Several reasons why Florida baseball is struggling — And how it wants to fix it

Florida baseball finds itself at another challenging crossroads to its 2024 season.

The No. 18 Florida Gators (17-15, 6-6 SEC) dropped their fourth straight, run-ruled in a 19-4 loss at No. 9 Florida State on Tuesday night.

Florida dropped to 0-3 on the season against FSU, the first time UF was swept in a three-game series with its rivals since 2000.

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In mid-April, Florida almost has as many losses as it did all lost season, when the Gators went 54-17 and reached the College World Series finals, falling to LSU.

Florida will look to regain some momentum when it hosts South Carolina in a critical SEC weekend series from Friday to Sunday at Condron Family Ballpark.

"The bottom line is this: we're going to continue to work at this thing as hard as we ever have, but we've got a lot of decisions to make moving forward and some different things," Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Obviously, we've got a long part of the season left. But this is disappointing."

Here are three reasons why the Gators are struggling:

Florida baseball pitching has been porous

Florida has given up 10 or more runs in eight games this season and 30 runs in its last two games.

UF's 6.33 ERA ranks last in the SEC. Control has been a problem, as UF's pitchers have walked 144 batters (second most in SEC) and hit 40 more batters (tied for third most in the SEC).

Sophomore lefty Cade Fisher (2-2. 6.69 ERA) struggled in the Friday night starting role and was recently replaced in the rotation by junior righty closer Brandon Neely (1-0, 5.18 ERA), who has looked promising in two starts. But moving Neely has compromised the back end of the bullpen. Fisher and freshman righty Luke McNeillie were unable to close out a game on Sunday at Missouri, combining to give up three runs in the ninth inning of an 11-10 loss.

Highly-touted freshman righty Liam Peterson (1-4, 7,88 ERA) is still finding his way as a weekend starter. Two-way standout Jac Caglianone has been UF's most consistent starter, but was touched for seven runs (six earned) in 1 1/3 innings against Missouri on Sunday.

Florida baseball lineup has been inconsistent

Like last season, the Gators are a slugging team, with 69 home runs, which ranks third in the SEC. But UF also ranks 13th in the SEC in batting average .267 and on-base percentage .384.

The Gators have struck out 300 times this season, third-most in the SEC, which has impacted situational hitting. On Sunday, Florida could have put Missouri in the top of the 9th up 10-8, but struck out three straight times with the bases loaded.

Florida baseball still searching for answers at 3B, CF

Florida has gotten solid defense from Dale Thomas at third base and Michael Robertson and Jalen Guy in center field, but not enough offensive production. Thomas is batting .189 on the season with 2 home runs and 14 RBIs, while Guy is batting .176 with 0 home runs and 2 RBIs. Robertson is batting .264 on the season with 0 home runs, 9 RBIs and two stolen bases.

The Gators have moved Tyler Shelnut in to play third base on occasion, but if Shelnut were to move to third base full time, it would create another hole in left field., where Shelnut plays most of the time.