The Gators will play a Super-Regional Tournament in a best-of-three series for the rights to go to the CWS in Omaha this weekend. Their opponent is the #19 ranked Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi (38-24).

The Eagles are a surprise in this tournament coming from a #3 seed in the regional tournament in Atlanta by defeating Georgia Tech and Elon. They are playing with a lot of heart and motivation because of this being their coach's last season. Corky Palmer, Southern Miss' head coach, has announced his retirement effective at the end of this year. The Eagles have won 10 of their past 13 games and seem to be a team with their minds' set on going to Omaha for their coach.

"(Southern Miss is) very fundamentally sound, hard-nosed, scrappy. They play the game the right way," Gator coach Kevin O'Sullivan commented. "We’ll have our hands full this weekend, that’s for sure. To do what they did was a huge accomplishment and they’re playing really well now."

The Gators are unsure of who they'll open up with in the first game; their Senior pitcher that has helped turn the bullpen from a weakness to a strength this season, Stephen Locke (5-2) or Freshman Anthony Desclafani (6-3). With either one, the Gators want to start off strong and take the first game to make a statement, and the best way to do that is being good from the mound.

Game 1 starts today at 3pm (ESPNU) at McKethan Stadium with the second game (ESPN2) Sunday at 7pm. If a third game is needed, it will be played on Monday at 1 or 7 pm (ESPN or ESPN2).

Rusty Thompson is one of the Founders of GatorTailgating.com