Gators hope to hit peak, reach NCAAs

The Florida Gators’ baseball team enters this week’s SEC Tournament coming off a rare moment during a frustrating 2019 season: a conference road sweep.

The Gators won all three games this past weekend at Missouri to end the regular season after entering the trip with just one SEC road win all season.

UF now looks to ride the momentum into Hoover, Ala., and pick up enough wins to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 11th straight season.

Florida’s season also could end on Day 1 against Texas A&M, the nation’s 13th-ranked team.

“I feel like the history that we have and the success we’ve had in the postseason, the youth that we have continues to show improvement, we’re trending upward,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan told FloridaGators.com. “We play a difficult schedule every year and I think you should be rewarded for that. It’s a very difficult league.”

The 11th-seeded Gators (33-23, 13-17 SEC) face the seventh-seeded Aggies (36-19-1, 16-13-1, SEC) at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The winner will advance to play No. 3 seed Georgia (42-14, 21-9 SEC) in the second round, where the format changes to double elimination.

The Gator and the Aggies have not met since 2018, when UF won two of three games in College Station, Texas. The two programs have met twice all-time during the postseason, with A&M winning won both matchups in 2016 and 2013.

Texas A&M enters this week having just won two of three games against Arkansas.

During 11 years under O’Sullivan, UF’s postseason fate has not hung in the balance to such an extent entering the SEC Tournament.

A big reason is the struggles of the team’s pitching staff. UF’s team earned-run average of 5.19 ranks 13th in the 14-team SEC.

Right-hander Tommy Mace (8-4) is slated to start Tuesday. While the sophomore leads UF in

strikeouts (67) and innings pitched (81.2), he has been inconsistent. Mace is 3-2 during his last seven starts and has thrown six or more innings just three times during that stretch.

The Aggies, however, are not an offensive juggernaut. They average 5.5 runs and have a team batting average of just .253, 12th in the conference. Shortstop Braden Shewmake is the Aggies’ only .300 hitter, while A&M has just 34 home runs – fewest in the SEC.

The Aggies have made up for their deficiencies at the plate with strong pitching.

Left-hander Asa Lacy (7-4) is scheduled to start Tuesday. The sophomore has thrown six or more shutout innings six times this season and also has registered 10 or more strikeouts six times. No UF pitcher has reached double digit strikeouts in any game this season.

The Aggies’ pitching staff has a collective 3.07 ERA and 602 strikeouts – nearly 200 more than UF (409).

UF’s chances against Texas A&M will hinge on the team’s offensive firepower.

Shortstop and leadoff hitter Brady McConnell anchors the attack. McConnell leads the team in batting average (.344), hits (73), home runs (15) and runs batted in (45). Designated hitter Nelson Maldonado is batting .335 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs for a team that has seven players with at least five home runs.

Overall, the Gators hit .283, averaged 6.6 runs and totaled 70 home runs, posing a stiff challenge for Lacy and the Aggies’ staff.

The pressure still remains firmly on the UF, though.

The Aggies are a virtual lock for an at-large bid and could potentially host an NCAA Tournament Regional, long an annual occurrence for Sullivan’s teams. To even make the 64-team NCAA field this year, the Gators will have to show they can win away from Gainesville.