Florida Continues SEC Play at No. 15 Ole Miss
Thursday night’s series opener airs on ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET. Games two and three will stream on SEC Network+ at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday and 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Florida (18-9, 0-6 SEC) enters as winners of four-straight games against Ole Miss (19-5, 4-2 SEC), most recently sweeping the Rebels in Oxford in 2023. Across 110 all-time meetings, Florida holds a 57-53 advantage in the series, including a 22-33 mark in Oxford.
The Gators are 20-14 overall and 8-10 on the road in the series since Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan took over in 2008.
Pitching Matchups
| Thursday | 8 ET (ESPNU) | Friday | 7:30 ET (SECN+) | Saturday | 2:30 ET (SECN+) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | RHP Aidan King | TBA | TBA |
| Ole Miss | LHP Hunter Elliott (4-0, 2.79 ERA) | RHP Riley Maddox (3-2, 6.20 ERA) | RHP Mason Nichols (2-0, 4.74 ERA) |
| Links | WATCH | LISTEN | WATCH | LISTEN | WATCH | LISTEN |
SULLY SUPERLATIVES
Coming off the program’s 14th trip to the College World Series and second in as many seasons, O’Sullivan is in his 18th year at the helm. Since O’Sullivan’s 2008 arrival, Florida leads the nation with 290 SEC wins, 37 MLB debuts, 16 NCAA berths (T-1st), 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 14 College World Series.
GATORS IN THE POLLS
Sitting at No. 13 last week, Florida dropped out of the D1Baseball Top 25 after going 2-3 against Jacksonville (W, 16-4), Florida A&M (W, 14-4) and then-No. 4 Georgia (L 8-7, L 17-2, L 15-4). The Gators are still ranked No. 19 nationally per Baseball America, falling 11 spots after being at No. 8 one week ago. Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches Poll have the Gators at No. 22 and No. 23, respectively.
REBELS REPORT
Ole Miss comes into the series at 19-5 on the season and 4-2 in SEC play. Through 24 games, the Rebels have slashed .291/.428/.551 backed by 51 homers and 29 stolen bases. On the mound, Ole Miss has pitched to a 4.70 ERA and .249 batting average against while fielding at a .970 clip defensively.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
After 27 games, Florida is ranked inside the top-30 teams nationally across eight statistical categories, headlined by the fifth-most strikeouts per nine innings (12.4) and eighth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.24). The Gators also rank 13th in the country in shutouts thrown (three), 16th in fielding percentage (.980), 16th in hit-by-pitches (54), 20th in home runs (39), 27th in doubles (55) and 28th in runs scored.
MURDERER’S ROW
Florida’s retooled lineup features three hitters with an OPS above 1.000 in catcher/designated hitter Brody Donay (1.251), infielder Brendan Lawson (1.042) and infielder Colby Shelton (1.013). Two more Gators enter the Ole Miss series above .900 in infielder Bobby Boser (.986) and outfielder Blake Cyr (.936). Shelton, Donay, Lawson and Cyr all wield a batting average over .320, on-base percentage over .415 and five stolen bases apiece. 12 Gators have posted multi-hit games on the year while nine different UF players have logged three-hit contests.
BELTIN’ SHELTON
Coming in with an SEC-leading 13 doubles (three more than any other player), Shelton had his season-opening, 26-game on-base streak snapped on Tuesday vs. FSU. Starting all 27 games at shortstop, Shelton is slashing .368/.438/.575 with 25 runs scored, 23 RBI and five stolen bases. The junior has refined his approach this season, cutting his strikeout rate down to a minuscule 9.9% after fanning at a 26.4% clip one year ago. Shelton has drawn more combined walks (10) and hit-by-pitches (four) than strikeouts (12).
LAYING DOWN THE B-LAW
Lawson connected for his sixth homer of the season in the series against Georgia and is now hitting .330/.474/.568 with a team-high 28 RBI. Starting all 27 games at either first or second base, Lawson has tallied 24 runs and five steals while working 19 walks and seven hit-by-pitches (26 total) against 23 strikeouts. The Canadian rookie ranks second on the team with nine multi-hit games and seven RBI performances behind Shelton, who has 13 and eight, respectively.
ROTATIONAL STABILITY
As a collective unit, Florida starting pitching has produced a 3.65 ERA, .214 batting average against and 145-to-42 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 106 innings. In 18 weekend starts, the Gators have combined for a 3.89 ERA, .203 batting average against and 115-to-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 78 2/3 frames. All five of Florida’s quality starts have come from the weekend rotation, which matches UF’s quality starts total (five) from all 66 games last season.
KING OF THE HILL
True freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan King will make his fourth-career start at Ole Miss this weekend, holding a 3-1 record, 2.39 ERA, .200 batting average against and 27-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 26 1/3 innings pitched. King chucked quality starts in each of his first-two career starts against Harvard (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K) and Tennessee (6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K).
THE PETERSON FILE
After missing last weekend against Georgia, ace right-hander Liam Peterson is expected to return to the rotation against Ole Miss. The sophomore enters with a 4-1 record, 2.16 ERA, .198 batting average against, 1.08 WHIP, 15.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. Peterson has already fanned a career-high 11 batters in two separate starts this season against Air Force on Feb. 14 and Harvard on March 7. The Palm Harbor, Fla. native has yet to surrender a homer in 25 innings this year and has struck out at least five batters while walking three or fewer in all five of his starts.
WHEELIN’ AND McDEALIN’
Gators righty Luke McNeillie blanked Florida State across 1 1/3 perfect innings of relief on Tuesday with two strikeouts. Over his last four relief outings, McNeillie has allowed two runs in 10 1/3 frames while surrendering just three hits against 12 strikeouts. Pitching against Tennessee and Georgia, McNeillie has a team-low 2.57 ERA and .105 batting average against across seven SEC innings.
OLE MISS-MORIES
When Florida last played Ole Miss in Oxford in 2023, the Gators came away with a three-game sweep (W 9-7, W 12-8, W 7-4). Although he did not play in the first two games, then-freshman catcher Luke Heyman recorded his first-career multi-homer game in the finale on March 26. Heyman went 2-for-3 with a pair of solo home runs to power the Gators to a series sweep of the Rebels en route to a Freshman All-SEC campaign.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Gators have stolen 42 bases in 50 attempts (84%), equating to 1.6 steals per game. For reference, the Gators averaged 0.7 steals per game last season. After 27 contests, the Gators are one stolen base away from matching their 2024 steals total (43). Boser leads the team with seven stolen bases in seven attempts.
RELENTLESS REPTILES
Florida has secured six come-from-behind victories in its 18-9 start. Last season, the Gators delivered 21 wins in comeback fashion, featuring 12 of the team’s 13 SEC wins. Florida trailed in six of its 2024 postseason victories and claimed five-straight NCAA Tournament elimination games to keep its season alive. Going back two seasons, 22 of the 2023 Gators’ program-record 54 victories came via comebacks.
SIZING UP THE START
The 2025 Gators find themselves at 0-6 to start SEC play for the first time since the 2001 season, when Florida was swept by Tennessee and LSU to open the year. However, the 2001 Gators rallied for three-straight series sweeps thereafter against Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Kentucky to improve to 9-6 in conference play. Florida eyes upcoming SEC series at No. 15 Ole Miss (March 27-29), vs. No. 14 Vanderbilt (April 4-6) and vs. Missouri (April 10-12).
ON DECK
The Gators return home to host North Florida at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday, April 1. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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