Who: South Carolina (26-25, 12-15) @ Florida (33-19, 13-14). Condron Family Ballpark

Time/TV: Thursday 7:00 pm , Friday 7:00 pm, Saturday 2:00 pm EST. All games will stream live on SEC Network+.

Line: Not one as of this writing but we know Florida will be favored.

Starting Pitchers: Game 1 RHP Jr. Brett Thomas (1-1 5.85 ERA, 20Ks, 14 BB, .297 OBA) v. RHP Soph. Brandon Sproat (7-4, 3.97 ERA, 66Ks, 27 BB, .261 OBA), Game 2, RHP Jr. Noah Hall (3-4, 4.40 ERA, 74Ks, 29 BB, .250 OBA) v. RHP Fr. Brandon Neely (2-1 3.86 ERA, 54Ks, 15 BB, .201 OBA), Game 3, Soph. RHP Will Sanders (7-2, 3.76 ERA, 78Ks, 26 BB, .257 OBA) v. RHP R-Soph Nick Pogue (3-2, 4.70 ERA, 21K, 9 BB, .247 OBA)

History: South Carolina leads 50-48. The Gamecocks swept the Gators in Columbia last year behind some late innings heroics from Colin Burgess and Andrew Eyster in game 1. That was first series sweep of Florida for Carolina since 2006. The Gamecocks haven't won a series in Gainesville since 2011, they also beat Florida two other times that season. In case you were wondering, South Carolina has never swept Florida in Gainesville.

This is not the typical balanced attack, put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense Florida team we've seen in past years. The 2022 Gators are heavily dependent on the long ball. The Gators have hit a total of 96 home runs with 46 coming against SEC opponents. Two Gators are tied for 2nd in the SEC with 19 home runs, those two being Sophomore Wyatt Langford and Junior Jud Fabian. Fabian is expected to be an early round draft pick in July despite an in-conference batting average of only .162. Catcher BT Riopelle is hitting .327 in conference with 10 home runs. Sterlin Thompson has slugged 10 home runs in conference play to go along with his .320 average. The Gators have hit .244 in the SEC collectively.

Florida lost their all-everything #1 Friday night starter in April when Hunter Barco underwent a Tommy John surgery. Much like the Gamecocks, Florida has struggled to settle on a weekend rotation. Brandon Sproat is the best prospect in their rotation with Barco out. He has assumed the Friday night role and pitched admirably only surrendering 6 runs total in his last 4 starts. The Gators team ERA in conference play is 5.48. That number was expected to be a little better but injuries and youth have played a factor. Sound familiar?

The Gamecocks are not catching Florida at the best of times as the Gators have won 10 of 12 since getting swept by Tennessee in Gainesville. Florida is almost certainly a lock to make the NCAA Tournament with an RPI of 13 and they are safely in the SEC Tournament as well.

Carolina needs one win at Florida or a Mississippi State loss to Tennessee to qualify for the 2022 SEC Tournament. The Gamecocks wound be the 10th seed if the season ended today. The Gamecocks are one game behind Florida and Ole Miss and two games back of Vanderbilt, LSU and Georgia going into the final three games of the regular season.

The Gamecocks enter this weekend with an RPI of 71. If, and this is a big IF, Carolina can sweep Florida they would likely see that number jump in the mid-to-high 50s. That would get the Gamecocks on the bubble heading to Hoover. The Gamecocks are trying to avoid finishing .500 or worse for the 3rd time since 1970. The Gamecocks finished 28-28 in Mark Kingston's 3rd year, 2019.