No. 1 Florida baseball has a ton of talent, but so do Gamecocks

After his team completed a sweep last Sunday, South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook didn’t say much about Florida, USC’s opponent this weekend. Holbrook only needed a few words to express how much he believes the top-ranked Gators are loaded with talented players.

“I’ve coached for a long time. They may have more big leaguers on that team than I’ve ever seen on a college baseball team,” he said. “It’ll be a very, very difficult challenge for us. … We’ll just do the best that we can.”

Florida’s very good and has several projected first-round picks on its roster, led by starting pitcher A.J. Puk – likely top-10 draft pick. But it’s not as if Holbrook’s bringing a spoon to a gun fight when his team takes the field at Founders Park this weekend.

More than halfway into the SEC season, it’s No. 6 South Carolina that holds a one-game lead in the Southeastern Conference, including a 9-0 mark in league play at home. The Gamecocks are 25-1 overall at home, the best mark in the SEC.

“Playing in front of our fans, you can’t beat it,” South Carolina left fielder Alex Destino said. “This is a city that loves our baseball team. We love them and they love us. We feed off each other … It’s special.”

Florida’s three starting pitchers, Puk, Logan Shore and Alex Faedo, are all projected to be first round picks, but their ERAs average out to 2.84. Conversely USC’s three weekend starters – Clarke Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill – have an average ERA of 2.63.

Schmidt leads the SEC in strikeouts with 85, while Faedo is tied for second with 81. Webb’s fourth with 76 strikeouts and leads the SEC in strikeouts looking.

Schmidt and Webb are tied with Shore and Faedo for the SEC lead in wins with eight, while Schmidt leads the conference in innings pitched (70 2/3).

The Gamecocks also have the SEC leader in saves at the backend of their bullpen with closer Josh Reagan, who has 11.

South Carolina also has a higher team batting average than Florida at .296, as opposed to .293. USC is also averaging 6.6 runs per game, compared to Florida’s average of 6.5.

“We know we’re going to have our hands full with Florida,” Destino said. “We’re going to face a first rounder Friday, a first rounder Saturday, and then a first rounder next year Sunday. It’s not going to be easy, and we’re aware of that, but we’re extremely excited for the challenge that they present to us.”

Florida and South Carolina both swept Missouri and Arkansas, and the Gamecocks have an impressive sweep over No. 9 Ole Miss, while the Gators swept No. 2 Texas A&M. Both teams have also dropped two series on the year.

USC enters this weekend winners of four in a row after dropping two of three games at Georgia. The four-game winning streak is second in the conference behind only Ole Miss.

Despite Florida’s slew of first-round talent, the two teams matchup pretty evenly on paper. My guess is this weekend’s series will be competitive on the field as well.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 9:12 PM with the headline "No. 1 Florida baseball has a ton of talent, but so do Gamecocks."