HOOVER, Ala. – No. 15 Florida carries the SEC’s longest series winning streak at six into Tuesday’s first-round SEC Tournament matchup against South Carolina at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
 
The fourth meeting between the 10th-seeded Gators (37-19, 15-15 SEC) and 15th-seeded Gamecocks (28-28, 6-24 SEC) this season is set for approximately 5:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
 
Having already swept the Gamecocks in Columbia this year in resounding fashion (9-5, 22-3, 8-0), the Gators enter the postseason having won 17 of their last 22 regular-season games including 14 of 18 in SEC play to put themselves in the NCAA Regional host discussion. Florida’s 2025 sweep of South Carolina gave the Gators their first lead in the head-to-head series (57-56) since March 26, 2021.
 
Florida also claimed the only meeting between the two teams in Hoover in the last decade back in 2022, winning a 10-inning affair by a score of 2-1. Eclipsing the 750-career win and 500-home victory thresholds at the tail-end of the regular season, Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan is 35-24 in his career against the Gamecocks.

Pitching Matchup

	Tuesday | ~5:30 ET (SEC Network)
South Carolina	RHP Brandon Stone (2-6, 6.07 ERA)
Florida	RHP Billy Barlow (1-4, 5.95 ERA)
Links	WATCH | LISTEN

A TALE OF TWO (SEC) SEASONS
Florida is set to become the first SEC team to ever reach the NCAA Tournament after starting SEC play 2-10 or worse since 1992 league expansion. In their 1-11 start to SEC action, the Gators pitched to a 9.63 ERA, .311 batting average against and 110-to-75 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 100 innings. They batted just .244/.333/.384 with 14 homers and 10 steals. In the 18 SEC games since, Florida pitchers have more than cut their ERA in half at 3.76 while producing a .228 BAA and 197-to-71 K-to-BB ratio over 153 frames. The offense has exploded in that time, slashing .296/.406/.500 with 26 homers and 32 stolen bases. The turnaround has shifted the Gators from the NCAA Tournament bubble into the NCAA Regional host conversation.
 
FOUNDERS KEEPERS
Florida delivered one of its most dominant SEC series ever in sweeping South Carolina in Columbia from May 2-4 for the first time since 1996. Representing UF’s first SEC road sweep since 2022 at Mississippi State, Florida’s plus-31 run differential (39-8) was its highest in an SEC series in 23 years (2022 vs. Ole Miss, +31). Every UF player that started at least two games scored at least three runs and had at least two hits.
 
RED HOT REPTILES
After dropping its first-four SEC series and stumbling to a 1-11 record in league action, Florida went 14-4 in SEC play while winning six-straight series to save its season. During the 22-game turnaround (17-5) to end the season, Florida registered eight comeback victories and outscored its opponents by a 173-to-95 tally, translating to a plus-3.5 runs per game differential. UF hitters slashed .294/.407/.506 while the pitching staff worked to a much-improved 3.75 ERA, .237 BAA and 237-to-90 K-to-BB ratio.
 
CHECKING THE POLLS
Florida made its return to the Baseball America rankings at No. 22 two weeks back and climbed back into every major poll last week. Heading into the SEC Tournament, the Gators sit at No. 15 per D1Baseball and are ranked as highly as No. 12 nationally per Baseball America.
 
TURNED THE TIDE

In the regular-season finale vs. No. 18 Alabama, Florida batted .301/.402/.466 as a team against the Tide’s .176/.269/.314 slash line. Gators pitchers produced a 3.67 ERA, .176 BAA and 36-to-12 K-to-BB ratio in 27 innings. The Orange & Blue also saw continued success on the base paths, swiping five bags in five attempts.
 
TEXAS HELD ‘EM

In the first-ever, regular-season meeting between Texas and Florida last weekend, the then-unranked-Gators delivered their first series win vs. the nation’s No. 1-ranked team in nine years, since sweeping No. 1 Texas A&M from April 1-3, 2016. Florida has now taken down the No. 1 team 10 times since 2012 alone. In doing so, the Gators handed No. 1 Texas its only home series loss of the season. Florida pitched to a 2.42 ERA, .188 BAA and 37-to-15 K-to-BB ratio in the series.
 
NEXT MAN UP
Over the course of the regular season’s 14 weekends, Florida used 12 different starting pitching rotations. As for the offense, 14 Gators made multiple starts while also registering double-digit at bats this season. Of that contingent, 11 players came through with the game-winning RBI in Florida’s 37 victories.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Florida remains ranked inside the top-50 teams nationally across nine statistical categories. Led by the fifth-most strikeouts per nine innings (11.7) in the country, the Gators also rank 18th in shutouts thrown (five), 23rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.6), 31st in home runs (85), 33rd in slugging percentage (.505), 34th in hits allowed per nine (8.36), 41st in doubles (114), 45th in winning percentage (.661) and 48th in runs scored (426). Florida’s five shutouts rank third in the SEC behind Arkansas (seven) and Vanderbilt (six).
 
SENIOR DAY SHOTS
In Saturday’s Senior Day win over Alabama (9-3), both UF senior position players honored pregame homered and collected multiple hits in outfielder Ty Evans (2-for-5) and infielder Bobby Boser (2-for-4). They combined for four RBI in the win.
 
ROTATION ROCKING
In the series win at No. 1 Texas, UF’s starting rotation pitched 13.0 shutout innings with a 2-0 record, 15-to-5 K-to-BB ratio and .133 BAA. One week later in the season’s final series vs. Alabama, left-handed pitcher Pierce Coppola struck out 10 against zero walks while true freshman right-hander Aidan King fired 6 1/3 innings with one earned run and eight strikeouts to collect his sixth win. As a result, King earned a program-record fourth SEC weekly honor with a Freshman of the Week nod. The rookie phenom was nearly untouchable in his final four regular-season starts, allowing just two earned runs in 20 2/3 innings for a 0.87 ERA while fanning 22 batters. He has posted a 6-2 record, 2.76 ERA, .220 BAA and 72-to-21 K-to-BB ratio over 65 1/3 frames. Meanwhile, ace righty Liam Peterson is 8-2 with a .236 BAA and 89-to-12 K-to-BB ratio, owning the fifth-best K/9 in the SEC (12.5).

BOBBY BASEBALL BITS

As the lone Gator to start all 56 games, Boser leads Florida in at bats (217), runs (65), total bases (118) and stolen bases (18). Looking to become the second 20-homer/20-steal player in program history (Brad Wilkerson, 1998), Boser’s 18 multi-RBI performances equate to nearly one-third of UF’s games while his five three-hit showings also lead the squad. Knocking hits in 25 of UF’s last 28 SEC tilts, Boser raised his conference batting line to .339/.432/.466. The UF third baseman also took home All-SEC Defensive Team honors while ranking top-10 in the conference in runs (third), steals (third), at bats (sixth), hits (ninth) and RBI (10th).

CLEMENTIME

With the Gators going 17-5 over the last 22 contests, one of the primary drivers was the emergence of right-handed pitcher Jake Clemente in the closer role. Each of Clemente’s seven saves came in the last 22 games, during which he dominated to the tune of a team-low 0.86 ERA, .160 BAA and 35-to-10 K-to-BB ratio across 21 innings. All seven of Clemente’s saves have been more than one inning highlighted by six saves of six-plus outs and four of eight outs or more. That stretch of dominance netted Clemente All-SEC Second Team status and improved his season numbers significantly, as he carries a 3.51 ERA, .176 BAA and 73-to-25 K-to-BB ratio into the SEC Tournament.

DEMOLITION DONAY

Coming into Hoover, catcher/designated hitter Brody Donay paces the Gators in OPS (1.099), home runs (16) and slugging percentage (.667). The UF slugger is also getting base at a .432 clip thanks to two triples, 10 doubles, 26 walks and 10 hit-by-pitches on the season while hitting in the heart of the batting order.

RESPECT THE LAW

Making the Freshman All-SEC Team alongside King, infielder Brendan Lawson started 55 of 56 regular-season games and hit .305/.415/.510. The Canadian rookie has totaled nine homers, one triple, 12 doubles, 41 runs and eight steals, sitting second on the team with 55 RBI.

 

BEST CATCHER IN COLLEGE BASEBALL

As a semifinalist for the 2025 Buster Posey Award, catcher Luke Heyman was named First Team All-SEC on Monday. As arguably the nation’s top catcher prior to going down with an injury against Alabama on May 15, Heyman batted .301/.397/.578 across 49 games backed by 13 homers, one triple, seven doubles, 44 RBI and 37 runs scored. Even more impressively, Heyman slashed an even better .317/.403/.673 in 28 SEC contests, ranking fifth in the league in slugging, sixth in home runs (10), 10th in RBI (28) and 12th in total bases (70). The UF backstop did all of this while providing near-perfect defense, finishing with a .998 fielding percentage on top of leading the SEC in chances and putouts. Heyman’s 11 runners caught stealing was good for third in the conference.

STEALING THE SHOW

The Gators have now stolen 85 bases in 102 attempts (83.3%) this season, equating to 1.5 steals per game after averaging 0.7 steals per game last year. After 56 contests, the Gators have surpassed their 2024 steals total (43) by 42. Boser paces the team with 18 steals in 21 attempts, which is tied for third in the SEC.

 

RELENTLESS REPTILES

By erasing its largest deficit in over two years (five runs) to win game one against Alabama on May 15, Florida has now secured 15 come-from-behind victories in 2025. Last season, the Gators delivered 21 wins in comeback fashion, featuring 12 of the team’s 13 SEC wins. Going back two seasons, 22 of the 2023 Gators’ program-record 54 victories came via comebacks.

ON DECK

With a win, Florida advances to play No. 7-seed Ole Miss on Wednesday in a second-round matchup at 5:30 p.m. ET. With a loss, the Gators return home to await their fate in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Follow the Gators

#GoGators

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook