Florida baseball hits the road to face the Kentucky Wildcats this weekend on Saturday, May 20, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky, for the third and final game of the closing series of the 2023 regular season, and if you’re wondering how you can watch the action live, you’ve come to the right place.
The Gators got off to a strong start in non-conference play before earning a series win over the Alabama Crimson Tide at home to open SEC competition. Florida then took a single midweek game from the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee before sweeping a doubleheader over the Ole Miss Rebels on the road, following that up with two out of three at home from the Auburn Tigers.
Florida prevailed over the visiting Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at home before taking two of three on the road against the Tennessee Volunteers. Then on Tuesday, the Gators prevailed over the Seminoles again before dropping the opener to the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday. They bounced back on Saturday, before clinching the series on Sunday. The Orange and Blue then mercy-ruled the Florida A&M Rattlers.
The Gators were then swept on the road by the South Carolina Gamecocks for their first series loss of the season buts bounced back with a win over the North Florida Ospreys during the week before sweeping the Missouri Tigers last weekend. Speaking of sweeps, UF took all three games from FSU this season on Tuesday night with a win as well.
The Orange and Blue took the opener of the series at the Texas A&M Aggies before the home team bounced back to earn the series win with two-straight victories two weekends ago. Florida swept then the Vanderbilt Commodores last weekend to ascend to its highest ranking of the season in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll before taking the opener of the series on Thursday vs. Kentucky. The Wildcats bounced back on Friday night to things up.
| Team | Pitcher | Record | ERA |
| FLORIDA | LHP Jac Caglianone | 5-2 | 4.47 |
| KENTUCKY | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Jac Caglianone is coming off his best pitching performance as a Gator and it would mean everything to repeat the performance against Kentucky. Attacking the zone early is key, and Caglianone’s changeup playing off his fastball is what separates his good start from the bad ones. If that changeup is on, Florida will be fine.
Kentucky is still figuring out who will throw on Saturday, so nothing on that for now. — David Rosenberg
| Pos. | Player Name | AVG | OBP | SLG | AB | R | H | HR | RBI |
| C | BT Riopelle | .260 | .395 | .515 | 169 | 42 | 44 | 10 | 45 |
| 1B | Jac Caglianone | .351 | .401 | .817 | 208 | 58 | 73 | 27 | 73 |
| 2B | Cade Kurland | .317 | .414 | .619 | 189 | 58 | 60 | 15 | 44 |
| 3B | Colby Halter | .239 | .352 | .410 | 134 | 26 | 32 | 3 | 25 |
| SS | Josh Rivera | .370 | .467 | .647 | 184 | 55 | 68 | 14 | 56 |
| LF | Wyatt Langford | .400 | .535 | .813 | 160 | 61 | 64 | 14 | 37 |
| CF | Michael Robertson | .256 | .388 | .311 | 164 | 39 | 42 | 1 | 19 |
| RF | Tyler Shelnut | .318 | .405 | .589 | 107 | 23 | 34 | 6 | 23 |
| DH | Luke Heyman | .347 | .401 | .619 | 118 | 22 | 41 | 8 | 30 |
Syndication: The Tennessean
Jackson Gray and Hunter Gilliam are the two bats to worry about the most. Gray is batting .375 with 14 doubles, six triples and five home runs. He’s an extra-base machine and scores often because of it (63 runs leads the team).
Gillam is the power threat with 11 homers. His 1.028 OPS is second only to Gray’s 1.140, and his 63 runs batted in lead the team.
Kentucky likes to run, too. The Wildcats have swiped 86 bags in 112 attempts. They should run on Florida this weekend whenever possible. – Rosenberg
| OVERALL | 148-72-1 |
| AT HOME | 79-30 |
| AWAY | 63-39-1 |
| NEUTRAL | 6-3 |
NOTES: Florida has dominated the series, historically, and there’s no reason to expect anything different this weekend. This is one of the best Gators teams in a while and they want to finish the regular season on top. – Rosenberg
GAME 3: Florida, 10-1
This is the kind of series that snowballs if Florida wins Game 1. After sweeping Vanderbilt, you have to assume this club comes out and plays just as well against Kentucky.
SERIES: Florida sweeps and finishes on top of the SEC, 3-0. — Rosenberg
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