sunday, Florida reached 50 wins prior to Super Regional action for the first time in program history.

The Gators also got a jolt in their bats during regional play with the return of first baseman Peter Alonso. Alonso suffered a small fracture in his hand after getting hit by a pitch against Vanderbilt on May 13.

The break didn’t seem to affect Alonso. He hit .571 (8-14) with three home runs and eight RBI’s in regional play.

https://twitter.com/NCAACWS/status/741019597894090752

The Gators will also look to their young bats to stay hot.

Freshmen Jonathan India and Danny Reyes lit up pitchers during regional play. Reyes and India were both instrumental in the Gators 6-5 win over UConn. Reyes tied the game in the third inning with a solo home run . India went 3-for-4, which included a game-winning home run in the eighth inning.

The Gators are looking to keep on rolling and advance to their sixth College World Series since 2000.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. in Gainesville and you can hear all the action on ESPN Gainesville 95.3 FM.