FPN Series of the Week: No. 5 Florida vs. No. 8 Texas A&M
The week we look at a top 10 match-up between No. 5 Florida (24-3) and No. 8 Texas A&M (29-4). The two will play three games at Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium in Gainesville, FL starting Saturday at 4:00 PM, Sunday at 6:00 PM and Monday at 6:00 PM. The Saturday and Sunday games will be live on ESPN2.
Florida is looking to rebound after losing two of three against No. 4 Georgia last weekend. The Aggies have won five in a row and will try to keep that streak alive.
At the Plate
Texas A&M has shown consistency at the plate and come into the weekend with a team batting average of .322 with 26 home runs. They have six of their nine starters batting above .300. Leading the way is Keeli Milligan with a .383 average and she leads the team in runs scored (27). Milligan is also dangerous on the bases having stole 22 of 24 attempts. Riley Sartain (.333) leads the team in home runs (8) and is second in the team in RBI’s (26). Tori Vidales (.295) has 36 RBI’s and six home runs. The fact that her average is below .300 tells us she most likely has not hit full stride yet at the plate. Texas A&M has already seen good pitching this year so that should help them when they have to face a Gator staff that, up until last weekend, had been on fire.
Florida comes in carrying a .306 average with 22 home runs on the season. The team has had a lot of success at the plate, at times, this season. On the season the Gators are No. 7 nationally in scoring (6.96). Now looking just at their two series since starting conference play they are at 3.83. They are scoring nearly half as much per game. Four of the everyday players are batting above .300 in Amanda Lorenz (.446), Nicole DeWitt (.347), Kayli Kvistad (.339), and Jordan Matthews (.313). Lorenz also leads the team in doubles (11), runs (33) and RBI’s (33). DeWitt leads the team in home runs (6). They have some power and are balanced, they do lack some team speed.
Edge: Texas A&M
In the Circle
The Aggies have not been shy about using their pitching staff and or the depth. Two have carried most the load so far in Samantha Show (8-2) and Trinity Harrington (9-1). They have also used Lexi Smith (5-0) and Maddie MacGrandle a fair amount with 12 starts between them. Although they have a low team ERA of 1.65 they have had a few games where they allowed some significant runs to be scored on them. They are not really considered a strikeout team either, they allow the ball to be put in play and rely on their defense. The good news is they are not facing the most threatening line-up when it comes to power numbers. The bad news is they are facing a team that does not give up many runs if you look past last week.
The Gators have a solid pitching staff. They did hit a bit of a bump last week when Georgia was able to run staff ace Kelly Barnhill (12-1) out of both her starts in three innings or less. Barnhill comes into the weekend with a 0.56 ERA and 132 strikeouts over 79.2 innings. Her rise can be nearly impossible to hit, as to why that is an article for another day. If you look past those two starts, she has been lights out. Aleshia Ocasio (9-2) has also looked sharp for Florida. On the year she has held opponents to a .188 average with 74 strikeouts over 69.2 innings of work. Scoring runs on the Gators is not an easy task.
Edge: Florida
Opinion
The thing to keep your eye on is how Florida comes out in this series. They were able to get a mid-week game in against South Florida and looked sharp cruising to a 9-0 win. Georgia was able to figure something out that others had now, how to hit Barnhill and score runs. What exactly that was, we are not sure, but the Aggies will need to find a way to get some runs across the plate. There is no lack of talent in the Aggies batting order so it makes for an interesting match-up. Florida is not far behind when it comes to their offense and the explosion of runs against USF can only help heading into this key conference series. In the end, the Gator pitching staff will most likely be the difference in the series, more specifically Barnhill. Texas A&M most likely see’s her twice, maybe even three times, since there is only one game per day.
Pick: Florida wins two of three.
