Series Preview: Gators baseball travels to Missouri for weekend series

Florida baseball has a chance to get back above .500 in conference play this weekend with a three-game series in Columbia against the Missouri Tigers. UF needs a sweep to get it done and history is in the team’s favor after winning 15-straight against Mizzou.

Hunter Barco has been shut down for the year, but the duo of Brandon Sproat and Brandon Neely has served the Gators well in his absence. Both are better at keeping opponents subdued than their respective counterparts on the Tigers, so the games could get fairly lopsided if the numbers prove true.

Offensively, Florida seems to be hitting its stride after shaking up the top of the order against Kentucky. The top of the order now goes Wyatt Langford, Sterlin Thompson, Jud Fabian and BT Riopelle. Fabian is the only one who is in the same spot as he was when he started the season, and the other two are hitting over .350 since the switch. The trio of Fabian, Langford and Riopelle also leads the nation with a combined 49 homers.

The bullpen has also seen some improvement in recent weeks with the additions of guys like Fisher Jameson to mainstays like Ryan Slater and Phillip Abner who have got it done all season.

Florida could be peaking at the right time, but they’ll need to take this series convincingly to get to where they want to be with only one more weekend left in the regular season.

Projected Starting Lineup

Probable Starters: Friday (7 p.m. EDT)

NOTES: Brandon Sproat has been dealing lately with a 2.60 ERA in his last three starts against No. 1 Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi State. He’s grown into the Friday slot quite nicely in [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag]’s absence and should be able to have another strong outing against Mizzou.

Neubeck was ranked the No. 2 lefty coming out of high school by Perfect Game last year and has settled into the top spot of the rotation for Missouri after coming out of the bullpen and being the Saturday starter for a bit. He’s still prone to a bad inning or two and Mississippi State knocked him out of the game after just four innings and seven runs. Florida could set the tone for the weekend early against this guy.

Probable Starters: Saturday (3 p.m. EDT)

NOTES: [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag] continues to impress as the Saturday starter and has a solid ERA to back things up. He’s led the team in ERA and WHIP since joining the starting rotation, and he should be a staple next year as well. Opponents are hitting just .184 against him over 44 1/3 innings this season.

Miles was in the No. 1 spot at one point this year, but he’s taken a step back after putting up less than stellar numbers. He’s given up five or more runs in each of his last four starts, so that should give Florida the confidence to come up to the plate even more aggressive than usual.

Probable Starters: Sunday (2 p.m. EDT)

NOTES: [autotag]Nick Pogue[/autotag] is still on slowly getting back into the groove of things after returning from Tommy John surgery, but he’s looked good in each of his two three starts. He held USF and MSU to one run apiece and lasted four and five innings, respectively.

Series History

NOTES: The Gators come into this series with 15-straight wins against the Tigers and are 26-4 since Mizzou joined the Southeastern Conference in 2011. Even on the road, Florida manages to dominate the series. This is about as one-sided as it gets.

Follow the Action

FRIDAY (7 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

SATURDAY (3 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

SUNDAY (2 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

* Watch links go directly to game feed

Predictions

GAME 1: Florida, 8-2

GAME 2: Florida, 10-3

GAME 3: Florida, 6-4

SERIES: This should be a layup for the Gators, I’m convinced that they are back on track against the teams they should beat after seeing them fight against Kentucky and MSU over the past two weekends. There’s little reason for Missouri to feel confident in this one and a sweep puts UF back over .500 against SEC opponents.

Get the brooms out, boys. It’s the right time of the year to pick up some momentum. Florida sweeps, 3-0.

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