No. 10 Seminoles gunning for rare sweep of UF Baseball
No matter what happens Tuesday night at Dick Howser Stadium, the No. 10 Florida State baseball team has already clinched a rare regular-season series victory against the rival Florida Gators.
By claiming a 12-8 victory in Gainesville and a 14-3 rout in Jacksonville, the Seminoles have won at least two of three games from UF for the first time since 2015.
But if Florida State wins the final matchup on Tuesday, the accomplishment will go from rare to historic.
Since the Seminoles and Gators moved to this format in 2004 — playing three midweek games, as opposed to a weekend series — Florida State has never recorded victories in all three games.
FSU did win both regular-season meetings between the rivals in 2002, and the ‘Noles won all four games they played — two in Tallahassee and two in Gainesville — in 2000. But they have never swept the three midweek games.
The Seminoles and Gators come into Tuesday’s game (7 p.m., ESPN2) seemingly going in opposite directions.
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FSU is now ranked in the top 10 in all of the major college baseball polls, while UF has dropped down to No. 24 in D1Baseball’s rankings and No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Gators (17-14) are unranked now by Baseball America.
UF got swept this past weekend at Missouri, while FSU (26-5) picked up a series victory at Boston College. The Seminoles have won five of their last six games; the Gators have won just two of their last six.
Florida is 5-6 in road games in 2004, and FSU is 18-1 at home.
Freshman right-hander John Abraham (1-1, 4.91 ERA) is scheduled to start for Florida State. The Gators have not yet announced a starting pitcher.
Abraham pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts against UF during their meeting on March 26 in Jacksonville.
Note: The Marching Chiefs will perform beginning at 6 p.m. in the right-field bleachers and remain throughout the game.
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