South Carolina plays host to Florida Thursday through Saturday to determine the SEC Regular Season Champion. If South Carolina is going to win the series they will have to find a way over, around and through the top of the Gators’ order. If they can do that, they should be in good shape to win. If not, it may be a long weekend as I kick myself in saying that.
Leading off for the Gators is usually Freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana. Fontana is only batting .293 with 2 home runs and 20 RBIs, but his job is to get on base for the bats behind him. He has waslked 39 times and has an on base percentage of .437.
Senior centerfielder Matt den Dekker bats in the two hole. Den Dekker is batting .358 wilth 10 home runs and 38 RBI. He is a threat to steal when he is on base, swiping 20 bases this season in 25 attempts. He has been vulnerable to striking out having done so 44 times against only 22 walks. He seems to start things for UF so keeping him silent this series would be a good thing.
After den Dekker, Sophomore First Baseman Preston Tucker bats. He is similar to den Dekker, although he doesn’t strike out as often or steal as many bases. He is batting .335 with 9 home runs and 37 RBI.
The most dangerous bat in the Gators’ lineup bats cleanup and it is true freshman Austin Maddox, who plays third base. He is batting .340 with 16 home runs and 58 RBI. His slugging percentage of .650 is the highest on the team. The only chink in his armor is that he also leads the team in errors with 10.
The rest of the Gator line-up is subject to some change, but expect to see some combination of Josh Adams (2B), Mike Zunio (C), Ben McMahan (C), Brian Johnson (DH), Jonathan Pigott (RF) and Tyler Thompson (LF).
