Gators Get Rematch with Gamecocks in SEC Tournament

Florida opens its time in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Bobby Boser plated three runs on Saturday as the Florida Gators took the series against Alabama. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

HOOVER, Ala. — The Florida Gators on Tuesday will have a rematch with the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first round of the 2025 SEC Tournament, which is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. ET with television coverage on SEC Network.

With the short turnaround from their series with Alabama this past week, none of Liam Peterson, Aidan King or Pierce Coppola are available to start, leaving senior Billy Barlow as the starter for Tuesday's opener.

“It obviously won't be any of our three starters, so we'll figure out who we're going to play tonight, and then try to pick up the best option for us,” Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said on Saturday after the series-clinching win over Alabama.

Barlow has 20 appearances (six starts) for the Gators in 2025 but has not been at his best this year with a 1-4 record and 5.95 ERA in 42 ⅓ innings. The most he has thrown this season was against Texas on May 9. He completed four innings against the Longhorns. He gave up just one earned run and struck out six. 

The last time Florida and South Carolina faced each other, it was a very one-sided affair. The Gators outscored the Gamecocks 39-8 across all three games. The largest margin of victory in the series came in Game Two, where the Gators won, 22-3, and scored 16 runs over the final two innings. 

One major difference from their previous matchup, though, will be that the Gators do not have their First Team All-SEC catcher Luke Heyman. Heyman took a pitch off the wrist in the series opener against Alabama that resulted in a fracture and him missing the rest of the series. 

“Everybody's disappointed for him, and he's worked his tail off,” O’Sullivan said. “We're coming down the stretch, and we put ourselves in position, not only to make the tournament, there was, you know, there's discussions about hosting, and he was a big part of that.”

As mentioned by O’Sullivan, the Gators currently have a chance to host a regional. With a hot stretch to end the season that saw Florida win its last six SEC series, three of which against top 25 opponents, they put themselves squarely in the mix to be one of the top 16 national seeds this postseason. 

“It's a decision that's fully out of our hands," O'Sullivan said when asked about potentially hosting a regional. "It's in the committee's hands. But, you know, probably a lot of people didn't think we would get to this point."

While an opening-round win likely won't be the most memorable, especially since South Carolina is the second-to-last seed in the SEC, a win would go a long way for Florida's hosting chances and would give them a rematch against Ole Miss in the following round. 

The Rebels, who are also vying for a regional host spot, took two of the three games against the Gators back near the end of March. Florida did have the chance to win the series, but surrendered five runs combined in the eighth and ninth innings of Game Two to lose 10-9. 

Entering conference tournament week... the hosting bubble.

13 hosts are pretty safe... 3 still up for grabs pic.twitter.com/4W6HqhnbXK

— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) May 18, 2025

So, if the Gators were to avenge their early season loss, it could be a potential tiebreaker in the minds of the committee.