SEC athletic directors approved a normal season structure Wednesday, according to D1 Baseball’s co-managing editor Kendall Rogers.
This normal schedule is no small amount of baseball. The past three full seasons, the Gators have played either 25 or 26 non-conference games to begin the season before finishing with a 30-game conference slate that leads into the SEC Tournament. Rogers’s tweet also confirmed that there would be no changes to the number of conference games played.
This announcement follows a fall in which every competitive sport had some modification to its schedule. Winter sports, such as men’s and women’s basketball, had games canceled as a result of COVID-19 regulations after proceeding with normal schedules.
The directors also voted to increase the travel size of rosters from 27 to 30, likely an insurance policy for COVID-19 regulations that could impact a team’s ability to compete. The NCAA removed the 35-man roster limit back in June.
The Gators have yet to reveal an official 2021 schedule. Their spring schedule typically kicks off the second or third Friday of February, including a Valentine’s Day opener against Marshall last season.
Contact Ryan Haley at rhaley@alligator.org and 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.
