Last season was full of ups and downs for the Florida Gators baseball team. An underwhelming regular season marred by a 13-17 SEC record was just enough to get them into the NCAA tournament as a three-seed in the Stillwater Regional. They would then go on a tear to make the College World Series for the second straight season. It would take the national runner-up Texas A&M Aggies to finally knock them out of the tournament.
The Gators now turn the page to 2025 with a slate of non-conference games before SEC play begins on March 14. They have a Fall Exhibition on November 2 against Jacksonville to give fans an early feel for who stands out on the team.
This matchup between Florida and the Jacksonville Dolphins will be played on the road on February 18 after the Gators’ first three-game series of the year against Air Force that begins on February 14.
The Jacksonville game will be the first of a back-to-back at Condron Family Ballpark, as Florida will host Florida A&M the following night. Then, beginning on February 21, Florida will play its second three-game weekend series against the Dayton Flyers.
The following mid-week game, on February 25, against the Stetson Hatters will be a road game for the Gators in DeLand. The next night, Florida returns home to Gainesville to face North Florida.
Next up, beginning on February 28 is Florida’s biggest series of non-conference games against the Miami Hurricanes. The Gators took two out of three games a season ago in Miami. Now, the two teams will meet again for three games in Gainesville.
The matchups between Florida and their big, in-state opponents will continue into the next week. On March 4 and 5, the Gators will face off against Central Florida and Florida Atlantic. A year ago, they defeated Florida Atlantic but lost to UCF in two games where the Gators gave up a combined 17 runs.
Florida’s last four non-conference games will be a three-game series against the Harvard Crimson beginning on March 7. Then, as a finale before SEC play on March 11, the Seminoles will face the Florida State Seminoles in a rivalry matchup in Tallahassee.
The Gators will play the Seminoles two more times afterward as they look to end Florida State’s three-game winning streak, which began with a sweep against the Gators a season ago.
Florida had a 36-30 overall record a season ago; a large part of that was losses in non-conference play that must be locked up to improve that. They will face many teams that they lost to a year ago in conference play again in 2025, like Florida State, UCF, and Stetson. If they find ways to avenge those losses, they will be in better shape to face the tough teams in the SEC and make another run to Omaha this upcoming season.
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WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
Photo Credit: The Florida Gators reacts to a play against the LSU Tigers during game two of the Division I Men’s Baseball Championship held at Charles Schwab Field on June 25, 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
