Gators fall in D1Baseball NCAA Tournament projections, still hosting

D1Baseball dropped Florida from the No. 8 seed to the No. 14 seed in its NCAA Tournament field-of-64 projections after another 1-3 week from the Gators.

Florida fell to Jacksonville for the second time this season on Tuesday and lost a weekend series to Texas A&M. The Gators' weekend rotation is falling apart with Liam Peterson and Russell Sandefer struggling each week, and the offense doesn't show up unless Aidan King is on the mound. The sophomores' Friday-night performances are the only thing keeping Florida in position to host a regional right now.

The Gators are grouped with the 20th-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers, the NC State Wolfpack and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. Less than two weeks ago, Bethune-Cookman defeated Florida in midweek action, but it might be a different story with the weekend rotation in play. The Orange and Blue have not played either of the other two clubs.

Florida's top-ranked strength of schedule anchors the case for the Gators. The Orange and Blue have a 13-10 record against Quadrant 1 opponents, tied for the most wins with Alabama (13-9) and Georgia Tech (13-5).

D1Baseball’s projection is not an official bracket, but it offers a snapshot of where teams stand entering the final weeks. It is assembled by Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt, who have a combined 60 years of experience covering college baseball.

Florida has three weekend series remaining in the regular season: at Oklahoma, vs. Kentucky and at LSU.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as , and like our page on  to follow ongoing coverage of news, notes and opinions.