GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida baseball program and ninth-year head coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced its 2016 schedule on Wednesday. The Gators’ 56-game schedule features 34 games within the friendly confines of McKethan Stadium at Perry Field, where the squad is 231-69 (.770) during O’Sullivan’s tenure.
Florida went 52-18 last season, reached the College World Series for the fourth time in the past six years and ranked third in the final polls after becoming the only program in the country to earn a top-eight national seed for NCAA play for the sixth time in seven years. The Gators claimed the Southeastern Conference Tournament and swept through the Gainesville Regionals and Super Regionals held at McKethan Stadium.
UF has four series versus opponents which advanced to Omaha last June, a home series against national runner-up Vanderbilt and road sets at Arkansas, LSU and Miami. Last season, the Orange and Blue rated No. 1 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and its strength of schedule was also No. 1. Florida’s 2016 schedule boasts 12 games against squads that finished among the top-five in the final version of the RPI.
For the 16th-consecutive season, and the 28th time in 30 years, the Gators will open their season at home, hosting a three-game series against Florida Gulf Coast from Friday-Sunday, Feb. 19-21. Florida will be tested by the challenging 30-game SEC schedule and will also face traditional Sunshine State rivals Florida State, Miami, Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Florida Atlantic, Jacksonville, North Florida and USF.
UF will clash with Florida State in three mid-week affairs, hosting the Seminoles on March 15, facing its archrivals on March 29 at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and visiting Tallahassee on April 12. The Gators travel to Miami for three games over Feb. 26-28, while other foes who will visit McKethan Stadium include Eastern Michigan (Feb. 23-24), UCF (March 1), Dartmouth (March 4-6), UNF (March 9), Harvard (March 11-13), Florida Atlantic (March 22), Jacksonville (April 5 & 19), Bethune-Cookman (May 3) and USF (May 10).
The five, three-game SEC home series pit the Gators against Missouri (March 18-20), Texas A&M (April 1-3), Mississippi State (April 8-10), Georgia (April 22-24) and Vanderbilt (May 13-15). Florida will open the league schedule in Gainesville on March 18 against Missouri and is not slated to face West rivals Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss during the regular season. For the 11th-straight year, the final weekend of the SEC regular season will be contested from Thursday-Saturday before the start of the league’s tourney.
Stops on the Gators’ road itinerary include trips to Kentucky (March 25-27), Arkansas (April 15-17), South Carolina (April 29-May 1), Tennessee (May 6-8) and defending SEC Champion LSU (May 19-21).
Following the SEC Tournament from May 24-29, Florida will be seeking its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth-straight Regional berth. Regionals will take place at 16 campus sites from June 3-6, followed by the best-of-three Super Regionals spread out among eight venues from June 10-13. Soon after, the eight survivors will advance to the 70th College World Series in Omaha, Neb., over June 18-29.
2016 Florida Baseball Schedule
