The No. 1 overall seed Florida Gators begin action in the 2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament on Friday when they host the Gainesville Regional. Joining UF (42-17) at McKethan Stadium are No. 2 regional seed Jacksonville (39-19), No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic (40-17-1) and No. 4 seed Columbia (20-28).
The Gators, eyeing a second straight College World Series title, are the expected favorite to come out of the double-elimination regional and advance to the Super Regional round of the tournament and face the winner of the North Carolina State-hosted Raleigh Regional.
Here's what you need to know about Florida heading into the regional.