SEC athletic directors approved a normal season structure Wednesday, according to D1 Baseball’s co-managing editor Kendall Rogers.
This normal schedule is no small amount of baseball. The past three full seasons, the Gators have played either 25 or 26 non-conference games to begin the season before finishing with a 30-game conference slate that leads into the SEC Tournament. Rogers’s tweet also confirmed that there would be no changes to the number of conference games played.
This announcement follows a fall in which every competitive sport had some modification to its schedule. Winter sports, such as men’s and women’s basketball, had games canceled as a result of COVID-19 regulations after proceeding with normal schedules.
The directors also voted to increase the travel size of rosters from 27 to 30, likely an insurance policy for COVID-19 regulations that could impact a team’s ability to compete. The NCAA removed the 35-man roster limit back in June.
The Gators have yet to reveal an official 2021 schedule. Their spring schedule typically kicks off the second or third Friday of February, including a Valentine’s Day opener against Marshall last season.
Contact Ryan Haley at rhaley@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ryan_dhaley