Florida vs. Florida State at Florida Ballpark tonight

Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan is hoping the Gators' comeback win over then-No. 6 Tennessee, 7-6, Sunday sets his team off on a winning streak.

The Gators opened the series in Knoxville with 6-4 and 5-4 losses.

 "The bottom line is we had a chance to win all three ballgames," O'Sullivan said Sunday. "Just a couple pitches got away from us yesterday and put us in a tough spot. I thought yesterday, the first five innings was as good as we've played all year long and we took it into today. We showed a lot of resiliency, so hopefully we can learn from this and move forward."

In addition to feeding the momentum tonight, Florida is seeking redemption for the 10-2 loss March 16 in Tallahassee against the visiting Seminoles.

It was the second consecutive loss to FSU for UF, which also lost to the Seminoles 2-0 when the Gators were ranked No. 1 last season in Gainesville, what turned out to be the last game at McKethan Stadium because the pandemic canceled the rest of the schedule. It also broke UF’s program-best winning streak to start the season at 16 games.

Florida, however, has dominated the rivalry in recent years, running off 11 consecutive wins from 2016 to 2019 and 16 of the past 19 meetings.

The teams are struggling entering the 7 p.m. game at new Florida Ballpark, dropping them from Monday's D1Baseball Top 25 rankings: UF (21-11) dropped six spots to No. 18 after a 3-2 week and FSU (16-12) dropped seven spots to No. 24 after a 1-3 week.

Florida is projected to start Garrett Milchin (2-1, 6.32 ERA) on the mound vs. FSU's righty Carson Montgomery (0-1, 3.66).

 Notes: Florida State holds the all-time edge by a narrow 130-121-1 margin since the series began in 1956. ... FSU's win last month was its first against Florida in Tallahassee since 2015. ... FSU’s 10 runs scored are its most against Florida since 2010 and it was the largest margin of victory for FSU in the series since 2008, also a 10-2 win.

Today

Who: No. 24 Florida State (16-12) vs. No. 18 Florida (21-11)

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Florida Ballpark

TV: SEC Network

Radio: AM-850, 98.1-FM