Florida infielder Colby Shelton (10) celebrates with infielder Cade Kurland (4) and other teammates after his home run as the Florida Gators face the Air Force Falcons on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla. (Matthew Lewis/WRUF)

Gators Baseball Roundtable: Postseason Predictions

Hunter DeLauder February 17, 2025 College Baseball, College World Series, Gators Baseball, SEC 133 Views

With the 2025 college baseball season getting started Friday, ESPN WRUF’s Gators baseball beat reporters decided to make some postseason predictions.

This article will provide all three beat writers’ College World Series picks, SEC and national champion selections.

SEC Champion

Hunter DeLauder-LSU

The LSU Tigers are, and will be, one of the best teams all season long. They come into this year littered with talent on the offensive and defensive ends. Offensively, the lineup will have the perfect combination of balance and power.

Power hitting first baseman Jared Jones has one of the strongest bats in the country and the numbers back it up. Jones hit 28 homers last season along with 61 RBIs. Steven Milam had one heck of a freshman year. Milam’s late-season heroics in the SEC and NCAA tournaments are a huge reason there is plenty of optimism that the second-year infielder will have another big season.

Defensively, this will be a supremely talented outfield, headlined by potential SEC Freshman of the Year Derek Curiel. Alongside him will be sophomore Jake Brown and Auburn transfer Chris Stanfield.

The only question mark with LSU will be the pitching staff. Most of the returning guys on this staff will be making the transition from bullpen to starters such as LHP Kade Anderson.

Anderson is the projected ace for this team but will he be able to handle that? Transfers RHP Anthony Eyanson and LHP Conner Ware have electric stuff. But will they be able to perform at the kind of level needed to have success in the SEC?

Brooke Park-Texas A&M

The Aggies came up just short of winning the National Championship last season.

Following the season’s end, then-coach Jim Schlossnagle shocked everyone by leaving the Aggies and heading to rival Texas. But with that being said, Texas A&M is a motivated team not only looking to prove Schlossnagle wrong but also avenge their national championship loss.

Texas A&M has a very impressive roster this year. Junior outfielder Jace Laviolette returns, which will benefit the team as he is the No. 1 2025 Collegiate Prospect. Laviolette, plus sophomore Gavin Grahovac, Kaeden Kent, Justin Lamkin and others will be fierce competition for other teams to deal with.

The new coach, Michael Earley, cooked in the transfer portal, snagging Myles Patton, Wyatt Henseler and Gavin Kash who were all ranked among the top 25 of Baseball America’s Transfer Portal. Overall, the team is stacked and the ability to play strong offense and defense will take the Aggies all the way, winning the SEC championship.

Jacob Fedora-Texas A&M

After coming off a heartbreaking loss in the 2024 College World Series Championship Series, Texas A&M is returning the No.1 rated player in College baseball in Jace LaViolette. Pair him with other sluggers on the team such as Gavin Grahovac who hit 23 homers and 66 RBIs during his rookie campaign, while also getting on base early 40% of his at-bats.

Aggies ace Ryan Prager is back and ready for another lights-out year. Prager finished the 2024 season with a 9-1 record, a 2.95 ERA, and 124 strikeouts across 97.2 innings while also holding opponents to a .226 batting average. The Aggies have the roster to do big things this season.

College World Series Picks

Hunter DeLauder

Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Florida, East Carolina, Virginia, Clemson, Dallas Baptist

Brooke Park

Florida, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida State, LSU, Virginia, Mississippi State

Jacob Fedora

Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M, Oregon St, TCU, Virginia, Wake Forest

National Champion Picks

Hunter DeLauder-Virginia

The Virginia Cavaliers have established themselves as one of those teams that always finds themselves in Omaha competing for a national championship at the end of the year. In the last two seasons, the Cavaliers have punched their ticket to the College World Series, but both were early exits. But something about this year’s team feels different.

This already was one of the best offensive teams last season, and this year’s team may be even better. Even with a few key players moving on, Virginia will be hard to stop once again. When it comes to the 2025 team, there are little to no weaknesses in this lineup.

Redshirt senior catcher Jacob Ference is back for his final year and looking to repeat his 2024 season. Ference hit .350 with 17 home runs and 43 RBIs.

Centerfielder Harrison Didawick is a star in the making. Didawick blasted 23 home runs last season with 68 RBIs and stole 14 bases. His ability at the plate and controlling the skies in the outfield make him a Golden Spikes Award candidate.

The pitching staff for Virginia this year might be what finally gets them over the hump. Head coach Brian O’Connor believes this is the best staff he’s had at UVA in a very long time.

LHP Evan Blanco and RHP Jay Woolfolk are a deadly 1-2 combination at the top of the rotation. This will work well with a bullpen that has plenty of depth to it, which is something that lacked the last two Omaha runs.

Brooke Parke-Tennessee

The Tennessee Volunteers will be back-to-back National Champions.

Although the Volunteers lost eight players to the MLB draft, key players returning include Dean Curley, Hunter Ensley and RHP Nate Snead. All of those guys played a huge role during their championship run last season. The pitching will be tested this season after losing so many talented arms from that 2024 team.

But Snead and transfer LHP Liam Doyle should be able to take control of the top of the rotation, which will help out. If the pitching can get figured out, then it could be the reason why Tennessee goes all the way and keeps its title.

Also, coach Tony Vitello secured a seventh-ranked transfer portal class, which will help make up for the players lost in the draft. Highlighting that portal class is transfer third baseman Andrew Fischer. Fischer has legit power and is going to put some numbers up for the orange and white this year.

If Tennessee wins, they would be the first team to win consecutive titles since South Carolina in 2010-2011.

Jacob Fedora-Florida

Florida has built on their freshman pitching from last year with now sophomore pitchers Liam Peterson, Luke McNeillie, Jake Clemente and Alex Philpott. Although pitching last year was not up to the standard that coach Kevin O’Sullivan would have hoped for, it was a year where he could get a lot of his young freshmen the experience of pitching at higher levels.

Now with last year behind them and an entire off-season of growing, the Gators have one of the deepest rotations and bullpens in the country.

On top of pitching, they also have returning veteran experience. Half of which was banged up last season in Ty Evans (broken wrist in game 49/50), Colby Shelton (drafted in 2024, chose to return), Cade Kurland (broken finger, could barely hold a bat at times), Brody Donay and Luke Heyman.

They also added star transfers in Blake Cyr (CF from Miami), Billy Barlow (RHP from Clemson), Bobby Boser (3B/LF from USF), and Freshman Brendan Lawson (1B/3B, #1 rated Canadian Prospect.)

Florida is a team that has the depth in both the bullpen and the bats, as well as young talent and veteran experience which will prepare them for a huge run in Omaha.

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