The Weekend Look Ahead: Women's Tennis With A Huge Weekend At Linder Stadium
Thursday, April 7, 2011 | General
The Weekend Look Ahead
While many fans will flock to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday for the Orange and Blue Debut presented by Scotts, there will be plenty on tap for Gator athletics, including a huge weekend on the tennis courts for the second-ranked women's tennis squad, while lacrosse and softball are also both in action at home, while men's tennis and baseball hit the road.
Tennis
There are three regular-season matches remaining and three Southeastern Conference women's tennis teams with undefeated records left and all three will play in Gainesville this weekend, beginning on Friday at 5 p.m. when second-ranked Florida plays host to sixth-ranked Georgia at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Florida is going for its 100th consecutive regular season home victory dating back to 2002.
On Sunday, the Gators host No. 14 Tennessee, currently 7-0 in SEC play. Admission to both matches is free to the public.
Head coach Roland Thornqvist previews this weekend's home matches that could determine the SEC regular-season championship (GatorVision).
The men's tennis faces an equally challenging schedule this weekend, facing the very same two teams as the women's squad, but on the road. Florida first travels to No. 7 Georgia on Friday. The Gators enter with a 6-2 mark in league play while Georgia is currently 8-0. On Sunday the Gators travel to Knoxville to face No. 4 Tennessee, currently in second place in the SEC with a 7-1 mark.
Baseball
No. 4 Florida (24-6/7-2 SEC) kicks off an eight-game road trip on Friday night with the opener of a weekend series at Western Division rival Mississippi State (20-9/4-5 SEC). With a 7-2 league record, UF enters the weekend in a four-way log-jam on top of the SEC standings with No. 1 Vanderbilt (27-3), No. 3 South Carolina (23-5) and No. 24 Alabama (21-10).
Both the Friday (7:30 p.m. ET) and Sunday (1 p.m. ET) games from Starkville will be carried on GatorVision Online, while Saturday's contest at 1 p.m. ET will be shown on CSS, which can viewed on the Cox Communications' cable system Channels 199 or 259 in Gainesville and Ocala.
Sophomore right-hander Hudson Randall (5-0, 0.54), who has been chosen as the SEC Pitcher of the Week twice in the last three weeks, will oppose Bulldog junior righty Devin Jones (2-4, 3.82) in the series opener. The second matchup will feature sophomore southpaw Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) (4-1, 2.92) against Mississippi State sophomore right-hander Chris Stratton (4-2, 3.04). Johnson worked 5.1 innings versus Tennessee last Saturday and was not involved in the decision after allowing four hits and two runs, with five strikeouts. The lefty has 36 strikeouts in 40 innings and foes are batting .200 against him. The finale will pit rookie RHP Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) (4-0, 2.06) against MSU junior lefty Nick Routt (0-1, 2.61).
Larry Vettel interviews head baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan about the Gators' sweep of Tennessee, and the upcoming series at Mississippi State. Plus, get to know sophomore catcher Mike Zunino.
Softball
Florida looks to move past last weekend's sweep at Kentucky, as Arkansas comes to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium this weekend. Florida enters with a 30-7 mark and a 7-6 record in league play. All three games can be seen on GatorVision.
Lacrosse
The sixth-ranked lacrosse team, winners of 11 matches in a row, returns home to face Johns Hopkins on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Dizney Stadium. Kitty Cullen was named ALC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring seven goals against Penn State in the Gators' last outing. The match can be heard on Sportsradio 850 (AM).
