No. 5 Florida Takes On North Florida in Midweek Matchup

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In the team’s final tune-up before the start of Southeastern Conference play, the fifth-ranked Florida Gators host the North Florida Ospreys at 6 p.m. on Tuesday night with coverage on SEC Network+.

This is the third-straight season that the Ospreys (10-7) have visited Gainesville, where the Gators (15-3) have won seven of the last eight at home. Florida enters with a four-game winning streak vs. UNF overall including a 17-5 mark under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan (13-3 at home).

Across the all-time series, Florida wields a 17-7 advantage featuring a 13-4 record in home matchups.

Pitching Matchups

	Tuesday | 6 p.m. (SECN+)
North Florida	RHP Clayton Boroski (1-2, 4.50 ERA)
Florida	RHP Tyler Nesbitt (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Links	WATCH | LISTEN

 
The Gators moved up one spot to No. 5 in the D1Baseball Top-25 this week and rank as highly as No. 2 in the nation according to Baseball America and Perfect Game. Florida sits at No. 4 in the USA Today Poll.

SCOUTING THE OSPREYS

Picked to finish ninth out of 14 Atlantic Sun teams, North Florida enters with a 10-7 record and winners of four of its last six. As a team, the Ospreys are hitting .306/.500/.895, led by catcher Jakob Runnels (.421/.500/.895). On the mound, UNF sports a 6.94 ERA backed by a .955 fielding percentage.

LAST TIME THEY FACED

Florida went 2-0 in a home-and-home with UNF last year, winning 3-1 in Gainesville on Feb. 23 thanks to nine combined innings of one-run ball from Brandon Sproat (5.0 IP, 1 R 8 K), Blake Purnell (1.2 IP) and Ryan Slater (2.1 IP, 4 K) while Colby Halter provided a two-run homer. In the March 1 rematch in Jacksonville, Josh Rivera (2-for-5, 5 RBI) and Deric Fabian (3-for-4, 2 RBI) both homered, with Fabian smacking the first long ball of his career en route to a career-high three hits. Sproat, Carsten Finnvold (W, 2.0 IP, 2 K), Brandon Neely and Purnell all turned in scoreless outings.

THE REFRESH

Florida swept FAU in a two-game midweek set, then took all three against Siena in a home weekend series to complete a 5-0 week and secure wins in six-straight contests. Across the last five games, the Gators are hitting .358/.485/.654 with 10 homers, 24 extra-base hits, 30 walks and just 23 strikeouts. Meanwhile, UF has pitched to a 3.15 ERA with 52 strikeouts against 15 walks in 40 innings.

NON-CON RESUME

Off to a 15-3 start (.833) this season, Florida went 20-5 (.800) against…