Know Your Baseball Enemy: Florida

South Carolina travels to Gainesville this weekend for what is sure to be the marquis series of the week.  The Gamecocks are ranked in the Top 10, and Florida is ranked number 1.  

Last Meeting: Last season Florida and South Carolina met in the season ending SEC series.  The winner of the series would win not only the East but also the conference’s regular season title.  Florida won two close games on Friday and Saturday nights to win the conference.  South Carolina avoided the sweep on Sunday by salvaging one.

Let’s provide a breakdown….

Pitching Probables:

Florida’s rotation has been set for a few weeks.  Who will pitch for South Carolina on Sunday?  I don’t know.  I’d look for Forest Koumas or Tyler Webb to get significant innings, but we’ll have to wait and see.

This Season:  Florida has been as good as expected.  People talk about their pitching corps as if it is a once in a lifetime group of players.  I’m not sure about that, but they are very good, and I expect them to be the best team South Carolina plays all year.

Pitching:  This Florida team pitches really, really well.  Their starting three may be better than those UCLA pitchers who were so heralded last year.  The three starters have combined for 73 strikeouts and 14 walks.  The quality of the pitchers extends to the entire staff.  In the 22 games they’ve played, Florida has pitched 5 shutouts.  The Gator pitching staff may be the class of the conference.  They lead the SEC in ERA (2.26), fewest runs allowed (60), fewest earned runs (50) and fewest walks (50).  When they go to the bullpen, expect to see RHP Anthony DeSclafani (3-0, 1.12, 3 sv), LHP Nick Maronde (0-0, 1.38, 1 sv), RHP Tommy Toledo (2-1, 2.40, 1 sv), RHP Austin Maddox (1-0, 1.12) or last year’s Friday starter LHP Alex Panteliodis (2-1, 4.00).

Batting:  Florida has great pitching, but it’s batters aren’t bad either.  Junior left fielder Daniel Pigott leads the team with a batting average of .432.  Sophomore Catcher Mike Zunio and Junior Preston Tucker are power hitters who have 5 home runs each.  Tucker also leads the team in RBI with 21 and is batting .374.  Senior Second baseman Josh Adams is batting .361 and Sophomore shortstop Nolan Fontana is batting .359.  Friday’s pitcher, Brian Johnson will also hit some and is batting .314.

What South Carolina Needs from this Weekend:  Many people say that you need to win all of your conference series.  That might not necessarily be true this weekend.  Sure, we’d like a series win, but USC really doesn’t need one.  All the Gamecocks need to do is get one win and avoid the sweep.  If USC is swept, that is so difficult to come back from.  On the other hand, if they win the series or sweep they will be in the driver’s seat the rest of the season.  Winning the series or sweeping is what we’d like to happen, but the team isn’t at a point where they need that to happen.  It’s a long season, and this will probably be the most difficult series.