Florida Baseball Is Home For Crucial SEC Series Against No. 5 Arkansas

The Florida baseball team faces the No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks in a three-game SEC series starting Friday at Condron Family Ballpark.

See you Friday night ⚡#GoGators pic.twitter.com/mW2XEqdxra

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 23, 2025

A series sweep would put the Gators (28-15, 6-12 SEC) in the lead of the all-time record against Arkansas (36-7, 13-5), which leads at 38-36. However at home, the Gators have a 20-13 record. Under Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan, the Gators have an 18-24 overall record and 10-8 in Gainesville vs. the Hogs.

Batters Making Moves

The Gators have won eight of their last nine games, and a key aspect to their success is the offense. Against visiting Georgia Southern on Tuesday, the Gators executed 12 hits to score 12 runs in the 12-1 win in seven innings for their 10th run-rule win of the season. Luke Heyman has constantly showed up for the Gators, and against the Eagles, he cranked a walk-off grand slam.

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/1914845298171539766

Other top hitters like Brendan Lawson, Colby Shelton and Bobby Boser will have to continue with their explosive blasts to keep up with the Razorbacks, who lead the SEC in batting average at .329.

Arkansas is coming off two midweek, shutout wins against Little Rock. Scoring a combined 14 runs, the Razorbacks also have momentum heading into the series.

Crucial Series

At the very least, Florida needs to win two of the three games this weekend, win the series at South Carolina the following week, take one at Texas on May 9-11 and win the home series to close the regular season against Alabama. And, of course, beat USF at home May 6. Those projected league wins would put the Gators at 13 SEC wins before the 16-team, single-elimination league tournament in Hoover, Ala., May 20-25. And, with the USF win, would put UF at 36 overall regular-season wins. Plenty to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The field of 64 teams that will compete for the NCAA championship will be announced at noon ET on Monday, May 26 on ESPN2 or ESPNU. UF can pad the resume with wins in the SEC tourney at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Are the Gators capable of that kind of run? They enter the weekend having won eight of their last nine games overall and 5-1 in their last six SEC contests. During the nine-game turnaround, Florida has four comeback victories and outscored opponents 82-38, which equates to a margin of victory of 4.9 runs per game. The stretch has improved Florida’s postseason positioning with a RPI of 23 and No. 7 strength of schedule. So, yeah, capable indeed.

It all begins this weekend at Condron Ballpark, where the Gators have won six straight and are 22-7 this season.

UF will go with ace right-handed pitcher Liam Peterson (6-2, 3.74 ERA) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, while lefty Zach Root (5-2, 4.19) is set to start for Arkansas. Coverage of the series opener will be on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM.

RHP Aidan King (4-1, 3.63) will take the mound Saturday at 3 p.m. for the Gators and Sunday’s starting pitcher is still to be determined. RHP Gage Wood (0-0, 6.14) will be the Razorbacks’ starter on Saturday and LHP Landon Beidelschies (4-0, 4.06) will start Sunday. 

Saturday’s game will air on the SEC Network and Sunday’s will be live on SEC Network+. As always, the games will also be aired on ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM.