Only 16 teams get a chance to host an NCAA regional, so road play is crucial for a team's chance at a championship run.
The way the No. 20 Gators have played away from Gainesville so far this season suggests they are not yet prepared for that honor.
UF (18-9, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) has a chance to turn the corner on the road with a successful weekend series at Vanderbilt (17-11, 3-6 SEC), which is 13-3 at home, starting tonight at 7.
A winning weekend could help ready the Gators for the rest of their SEC schedule, including another road conference series next weekend at Auburn.
"The thing with this team is we need to learn how to play on the road," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We have to be able to play as well on the road as (we do at home). (These road games) will tell us what type of team we have in the next couple of weekends."
Struggles with hitting, pitching and fielding have all led to their 2-5 record away from Gainesville.
As a team, UF has hit .211 with 24 runs and just three homers in those seven games, and only once did the team score more than 5 runs - UF beat Central Florida in Orlando 7-3 on March 18.
The pitching has not been any better, allowing 34 runs in away contests.
While the pitching and the offense have been bad, the defense has been atrocious. The Gators are averaging just over 2.5 errors per game on the road, including a six-error performance at Arkansas on March 15.
O'Sullivan thinks concentration has been the biggest issue preventing his team from succeeding when they are not in McKethan Stadium, and he needs his experienced players to step up in these games.
"We've got to try and work on our focus," O'Sullivan said. "We've talked about it. We have challenged a few of our older guys who might not have been playing as well, and hopefully they will show some good leadership on the road."
With so many inexperienced players on the team, it is important for the Gators to get good performances out of their veteran players.
O'Sullivan doesn't blame the team's youth for the shortcomings on the road because the Gators had the same struggles last year when they went 7-14 in away games and 0-4 at neutral sites.
"I'm sure (the team's youth) probably is a factor in it, but we got to get over the hump," he said. "I don't know if we need to change our approach or what, but we need to play better on the road."
The Gators will rely on inexperienced pitching early on with junior college transfer Jeff Barfield starting tonight and freshman lefty Nick Maronde taking the mound at the start of Saturday's game.
O'Sullivan knows he can't rely on his team's play at home to go deep in the postseason.
"If we are going to get to the postseason, which is obviously everybody's goal, we have to learn to play on the road," he said.
