Florida Baseball Opens Season

It’s a beautiful 73 degrees in Gainesville. Partly cloudy, the sun breaking through the cracks to illuminate the University of Florida and its students. Perfect baseball weather.

Swinging Right Back

The Gators have had a long time to think about the end of last season, eight months in fact. While the team suffered heartbreaking losses to USF and South Alabama to end the 2021 season, they will not let these games define them. Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is keen on bouncing back.

Florida has built up an impressive team so far, with standouts Junior Jud Fabian and Sophomore Hunter Barco being named to the preseason All American First Team. Though this team has phenomenal standout players, they shine as a team. The preseason Coaches Poll predicts Florida to place third in the SEC, only behind Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

Dream Team

O’Sullivan has not backed away from the challenge of creating a powerful team, and it seems he may have succeeded. The team brought in a remarkable freshman class, led by eight D1Baseball Top-50 Impact Players, giving Florida the number one recruiting class in the country.

While the team has promising new blood, The Gators were also able to return six starters from last season, most notably Fabian and Barco. Kris Armstrong, Kendrick Calilao, Josh Rivera and Sterlin Thompson return to the field as well, combining for a 0.279 batting average.

Defensively, the team is focused on the strength of their center, and with Jud Fabian at Center Field and Josh Rivera at Shortstop, The Gators seem prepared for whatever is hit their way.

It All Starts Today

This team has put in the work over the offseason, and now they have the chance to reap the benefits. Opening day sees Florida host the Liberty University Flames.  Starting the night off strong, new head football coach Billy Napier will open the season with the first pitch.

Billy Napier is throwing out the first pitch to officially open #Gators baseball season on Friday night.

— InAllKindsOfWeather.com (@AllKindsWeather) February 15, 2022

The Gators projected starting lineup is as follows:

C 9 Mac Guscette

1B 6 Kendrick Calilao

2B 5 Colby Halter

3B 23 Deric Fabian

SS 24 Josh Rivera

LF 36 Wyatt Langford

CF 4 Jud Fabian

RF 29 Sterlin Thompson

DH 34 Kris Armstrong

Pitching:

LHP 12 Hunter Barco

LHP 44 Timmy Manning

LHP 18 Pierce Coppola

This will be the first matchup between the Gators and the Flames since 1981, with Florida taking a convincing 11-6 win. The hometown team has won eight straight home openers, and are looking to bring that number up to nine. In all openers, Florida is 13-1 under Kevin O’Sullivan, who is entering his 15th season in Gainesville.

O’Sullivan is ready for the matchup, but refuses to take them for granted, being focused on Liberty’s outstanding pitching and mature approach to the game.

Florida will begin the season ranked No. 9, hoping to pull out another National Championship season. Until tonight, however, all we can do is wait and see what the Gators will bring to the plate.

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Florida opens their season at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18th at Florida Ballpark.