Florida owns a 10-game winning streak vs. FAMU after going 2-0 vs. the Rattlers last season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The third-ranked Florida Gators host the Florida A&M Rattlers on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+ in a standalone midweek tilt.
The Gators (30-7, 11-4 SEC) welcome the Rattlers (18-17, 12-3 SWAC) to Condron Family Ballpark once this season after facing off with FAMU twice one year ago. All 29 games in the series have taken place in Gainesville, as the Gators are 28-1 vs. Florida A&M including 12-1 under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>. Florida outscored FAMU, 30-3, last season, winning by scores of 17-0 (March 2) and 13-3 (April 5)
Pitching Matchups
Tuesday | 6 p.m. (SECN+)
FAMU LHP Jared Townsend (0-3, 13.50 ERA)
Florida RHP Yoel Tejeda Jr.<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/yoel-tejeda-jr-/15518> (0-0, 5.93 ERA)
Links WATCH<https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=c42a02a6-7655-4046-abda-ed4a3b59e58e> | LISTEN<https://floridagators.com/watch/?Live=5129&type=Archive>
Florida remained at No. 3 in the D1Baseball Top-25 this week and ranks as highly as No. 2 nationally at Baseball America, Perfect Game and the NCBWA. The Gators are also USA Today’s No. 3 team.
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
Florida A&M has won five-straight games and enters Tuesday fresh off a three-game road sweep of Alabama A&M. Picked to finish second out of six teams in the SWAC Eastern Division with three first-place votes, the Rattlers are hitting .296/.392/.488 as a team while pitching to a 7.08 ERA.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gators went 3-1 across four home games last week, defeating Florida State in come-from-behind fashion on Tuesday (W, 5-3) before taking two of three against Georgia (L 13-11, W 2-1, W 11-6). Outfielder Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/15491> shocked FSU with a go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs in the eighth. Florida then posted its 15th comeback win of the season in game two vs. Georgia, with outfielder Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> walking off the Dawgs with a single in the ninth. Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> pitched five innings of two-run ball to earn the win in the rubber match while also hitting two home runs including a grand slam en route to seven RBI.
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Last week, Florida starters combined for a 3.24 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and .170 batting average against in 25 innings while going 1-0. Gators starting pitchers struck out 21 batters against seven walks, translating to a 3.0 strikeout-to-walk-ratio.
WE’RE OUT OF OUR LEAGUE
Florida has won 10-straight non-conference games dating back to March 5 vs. No. 22 Miami, owning a 19-3 record (.864) in non-con action this season. The Gators went 20-5 (.800) against non-conference regular season opponents in 2022, featuring a 19-3 record following the opening weekend of the year. Adding the totals together, UF is 38-6 across its previous 44 non-conference games (.864). This season, Florida is hitting .341/.439/.628 with 10.5 runs/game, 11.7 hits/game and an average margin of victory of 5.9 runs/game in non-con play.
RELENTLESS REPTILES
Half of Florida’s wins this season have been in comeback fashion (15), surpassing last year’s 66-game total of 13 (19.7%). After going 0-20 last season when trailing after six innings, Florida is 3-4 in that scenario already in 2023, and 3-0 when tied after six innings. Even more impressively, the Gators are 13-4 when the opponent scores first this season, compared to 11-15 last year.
OFFENSIVE JUGGERNAUT
Florida is found near the top of the national leaderboards for nearly every offensive statistic, ranking top-10 in slugging percentage (third – .581), home runs (third – 79), runs (fifth – 344), triples (seventh – 17) and hits (ninth – 396). The Gators also rank 25th in the NCAA with a .312 batting average (third in SEC) and sit first in the SEC in hits, triples, at bats and total bases, and second in slugging and runs. The Gators’ 737 bases are 57 more than the next-closest team (South Carolina, 680).
TRIPLE THREAT / TRIPLE SLASH
Three qualified Gators head into Tuesday with an OPS above 1.250 in Wyatt Langford<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/wyatt-langford/15497> (1.320), Caglianone (1.291) and Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> (1.252). No other SEC program even has three qualified hitters all with an OPS above 1.200. Interestingly enough, each player leads Florida in a different triple-slash category: Rivera in batting (.399), Langford in on-base percentage (.537) and Caglianone in slugging (.865).
RIVERA SIZZLING
Rivera is riding a 10-game hitting streak, slashing .432/.511/.730 with three homers, two doubles, 13 RBI and eight walks vs. four strikeouts over the course of it. Rivera is hitting .50 points higher than the next-closest Gator over the last 10 games. The Avon Park, Fla. native is also UF’s best hitter by a wide margin in SEC play, owning a .407/.471/.780 line and hitting .74 points higher than any other Gator. He leads the team in hitting (.399), runs (49, T-fourth in NCAA) and stolen bases (11), and ranks T-10th nationally in RBI (52). Rivera is among the top-10 SEC hitters in runs (T-second), RBI (T-fourth), batting (fifth), total bases (105, T-fifth), hits (T-fifth), sacrifice flies (four, T-seventh), home runs (eighth), slugging (T-eighth) and on-base percentage (10th).
RECORD PACE JACS
With two homers including a grand slam on Sunday vs. Georgia, Caglianone now leads the nation with 21 home runs – two more than former teammate Kris Armstrong<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/kris-armstrong/15090> and three more than any SEC player. Caglianone is the fastest Gator ever to 20 homers, accomplishing the feat in 37 games and besting Jud Fabian’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jud-fabian/15127> previous record by 12 games (49). Caglianone’s 54 RBI rank T-6th in the NCAA and T-third in the SEC, and his .865 slugging percentage is good for T-sixth in the nation and third in the conference. Caglianone is on pace for 31 homers in the regular season alone, which would blow past the program record of 26.
GOLDEN SPIKES
Rivera and Caglianone were named to the Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List on April 5. The duo was among 24 athletes to be added to the 45-player list
BABY GRANNIES
Freshmen Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514> (2-for-5) and Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522> (2-for-5) both launched grand slams in game one vs. Georgia. It marked the first time UF hit multiple grand slams in the same game since swatting three on March 3, 2019 vs. Winthrop.
KURLAND CHASING HISTORY
Kurland is hitting .326/.420/.601 on the year with 10 home runs, just five shy of moving into the top-three all-time for a Florida freshman. JJ Schwarz holds the freshman record with 18 in 2015, followed by Austin Maddox (17 – 2010) and Preston Tucker (15 – 2009).
FILLING UP FRAMES
37 games into the season, the Gators are scoring in nearly half (48.0%) of their batted innings (142 of 272). Florida has a run differential of plus-150, averaging 9.3 runs/game and 10.7 hits/game.
GATORBOMBS
Florida’s 79 homers are on pace for 117 in the regular season and 140 across 66 games – the length of the 2022 season. The school record of 132 home runs was set in 64 games in 1998 (2.1 homers/game).
ON DECK
Florida hits the road for a three-game series in Columbia at No. 6 South Carolina from Thursday, April 20 to Saturday, April 22.
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