How to Watch: Florida baseball vs Georgia Bulldogs on Friday

Florida baseball remains at home to host its fierce rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs, on April 14 for the first of the three-game Southeastern Conference series at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, 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 to bring their overall record to 28-6.

How to Watch

FRIDAY (7 p.m. EDT)

• Watch: SEC Network+

• Listen: ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF

• Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Projected Starting Pitchers

Starting Pitcher Notes

Brandon Sproat finished last week’s outing one out shy of a quality start, but he still earned the win after 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball. Georgia’s offense isn’t loaded with a ton of bats batting above .300, so Sproat might be able to get this quality start this time.

The focus this week should be getting back to two or fewer walks in a start. He did it against Alabama and Ole Miss but has since given up seven free bases over the last two weeks.

Georgia is throwing left-handed junior Jaden Woods on Friday. Woods hasn’t earned a win yet in conference play, but he has good swing-and-miss stuff that can get him double-digit strikeouts on any given day. The team’s lefties (Halter, Robertson and Riopelle) could struggle in this one, and we could even see Tyler Shelnut at third because of it.

Woods has a 90-93 fastball that usually has good location and causes righties to whiff. His slider is the breaking pitch to make note of, and there’s a changeup that’s starting to show a little bit more. — David Rosenberg

Projected Starting Lineup

Starting Lineup Notes

Michael Robertson and Ty Evans haven’t been hitting for great average or getting on base a ton recently. Evans secured his spot with a three-run homer on Tuesday against Florida State, but expect Matt Prevesk to get a chance to pinch hit at some point or even to start one game.

Luke Heyman’s numbers have come down a bit with some more playing time under his belt, but he’s still an above-average hitter that should find his way into the lineup most nights. — Rosenberg

Other Players to Watch

Carly Mackler/Getty Images

There are two big threats at the top of Georgia’s lineup. Left fielder Connor Tate and first baseman Charlie Condon are hitting .389 and .445, respectively, in the second and third spots of the order.

Condon leads the team with 13 home runs and is on the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list. Tate is a senior who was named to a preseason All-SEC player is just behind Condon with 11 homers. Third baseman Parks Harber is also a power threat with 10 bombs on the year. He hasn’t seen the ball quite as well, though, and has struck out 33 times this season. — Rosenberg

Series History

NOTES: Florida got swept by Georgia last year and has lost seven of the last nine meetings, but the Gators are still dominant in the all-time series. Maybe UF will choke and keep UGA’s winning ways going, but history says this should be a series win for the Gators. — Rosenberg

Prediction

GAME 1: Florida, 8-3

SERIES: The Gators are perfectly capable of sweeping this series, but the record hasn’t been great against the ‘Dawgs recently. National championship teams don’t slip up and drop series to lesser teams, so that’s the test this week. Getting through Sunday will be the biggest challenge. Caglianone needs to step up and Sully needs to be ready to move on quickly if he doesn’t. Florida, 3-0. — Rosenberg

Read more

Check out Gators Wire’s other position previews for the 2023 season:

• Catchers

• First Basemen

• Second Basemen

• Third Basemen

• Shortstops

• Outfielders

• Starting Pitchers

• Relief Pitchers

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire