The Florida baseball team has made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament every year since coach Kevin O’Sullivan took over in 2008.
But UF, coming off of four-straight College World Series appearances, hasn’t performed up to expectations this season.
Currently sitting at 33-23 overall and 13-17 in conference play, the Gators are firmly on the NCAA at-large bubble as the SEC Tournament gets underway in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday.
Though the team’s loss count is high and it’s under .500 in SEC play, a 25th-ranked RPI and the fourth-strongest strength of schedule, according to D1baseball.com, has Florida kept alive.
“We play a difficult schedule every year and I think you should be rewarded for that,” O’Sullivan said in a release after Saturday’s victory over Missouri. “It’s a very difficult league… Everybody feels like they should be in, but I do believe the way we’re playing right now, if we can find our way into a Regional, we’d be tough to handle.”
The Gators were on the outside looking in prior to their series against Mizzou. They desperately needed a sweep to help bolster their resume and remain alive for an at-large bid.
UF earned its first road series sweep of the season, and now needs to win a game or two in the SEC Tourney to feel secure heading into Selection Monday next week.
It’ll be an early first-pitch for Florida on Tuesday, as it matches up with the Texas A&M Aggies (36-19-1, 16-13-1 SEC) in Game 1 of the tournament at 10:30 a.m.
Florida earned the 11th seed and will play third-seeded Georgia on Wednesday if it gets past the Aggies.
UF and A&M didn’t meet during the 2019 regular season, but the two teams did play in 2018, when the Gators went to College Station and took two out of three.
Florida is expected to have right-hander Tommy Mace (8-4, 5.18 ERA) start against A&M on four days rest, while the Aggies projected starter is southpaw Asa Lacy (7-4, 2.13 ERA).
Lacy leads the team in strikeouts with 115 and has given up just two earned runs in his last 11.1 innings pitched.
In the batter’s box, Mace will be taxed with trying to stop an Aggies lineup highlighted by infielder Braden Shewmake (.309, six home runs, 46 RBIs), catcher Mikey Hoehner (.294, two home runs, 28 RBIs) and infielder Bryce Blaum (.284, seven home runs, 27 RBIs).
Texas A&M has won four of its last six games, taking two out of three from fifth-ranked Arkansas in its final series of the regular season.
UF faces a difficult task in Hoover, but an upset on Tuesday will go a long way in strengthening the team’s resume and helping it increase its NCAA tournament streak to 12 years.
Follow Evan Lepak on Twitter @evanmplepak. Contact him at elepak@alligator.org.
Tommy Mace earned his eighth win of the season over the weekend against Missouri, pitching 6.2 innings and allowing just two earned runs. The sophomore decreased his ERA to 5.18 with the effort.
