Florida baseball to face South Carolina in single-elimination game in SEC Tournament

The Florida baseball team clinched last weekend's regular-season series against South Carolina, dominating in the first two games before dropping the third, 4-1 on Saturday.

UF made it a 1-1 game in the second inning, but the Gators couldn't get anything going the rest of the way, though UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan didn't feel as if his team was overmatched. 

“I thought we hit some balls hard, we just couldn’t come up with a timely hit,” he said. “We got walked nine times and we didn’t walk anybody. ...  It’s kind of like, baseball’s a weird game sometimes. I think today had kind of that weird feel. I think we were just one hit away from opening it up.”

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Now bound for Hoover, Alabama, for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the Gators face the same foe in Tuesday's single-elimination first round.

The Gators (35-20, 15-15 SEC) finish tied with Georgia for second in the SEC East and as the No. 7 seed, take on No. 10-seeded South Carolina (27-27, 13-17) at approximately 2 p.m. 

Beginning Wednesday, the SEC tournament, which runs through Sunday, becomes double elimination.

“If we get by Tuesday, anything can happen,” O’Sullivan said. “The bottom line is we’re just going to try to play our best baseball on Tuesday to get into the double-elimination part.”

The Gators made a big turnaround to end the regular season, and O'Sullivan made sure to credit his inexperienced team for their strong finish in SEC play. 

"I'm proud of them. It could have went the other way, too. I don't know in my 15 years that we've been six games under at any point in SEC play. That was with only 12 to go," O'Sullivan said Saturday. "The way they rallied, the way they played, the way they were able to pick each other up and stay the course... I like the way we're playing." 

SEC Tournament schedule

Tuesday

Game 1:  No. 6 seed Georgia vs. No. 11 seed Alabama, 10:30 a.m., SECN 

Game 2:  No. 7 seed Florida vs. No. 10 seed South Carolina, 2 p.m., SECN

Game 3:  No. 8 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 9 seed Vanderbilt, 5:30 p.m., SECN

Game 4:  No. 5 seed Auburn vs. No. 12 seed Kentucky, 9 p.m. SECN

Wednesday

Game 5:  No. 3 seed Arkansas vs. Game 1 winner, 10:30 a.m., SECN

Game 6:  No. 2 seed Texas A&M vs. Game 2 winner, 2 p.m., SECN

Game 7:  No. 1 seed Tennessee vs. Game 3 winner, 5:30 p.m., SECN

Game 8:  No. 4 seed LSU vs. Game 4 winner, 9 p.m., SECN

Thursday

Game 9:  Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser, 10:30 a.m., SECN 

Game 10: Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser, 2 p.m., SECN

Game 11:  Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5:30 p.m., SECN

Game 12:  Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 9 p.m. SECN

Friday

Game 13:  Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 loser, 4 p.m., SECN

Game 14:  Game 10 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 7:30 p.m., SECN

Saturday

Game 15:  Game 11 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 1 p.m., SECN

Game 16:  Game 12 winner vs. Game 14 winner, 4:30 p.m., SECN

Sunday, May 29

SEC Tournament championship game, 3 p.m., ESPN2