The UF-Florida State rivalry is too intense to be squeezed into one measly weekend like the UF-Miami series earlier in the year.
No, this series simmers throughout the entire season, and it will come to a boil Tuesday night.
Way back on March 18, UF took the first game of the series from FSU by a 6-1 margin. The Seminoles evened the series with a 10-2 win at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville on April 1.
The Gators (24-12, 9-6 Southeastern Conference), who are out of the Baseball America poll for the first time in four weeks, travel to Tallahassee for a 6 p.m. contest Tuesday against the No. 3 Seminoles (31-3, 17-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) that will decide the series.
"It's definitely a series we want to win," sophomore first baseman Clayton Pisani said. "They're rivals. We definitely want to take that series."
Freshman pitcher Tommy Toledo agreed. "It's definitely a chance to win a series."
The series always brings big crowds. The game in Gainesville this season broke a McKethan Stadium attendance record with 5,719 fans cheering on the Gators, and last season's Jacksonville game set a collegiate state mark with 12,280 fans dividing the stadium in half.
"It's a big game for us. It's a big game for them," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We'll have to be on top of our game, I know that. They're playing awfully well."
So well, in fact, that the Seminoles have not lost a game since March 29 at Wake Forest and are the No. 1 team in the country, according to Collegiate Baseball.
"They scored a bunch of runs this weekend up at … Boston College," O'Sullivan said. "We'll have to pitch better than we did (Sunday) to have a chance."
No kidding. FSU clobbered Boston College on Sunday, scoring 17 runs. In the three-game weekend series, the Seminoles outscored the Eagles 29-11 and outhit them 41-22.
UF will put sophomore Kyle Mullaney (0-2, 7.25 ERA) on the mound for his second Tuesday start in as many weeks against FSU's Ryan Strauss (4-0, 4.91 ERA).
Mullaney began the year as the Gators' Friday-night hurler, but he faltered in his first two outings and did not start again until Tuesday against North Florida.
He pitched six innings and gave up only three runs, recording his first quality start since May 23 against South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
He will likely have to do better than that against the Seminoles, who have a .352 team batting average, as the Gators' pitching staff remains kiddie-pool shallow. None of the weekend starters will be available, and UF certainly does not want to overwork relievers Josh Edmondson, Clint Franklin or Tony Davis. The three of them saw action in two of the three Arkansas games this weekend.
"We'll do everything we can to win the ballgame," O'Sullivan said. "Obviously, (weekend starters Patrick) Keating and (Billy) Bullock and Toledo won't throw, but everybody else is available."
The Gators won the season series last year, taking the games in Tallahassee and Jacksonville. This year's series goes up for grabs in Tallahassee on Tuesday night.
"We've just got to keep working hard," Pisani said. "We've got to play good defense. We've got to throw strikes and execute."
