Series Preview: Florida Gators @ No. 1 Texas Longhorns

Texas welcomes Florida to town this week in what is the last home SEC series for the Longhorns. These two programs are coming in feeling much different about what happened last weekend. Texas not only lost their first SEC series but got swept by Arkansas, and only the last game was competitive. Florida on the other hand is coming off of four straight SEC series, going an impressive 10-2 in those contests.

Before this recent stretch of games, the Gators had their backs against the wall relative to postseason opportunities. Florida entered the season as a top 10-ranked team. Just recently, the Gators have shown why they had a high preseason ranking. Similar to Texas, Florida has the ability to win high-scoring games or those that encompass a pitcher’s duel. That’s what makes Florida dangerous. These two teams are similar, and Texas has just been more consistent this year, especially on the mound.

Does Florida Have Enough Pitching?

The story of this series will be Florida’s pitching depth against a struggling Texas lineup. Florida Ace Liam Peterson, who is projected to go high in the upcoming MLB draft, will not start until Saturday. That is due to the fact that he left his Friday start last week in the first inning due to a weather delay, and came back and threw 84 pitches on Saturday.

The Gators will start leftie Pierce Coppola, who has only thrown 13.2 innings this season. However, in those innings, he has amassed a whopping 25 strikeouts. It’s unknown how long he may go in the game, but he clearly has electric stuff. That does not bode well for a Texas lineup that struck out nearly 40 times last weekend in Fayetteville. After seeing how inactive the Texas bats were against Arkansas, you can bet teams will challenge them moving forward.

Can Texas Pitching Regain Form?

Since Texas Ace Jared Spencer was ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury, the pitching staff has not looked the same. Prior to the series against Arkansas, pitching had taken a step back, but was still good enough to win. That wasn’t the case against Arkansas. Maybe that was just one series, but we will find out soon enough.

Texas has had to move around multiple guys on the pitching staff to into new roles. The biggest being Ruger Riojas, who had been the Sunday starter after being a long reliever most of the season. Riojas was phenomenal in his role before Spencer’s injury. He had a good first Friday start vs Texas A&M, but struggled against the Razorbacks, giving up 9 runs in just 3.2 innings. Against Arkansas after losing the first two games, Texas started Max Grubbs, who had been the setup man most of the year. Grubbs struggled giving up four runs in just over three innings of work. Grubbs is probably better suited the set-up or closer role. Dylan Volantis has been arguably the best closer in the nation as a freshman. He has starter stuff, and I wonder if Schloss gives him a shot in the postseason, should starting pitching not get back on track. Texas must find a way to get back in its groove, or this season could end earlier than anticipated.

Will Gasparino & Jalin Flores Must Produce

The Texas lineup was one of the best in the country before Max Belyeu’s injury. That was in large part due to how explosive and deep the lineup was. Since Belyeu got hurt, that hasn’t been the case. Beyond Belyeu’s absence, which obviously hurts, Flores and Gasparino have struggled. In 24 SEC games, Flores has 29 strikeouts and Gasparino has 28. That won’t cut it when you’re down an All-American player in Belyeu.

Gasparino is batting .258 in conference play, which isn’t great, but is serviceable if he were not striking out so much. Flores, on the other hand, is batting just .192, which is unacceptable from someone who was a preseason All-American. Flores’ on-base percentage is just .245, which also won’t cut it in the postseason. If the Longhorns are to continue their special season in Omaha, Flores and Gasparino are key, especially without Jared Spencer. The good news is that Max Belyeu seems close to returning either next weekend against Oklahoma or in two weeks for the SEC tournament.