Three Takeaways from Florida’s series win vs. Mississippi State
Hector
Hector
The Florida Gators earned their second straight SEC series win of the 2025 season last weekend versus the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Gators went on the road and took two out of three against the Bulldogs.
Florida’s offense had a huge series against a quality SEC pitching staff. Brody Donay has started to heat up in SEC play. The Gators are playing great baseball and need to carry this momentum into this weekend’s matchup. Here are three takeaways from Florida’s series win versus the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Florida earns first road SEC series win of the season
The Florida Gators have had their worst season in conference play during the Kevin O’Sullivan era. However, Florida has been playing much better in the past two weeks and has won seven of their last eight games.
The Gators won their second straight SEC series against one of the best offensive teams in the country. Florida’s offense kept up with Mississippi State’s offense and outscored them by seven runs in the series.
The top of Florida’s lineup continues to be on a tear. Bobby Boser has arguably been Florida’s best hitter in the past two weeks. Colby Shelton, Brendan Lawson, and Luke Heyman continue to hit well against SEC pitching. The bottom half of the order also had some key at-bats and clutch hits to help Florida win the series over Mississippi State. In the series win, Florida’s 7-8-9 hitters batted .342 with two doubles, two home runs, and nine RBIs.
2. Brody Donay is starting to heat up in SEC play
At the beginning of the season, it looked like Brody Donay was poised to be one of the most dangerous power hitters in college baseball. Donay looked like he had improved his approach and cut down on his whiff percentage.
However, Donay’s production started to go down, including his power numbers. Donay struggled to make contact, and when he did, he didn’t square up the ball. Nevertheless, Donay has looked much better at the plate and had an excellent series against Mississippi State.
In the series, Donay went 8-for-15 (.533 batting average) with one double, three home runs, five RBIs, and six runs scored. If Donay continues to produce at a high level, he will help lengthen Florida’s lineup and add some legit power to their offense.
3. Jake Clemente has cemented his role as Florida’s closer
When Brandon Neely was drafted, Florida needed to find another closer to secure wins in tight games. However, Florida has struggled to find a closer, and it has cost them some games, especially in SEC play.
However, redshirt sophomore Jake Clemente has looked excellent coming out of the bullpen and has likely cemented his role as Florida’s closer. The Broward County native opened the season as Florida’s Saturday starting pitcher, but would struggle with command late in his outings.
Florida moved him to be bullpen, and he has pitched much better as a relief pitcher than as a starter. Clemente has been Florida’s closer in the past couple of weeks and looked like a legit closer with his ability to get swing-and-miss. On the season, Clemente has struck out 50 batters in 34 innings pitched. He also has a .174 opponent batting average. With Clemente as Florida’s closer, he can also go multiple innings if needed. It would help put less stress on the other Florida relief pitchers who are still working on their craft.
