The clock is ticking on the college baseball regular season as we're just 13 days away from the bracket reveal. These midweek games are as important as any, and we have a few premier programs that will be motivated to win tonight.
First, we'll head to the great state of Florida, where the Gators and the Seminoles will put an end to this year's chapter in their storied rivalry. Then, we round out the night with a must-win game for the Oregon Ducks as they look to mash their way to a top-25 victory.
Florida State vs. Florida
7 p.m. ET · SEC Network
This will be the third midweek meeting between these fierce intrastate rivals. The Gators took the first matchup by a score of 6-3 but were then shut out in the second meeting as the Seminoles pulled the season series even.
The rubber match between these two is vitally important, as both are neck-and-neck in RPI despite the Seminoles being ranked.
As always, the pitching matchup is the focal point, and the Gators will have the edge on the bump.
Nick Ficarrotta will be going for the Gators this evening, and he has had an excellent season. This will be his first start of the year; however, Ficarrotta has been effective for multiple innings out of the bullpen against some of the best teams in the SEC.
As for the Seminoles, Jackson Baumeister will make just his second start of the season tonight. He enters with a 4.30 ERA and .230 BAA across 23 innings of work.
Baumeister will have his hands full, as the Gators' lineup has a ton of pop. The Gators rank 10th in the nation in home runs with 93 as a team. Jud Fabian leads the team with 19 homers, but Wyatt Langford is right behind him with 17. It's also worth mentioning that Langford is hitting .359 on the year.
Back the Gators to take the season series over the Noles.
Pick: Florida -130
Gonzaga vs. Oregon
9 p.m. ET · Pac-12 Insider
This game is vitally important for the Ducks' postseason hopes as they're teetering between seeds with their current RPI of 32.
They're only nine games over .500, but given they own the seventh-toughest schedule in the nation, that's pretty impressive when you consider how poor their pitching staff has been.
Oregon will have another opportunity to slug out a victory against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs are No. 24 in RPI because of their fearsome foursome rotation. Fortunately for the Ducks, each of their top starters threw this past weekend against Santa Clara.
Oregon's lineup has been lethal this season, slashing .308/.393/.480 as a team while averaging 7.5 runs per game. It's in line to mash again here, as only one other pitcher on the Gonzaga staff outside of its four starters has an ERA under 4.00.
The Zags' bats are not nearly as potent, but they do average over six runs per game and have the reigning WCC Player of the Week, Tyler Rando, leading them.
Oregon's staff has been their Achilles heel, as they enter this game with a 5.28 team ERA. Gonzaga should get its fair share of runs here.
This all adds up to an over as these two clubs trade haymakers inning after inning.
Pick: Over 13.5
