Preview: Florida Gators confident ahead of Stillwater Regional

The Florida Gators will play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the opening game of the Stillwater Regional at 3 p.m., Friday.

Florida Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan / Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

After a regular season full of inconsistencies and questions arising whether the Florida Gators were fit for the NCAA Tournament, the Gators are less than 24 hours away from playing their opening regional game. 

At 3 p.m. Friday, Florida and Nebraska will face off in the first game of the Stillwater Regional on ESPN+. Liam Peterson will start on the mound for the Gators while the Cornhuskers will send ace Brett Sears to the mound. 

After finishing only one game over .500, Florida can put their up-and-down regular season behind them. But in order to advance, they need to win three games before they lose two. 

“The regular season didn’t go exactly the way we had planned it to,” Tyler Shelnut said Thursday. “But at this point, it no longer matters. We’re still in a position to accomplish everything we’ve been looking to accomplish for a long time.”

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan decided to hand the freshman the ball after successful outings during the final weeks of the season. In his last 19 ⅓ innings pitched, Peterson has a 2.33 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a .211 batting average against during that span. 

O’Sullivan has been impressed with Peterson’s ability to make important pitches with runners in scoring position. 

The Cornhuskers are coming off of a Big Ten Tournament title, defeating Penn State Sunday. They’re winners of five straight and come into the regional winners of nine of their last 11. 

The Gators haven’t played since May 21 and will have had nine full days of rest between then and Friday. UF fell to Vanderbilt in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. 

Though, Jac Caglianone said they had been scrimmaging every day leading up to their travel to Stillwater. 

“It’s not like we’ve missed reps, too many reps on seeing live arms,” he said. “I think we’re picking up right where we left off.”

Although the results fluctuated throughout the year, UF earned a pivotal series win over No. 9 Georgia in the final series of the year. That result along with series wins over Texas A&M, Mississippi State and LSU most likely propelled them into the tournament. 

And although they had series losses to Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, they weren’t swept. The Gators had one of the toughest schedules in the league which played a vital role in making the tournament. 

“We’ve beaten some pretty good teams,” Shelnut said. “We’ve proven there’s nobody in the country we can’t beat whenever we’re playing really good baseball. There’s no doubt in our mind that if we play our best baseball, we can beat anybody.”

Caglianone and Shelnut will face Nebraska’s No. 1 arm in Sears. He totaled 99 strikeouts on the season along with a 2.00 ERA in 99 innings pitched. He also throws a lot of strikes, as he walked just 18 batters. 

“We’re going to have to earn everything we get. He’s there No. 1 for a reason,” O’Sullivan said. 

First pitch is tentatively set for 3 p.m. Friday. Oklahoma State and Niagra will follow in the nightcap of the Stillwater Regional.

The loser will play an elimination game at 2 p.m. Saturday while the winner will play its second game at 7 p.m.