Florida baseball simply dominated last weekend.
Granted, No. 6 UF played a Rhode Island team that spent most of its Spring practicing indoors due to inclement weather, but a 37-5 showing over the course of three games is nothing short of spectacular.
The game looked fun again for the more than 3,000 fans who filled McKethan Stadium each day, fans who had become accustomed to seeing Florida make a living on bloopers to the shallow outfield and try to win the game with its bunting.
However, there is one aspect of the college game that changed this year that could be playing a major factor in Florida’s recent offensive outburst — the ball.
In an attempt to increase offensive production in college baseball, the NCAA adopted the use of a new, flat-seamed baseball — closer to the one used in Major League Baseball — for the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
According to research conducted by the Washington State University, the flat-seamed ball travels on average about 20 feet farther than the previously used raised-seam ball, meaning balls that would normally reach the warning track and would either be flyouts or extra-base hits in previous years have an increased opportunity to go over the wall.
Well, NCAA, if the opening weekend in the Southeastern Conference was any indication, you got your wish.
While the SEC was not required to use the new ball during the regular season, the league made the switch.
And through three games, the SEC — and the Gators — has reaped dividends.
As a whole, the conference hit 34 home runs this weekend compared to 20 during the opening three days of the 2014 season.
Six teams produced at least three home runs through their first three games this year. In 2014, only three SEC teams were able to say they did that.
Florida — a team that has recorded less than 30 home runs each of the past two years — had four players belt out a combined six home runs in its sweep of Rhode Island, tying with Georgia for the most home runs in the conference through three games.
To put that into perspective, last year’s Florida team didn’t hit six home runs until UF’s 3-1 win against Florida State on March 18 — 21 games into the season.
Junior Harrison Bader, a career .323 hitter with three home runs to his name entering this season, ripped an SEC-best three balls into the bleachers at the Mac and hit .583 against Rhode Island this weekend.
The junior outfielder’s performance, which also included 11 RBIs, five runs and a 1.500 slugging mark, earned him the first Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honor of his career on Monday.
The Gators also tacked on 10 additional extra-base hits (nine doubles and a triple) from seven different players to go along with a collective .340 batting average to open the season.
"I think the ball may have something to do with it," UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after Saturday’s 22-3 routing of the Rams where Florida ripped four homers into the McKethan Stadium bleachers. "I think you’re going to see as the season goes along, there’s going to be more offensive production."
The season’s still early, and three games are without a doubt a small sample size to make any sort of predictions about how many home runs any team is going to hit this season.
But the early view for the Gators this season looks like a home run.
"I didn’t know how much it was going to change," O’Sullivan said. "I knew it would somewhat. Maybe it’s going to be a little bit more than we thought."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Harrison Bader (8) celebrates with Dalton Guthrie (5) and Richie Martin (12) after hitting a home run during Florida's 22-3 win against Rhode Island on Saturday at McKethan Stadium.
