Series Preview: Florida baseball kicks off 2024 season against St. John’s

Baseball is finally back in Gainesville.

It’s been eight months since Florida fell to LSU in the final game of the season, finishing the 2023 campaign as College World Series runner-ups, but now the grass is cut, the field has been drug and Kevin O’Sullivan is ready to bring a second championship back to Hogtown.

Of course, a new year means new faces, and plenty of Florida’s stars from 2023 are no longer with the team. Familiar names such as Wyatt Langford, Josh Rivera and Brandon Sproat are now in the pros, and Florida needs to find appropriate replacements for them.

After fall and spring practices, the team looks ready to make another run. One freshman said, “We’re going to be better than most people think,” and that this is a consensus top-five team in the country.

Up first, the St. John’s Red Storm in a three-game series.

Projected Starting Lineup: Florida Gators

Notes: All stats are from last year.

Probable Starters: Friday (6:30 p.m. ET)

NOTES: 

Cade Fisher only made two midweek starts last season, but he’s set to be the No. 1 on the weekend staff this year. Fisher’s fastball sits in the low-90s with a good run. He likes to tunnel with a slider (more like a sweeper) that works against batters from both sides of the plate. Fisher’s changeup is also incredibly deceptive, coming out of almost the exact same arm slot as his fastball.

Xavier Kolhosser started nine games for St. John’s last year and maintained a 2.56 ERA, but his 2.9 home-run-to-fly-ball percentage suggests a bit of luck. Still, he’s St. John’s best pitcher and is the most likely arm on the staff to be drafted this summer.

His fastball is in the high-80s, topping out at 90 mph, but his high release point makes the ball appear a lot quicker. Some reports do have him up to 94 mph, though. He pounds the zone (83% strikes) with his fastball and then draws weak contact with an 81-mph slider, a low-70s curve or an 80-mph changeup.

Probable Starters: Saturday (4 p.m. EDT)

NOTES: Liam Peterson should make his Gators debut on Saturday, barring cancellation because of rain. Peterson was dominant in May at the FHSAA state championships, and he’s only received rave reviews since arriving in Gainesville. Peterson has a very high ceiling with a fastball that is already reaching 97-98 mph.

Joe Mascio earned his spot in the weekend rotation over the fall. He’s one of the few arms on this staff who has experience starting at the college level, even if he finished his sophomore season with a 4.68 ERA.

Probable Starters: Sunday (1 p.m. EDT)

NOTES: Do we really need to preview Jac Caglianone? A fastball that can hit triple digits, a slider that devastates lefties and a changeup that’s getting better and better. Caglianone is the two-way player in the country right now besides Shohei Ohtani. He’s going to hit homers. Hopefully, he throws strikes.

Mario Pesca is 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound right hander that tops out a 94 mph. He’s a draft guy who went through a rough freshman year. The question is whether or not he’ll be able to throw strikes. Florida is a tough draw for Week 1.

Other Players to Watch

Jimmy Keenan and Adam Agresti are the two most notable bats in the Red Storm’s lineup. Keenan led the team in on-base-plus-slugging percentage with 1.067 and blasted multiple home runs with an exit velocity over 105 mph.

They’ll switch off between catcher and first base, but Keenan has the better arm strength between the two. Agresti is a freshman, so expect him to still struggle against Florida’s elite arms.

Series History

NOTES: Florida might have the all-time lead in the series, but things have been fairly one-sided over the past four years. Vanderbilt has won six of nine games against UF in that time, but this might be the first year Florida is favored in the matchup.

Follow the Action

FRIDAY (6:30 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

SATURDAY (4 p.m. EDT): UPDATE – CANCELED

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

SUNDAY (12 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

* Watch links go directly to game feed

Predictions

GAME 1: Florida, 13-3

GAME 2: Vanderbilt, 15-1

GAME 3: Florida, 12-2

Don’t pay much attention to the scores above. Florida should sweep this series easily, winning all three games by the run rule, but it’s not the end of the world if the margin is slimmer than that. The big things to key in on this weekend is how much rust the pitching staff shows and how Colby Shelton handles shortstop.

Series prediction: Florida sweeps the series convincingly, 3-0.

Read more

Florida Baseball 2024 Position Preview: Outfielders

Florida Baseball 2024 Position Preview: Infielders

Florida Baseball 2024 Position Preview: Starting Pitchers

Florida Baseball 2024 Position Preview: Relief Pitchers

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things Kevin O’Sullivan said about 2024 Gators baseball

Florida sophomore ranked No. 5 second baseman by D1Baseball

Florida star Jac Caglianone ranked second-best 1B by D1Baseball

Florida ranked No. 4 by Baseball America to start 2024

Two Gators named Preseason All-Americans by D1Baseball

Florida baseball projected to win SEC East, Caglianone Preseason POTY

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire