Two of the Sunshine State’s biggest rivals will meet once again on the baseball diamond this weekend when the No. 22 ranked Miami Hurricanes host the No. 14 ranked Florida Gators.
“We know the stadium here has been sold out for weeks. This will be a really great test for our team,” Hurricanes outfielder Jacob Burke said according to the Miami Herald. “You can tell that having these past two weird years of not having fans has really gotten them excited to have baseball back. We’ve all really enjoyed our crowds.’’
Miami enters the weekend with a record of 7-1, coming back after suffering its first loss of the season last Friday against Harvard to win the last two games of the series by a combined score of 12-1.
UM has not played a game since last Sunday’s shutout win over the Crimson, but head coach Gino DiMare said that wasn’t planned.
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“When we do these schedules we do them so far back,’’ he said. “We had some teams pull out on us late. We tried to reschedule but just weren’t able to get a game in.’’
The Hurricanes will give the ball to starting pitcher Carson Palmquist for Friday’s opener. The lefthander from Fort Myers is 2-0 to start the season with a 1.74 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched.
Florida enters the weekend on a hot streak, winning seven straight games after dropping its opening series of the 2022 season against Liberty. The Gators have won their last four games while scoring double-digit runs in each game, including a 17-0 win against Florida A&M on Wednesday.
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“They’re a team with great talent,’’ Miami catcher Maxwell Romero said. “They have a lot of energy and play hard. There’s obviously a little edge around this series because it’s a rival, but the biggest message around our team is don’t make it more than what it is because that’s when you put unnecessary pressure on yourself. It’s a baseball game.’’
Miami leads the all-time series between the programs which dates back to 1940, with the ‘Canes holding a 132-128-1 edge. The Hurricanes took two of three games to open the 2021 season between the teams in Gainesville while Florida swept the series between the teams in Coral Gables during the 2020 season.
