Preview: Florida Baseball Travels to USF For Mid-Week Matchup

The No. 5 Florida Gators baseball team is off to a white-hot start after an opening weekend sweep of the Long Beach Dirtbags. They’ll look to carry that momentum into Tuesday night when they travel to Tampa to play against the USF Bulls.

Did your favorite play from opening weekend make the cut for our #GatorsTopPlays? pic.twitter.com/o6cFTKQDBS

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 18, 2019

Hunter McMullen to Start

Sophomore right-hander Hunter McMullen is starting for the Gators on Tuesday. McMullen appeared in 17 games with two starts on the mound in his first year. He posted a 4.76 earned run average over 22.2 innings and recorded 17 strikeouts.

The Gators

As the road to Omaha has begun, Florida has been ranked fifth overall of D1 Baseball’s Top-25. This past weekend, the Gators swept Long Beach State to move 3-0 in the season.

Through the first three games of the season, the Gators bullpen has totaled 10.2 scoreless innings with allowing just five hits.

Whereas, six newcomers have made appearances including early enrollee right-hander Nolan Crisp who picked up the first two saves of his career.

Also, junior outfielder Wil Dalton is 2 fo 11 with 3 RBIs and has scored 2 runs to start the season.

Lastly, freshman Cory Acton is likely to replace senior captain Blake Reese after injuring his left shoulder during Sunday’s game.

The Bulls

The Bulls, 2-1, are preparing to take on Florida. Over the weekend USF took on Samford in a Sunday rubber match after dropping the second game on Saturday night.

Sophomore right-hander Baron Stuart is set to take the mound for the Bulls. Stuart appeared in 12 games and made 10 starts in his first season as a Bull. He went 2-2 with a 4.93 earned run average and 27 strikeouts.

For one thing, in the first 3 games, USF is batting .263 on the season as Nick Gonzalez is batting 7 for 14 through the first 3 games with a home run and has had 3 runs.

Series History

Going into Tuesday’s matchup, Florida is 18-2 against USF under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan as UF leads the all-time series 61-25.

In 2018, the Gators overcame a six-run deficit to beat USF, 11-8 in the only meeting between the two teams.

In the last three meetings between the Gators and the Bulls, Florida has had 26 runs, 33 hits, and .470 slugging percentage.

Whereas, USF has had 24 runs, 34 hits, and .397 slugging percentage since the start of 2017 as both teams have split the last two regular-season contests and competed in a 12-inning classic at the Gainesville Regional two years ago.

ESPN 98.1 FM & 850 AM WRUF will have coverage of the game beginning at 6:25 p.m.