When Kevin O’Sullivan pieced together Florida’s opening day lineup, it looked formidable.
There was speed, power and reliable bats, there was veteran leadership and freshmen talent, and there was an offensive anchor in Harrison Bader.
But like a jigsaw puzzle, one piece went missing. And even though the rest still fit together, the picture was incomplete.
As No. 4 Florida (23-7, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) prepares to play Missouri (20-10, 6-3 SEC) tonight at 7, its team will look as close to how O’Sullivan envisioned it would two months ago.
Peter Alonso is expected to return sometime this weekend, and although Florida has been patient with his recovery, its players yearn to have each starter available.
"In the fall when we had everybody healthy, pitchers didn’t want to throw to us," shortstop Richie Martin said.
But while Alonso’s return is significant, it may not make as large of an impact as originally assumed.
Generally, the Gators don’t have trouble finding offense. They are in the top-five of the SEC in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored and RBIs.
This is especially true after the emergence of its trio of freshmen: Dalton Guthrie, JJ Schwarz and Mike Rivera.
Through 30 games, each has a higher batting average than Alonso did as a freshman last season (.264), while Schwarz has almost equaled his RBI total with 28 compared to Alonso’s 32 last year.
"A lot depends on what Pete’s able to do," O’Sullivan said. "Does he DH? I’m assuming that he’ll be full-go. We’ve got some decisions to make but those are good decisions."
UF will need all of them this weekend. Missouri is second in the conference with a 2.70 team ERA, boasts the highest winning percentage of any SEC foe the Gators have faced and defeated No. 2 Texas A&M on the road last week.
Regardless of how UF’s lineup will look, if there was a series to ensure everyone’s health, it would be the one this weekend.
"Once we have all those pieces together, I think we’ll be an even better team than what we are now," Martin said. "I don’t think we’ve played at our full capability yet, and hopefully that comes soon."
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb
