The Gator baseball team has been hot the second half of the season and despite only garnering one victory in the SEC tournament they earned the right to host a regional. The Gators are the #1 seed and will take on #4 seed Bethune-Cookman. The Miami Hurricanes are seeded #2 and will take on the #3 seed Jacksonville University. The Tournament is a double elimination format with the first game, Miami versus Jacksonville, getting underway Friday at 1pm. Florida and Bethune-Cookman play Friday at 6pm at McKethan Stadium, which will be the site of all regional games.

Breakdown of Possible Gator Opponents

#4 seed- Bethune-Cookman College Wildcats

Bethune-Cookman started off slow with a tough schedule due to facing some talented opposition, but rebounded and dominated the MEAC in route to the conference title. Early in the season they lost 6-3 to a good San Diego State team in California and had to face super-prospect Stephen Strasburg. More than half of the roster hails from the talent rich island of Puerto Rico and they proved they can play with the best after taking two of three from Miami.

Pitching- Headlined by aces Hiram Burgos and Ali Simpson, this staff has experience and talent. Burgos pitched six scoreless innings of four hit ball against Miami when they were ranked #15 in the nation. Simpson also pitched well against the Hurricanes allowing one run in eight innings. Burgos was 6-3 on the season with a 3.73 ERA, while Simpson was a dominating 9-2 with a 2.70 ERA. Their third starter is Buchholz grad Eric Thomas, who has a 7-5 record with 83 strikeouts. Thomas also leads the team in innings pitched with 80.2. The bullpen is a weakness for the Wildcats, with no regular reliever having an ERA under 4.50.

Position Players- This team can hit, seven regulars are hitting over .300 on the year. The power hitter on the team is 1B Ryan Durrence, he leads the team with 10 homers and 44 RBI. Utility man C.J. Lauriello has played in the infield and outfield and is hitting .407, while leading the squad with 18 doubles. They are decent fielding team with a respectable .961 fielding average on the year.

This team could make a surprise run because they have two of the best pitchers in this regional. If they can get the bats going don’t count the Wildcats out when Burgos and Simpson are on the mound.

#3 seed- Jacksonville University Dolphins

JU won the Atlantic Sun conference tournament after posting a 36-20 overall record. They were helped by the fact that FGCU, who had the best conference record, was ineligible because of the NCAA reclassifying period. This team was inconsistent but did have some quality wins, including a 9-4 win over the Seminoles.

Pitching- The Dolphins ace is Matt Loosen who has a 4-1 record with 82 strikeouts. Loosen is holding opposing batters to an impressive .236 batting average on the year. The other starters we are likely to see in Gainesville are Carson Andrew and Matt Tomshaw. Andrew leads the team in wins with 6, while Tomhaw has only surrendered 16 walks. The bullpen sports an ERA over four, but the Dolphins have a great closer in Chris Kaminski. Kaminski has 8 saves and is the only pitcher on the team to not give up a homer all year.

Position Players- The Dolphins have solid power hitters with three guys producing more than 10 home runs. C Jeremy Gillian is a stud, he has 11 homers and 60 RBI’s while leading the team with a .396 average from behind the plate. 2B Chuck Opacich is also dangerous, he is hitting .383 while leading the team with 19 steals. However JU isn’t a great fielding team, with only a .952 fielding percentage.

JU is a solid team, but was helped a lot by the fact that the two best teams in the conference were ineligible for the conference tourney. That being said they have talent and I wouldn’t count them out. However, I can’t see them beating Miami in the opening game.

#2 seed- University of Miami Hurricanes

After going to the College World Series last season and losing a number of guys to the draft, this Miami team was supposed to have a down year. However they started the season on a tear, sweeping Florida and only losing two of their first fifteen games. They cooled off a little bit towards the end of the season and the cool streak combined with a 10-1 drubbing by Boston College in the ACC tournament probably prevented them from hosting a regional.

Pitching- Miami doesn’t really have an ace and their starting pitching is the worst it has been in recent memory. Sophomore Chris Hernandez was named an All-American by many different outlets in his freshman campaign, but he hasn’t lived up to the hype this season. He has a 4.43 ERA with 7 wins and 4 with a team high 89 strikeouts. There other two regular starters Iden Nazario and David Gutierrez have been unimpressive with ERA’s over 5. Fortunately for the Hurricanes they have arguably the best closer in college baseball in Kyle Bellamy. Bellamy has been filthy this season allowing just 5 earned runs all season while picking up 16 saves (tied for the fourth most nationally). Michael Rudman has also been a solid reliever with a 1.31 ERA in 20.1 innings pitched

Position Players- The Hurricane haven’t been as good of a hitting team as they have in the past. But the Hurricanes do still have five regulars hitting over .300. Catcher Yasmani Grandal can stick it and has stepped in to fill the shoes of last year’s big hitter Yonder Alonso. Grandal has 16 homers in only 183 at-bats. Shortstop Ryan Jackson had a great sophomore campaign, but in his junior season he has been below average. After being named a preseason first team All-America. He has hit only .261 on the year and has a paltry .392 on base percentage. Junior 1b Jason Hagerty has come up big though, hitting .309 with 11 homers and a team leading 52 RBI’s. These guys are pretty good in the field with a .965 fielding percentage.

Miami is going to be in the mix every year, but this just isn’t their year. Despite sweeping Florida early in the year, this club just doesn’t have the starting pitching to win the regional. If Hernandez can have a dominant performance they will be in any ballgame, yet I can’t see them beating the Gators in Gainesville this time.

Ben Petitto is a columnist with for GatorTailgating.com