Florida baseball will only play their rival Florida State Seminoles twice in 2021 after the March 30 Jacksonville contest was canceled Thursday.
The Gators typically face their in-state rivals three games a season, once at each team’s home park and another time at 121 Financial Ballpark. The stadium is better known as The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and is home to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, a minor league affiliate of the Miami Marlins.
The game won’t be rescheduled for 2021, according to a tweet from JAXSPORTS Council. The rivalry has plans to return to the Duval diamond in 2022.
This will mark the second consecutive season that Florida and FSU don’t face off at the Jumbo Shrimp’s home field. Last year’s contest, scheduled for March 24, 12 days after all spring sports were halted due to COVID-19.
The Gators won the last contest in Jacksonville 4-2 in 2019.
Florida will still play the Seminoles on their dirt March 16 before welcoming them to the new Florida Ballpark April 13. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan and his players may anxiously await those two matchups, as FSU ended Florida’s perfect season a year ago in a 2-0 loss that wound up being the Gators’ final game of the season.
The canceled contest will be replaced by another game to be announced later.
Contact Ryan Haley at rhaley@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @ryan_dhaley
Ryan Haley, a UF journalism senior with a sports & media specialization from Jacksonville, Florida, is Summer 2022's Engagement Managing Editor. He grew up playing a bunch of different sports before settling on golf, following Rory McIlroy and all Philadelphia sports teams. He also loves all things fiction, reading, watching shows and movies and talking about whatever current story or character is in his head.
