Wednesday's UCF-UF baseball game in Gainesville could be the final chapter of the series, at least for the foreseeable future.
Between 2015 and 2018, the schools met twice per season with the games split equally between Orlando and Gainesville.
No future games are on the docket beyond this week's matchup. UCF coach Greg Lovelady says discussions will continue with UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan, but his counterpart has given indications they'd want the vast majority of future games in Gainesville with infrequent return trips.
"It seems as though that they're not too interested in playing here very much," Lovelady said. "So I think on our end, in my mind, it puts the series in limbo. Being so close, I'm not really interested in never playing at our place. I'm interested in anything that they want to propose, but I'm definitely not interested in never playing here again or playing (at UCF) every five or 10 years. I'm not into that.
"We really haven't got into too much discussion past this year. That's something Sully and I will talk about prior to the game tomorrow during (batting practice) or sometime on the phone or whatnot. With the success we've had and the things we've done, I think we deserve to have them play here. I think it's good for both of us to do that.
"I'm not married to a home-and-home with them, but I'm not married into never playing here (at UCF). I'm not interested. I think our program has done enough to deserve the respect we deserve. If we're not going to get that, it's not going to be a one-way street."
UCF swept last year's series with a 9-7 win in Orlando and followed that with a 4-2 victory on UF's campus. The Gators were ranked No. 1 at the time.
Florida leads the all-time series, 28-19.
As for other in-state teams, Lovelady said Florida State will visit Orlando next year for a two-game series. The Knights and the Seminoles meet once this season in Tallahassee on Tuesday, March 19. This is FSU coach Mike Martin's final season before his retirement.
Miami also returns to Orlando in 2020. The Knights and Hurricanes play in Coral Gables later this year on Wednesday, May 8.
"Florida State will have a new head coach," Lovelady said. "I hope they keep with what's going on. They're supposed to play here twice next year. Miami is supposed to be here next year. It'll be a good schedule next year. We'll be on the road at Auburn. We'll have those three games (two vs. FSU, one vs. Miami) here.
"We'd love to have Florida play here too. Play them twice. I'd love to play them twice every year. In my mind, I'd love to play a home-and-home with them every year. It's close. It's easy to play. It helps both our RPIs. It's a good challenge. Obviously they draw well, so from that standpoint it makes sense for us."
UF games have been among UCF's highest attended with large turnouts from both Knights and local Gator fans. Of UCF's top seven best all-time crowds, six have come against UF:
The Auburn series will conclude next season with UCF's return trip to the Plains. Lovelady said the series originally came about due to his friendship with former AU assistant Brad Bohannon, who is now the head coach at Alabama.
"(Auburn head coach Butch Thompson) is a good dude," Lovelady said. "We got to meet for the first time at the (2017 Tallahassee) Regional. He honored (the scheduling arrangement) just because we both thought it was a good opportunity. He wants to get on the road. They're on the road a lot this year, so he wanted to get into a difficult environment against a really good team to kind of practice. We want to play the best. Obviously having a team like that come in and then we'll get to return the favor and put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation next year having to play at their place.
"I want to play teams like that on the weekend. I've been trying to increase our weekend RPIs. Put us in a situation at the end of the year where we're in the best place we can to make the NCAA Tournament. At the same time, setting the gauge and getting an opportunity to practice playing a regional type team for three games. Going to Florida, it'll be like playing in a regional because that's the type of regional you've got to play at, but one game can only do so much. Playing a three-game series against a quality opponent really challenges you because you've got to beat three teams to make it through a regional."
The SEC opponents will continue beyond Auburn. Lovelady said Ole Miss is back on the schedule for a home-and-home series in 2021 and 2022. The Knights and Rebels previously met in 2014 and 2015.
"(Ole Miss is) a big power SEC team that's normally a top 10, top 15 program," Lovelady said. "I like that that challenge. I like the pressure. But those are also the weekends guys will talk about the rest of their lives. 'Remember that time when Auburn came in and we beat them. Remember we went to Ole Miss and those fans were nuts but in a good way.'
"You want to see kids travel. Last year, half our team had never seen snow and we get to see snow at UConn. Seeing other parts of the country is a good learning experience. We try to go to cool places. (When I was at Wright State) we went to TCU one year and we took the team to Dealey Plaza (where President Kennedy was assassinated).
"Some guys don't get to get out and travel very much. You're trying to make this experience positive for them so they're better people when they leave here. Sometimes in this country of Florida we live in, kids from here, they don't understand what the rest of the world is like. I was one of them. I felt like I was a better person understanding the good and the bad of Florida and that there's other places. There's other weather. You want to culture the kids a little bit, so going to places like Ole Miss and Auburn will be a good experience for the kids."
Notes
Lovelady said they take mostly positives from this past weekend's series against Auburn because they battled in every game, but he's still disappointed they couldn't pull it out on Friday or Sunday.
Offensively, Lovelady thought the bats improved in every game against Auburn. Dalton Wingo and Griffin Bernardo have shown the improvement they exhibited during the fall and preseason. Tyler Osik and Dallas Beaver started out slow, but they're coming around. He still thinks "there's more in there" in regards to the offense.
"I think better days offensively are coming," he said.
Lefty Jaylyn Whitehead, who started last Tuesday against Stetson and also pitched in relief on Sunday vs. Auburn, will get the starting nod against Florida. Due to the fact he's coming off short rest, Lovelady is hoping to get two or three innings before staffing up the rest of the game.
"Six outs would be great. Nine would be awesome," Lovelady said. "If I could get six or nine scoreless outs, that would be tremendous. We'll throw the rest of the guys an inning or two and piece it together. I want (Jeffrey) Hakanson and (Jack) Sinclair and (Kyle) Kemp to be put in situations against a really good team. Another challenge for them to pitch better and not just think they can blow it by weaker competition. It'll be a great experience for those guys to pitch on the road."
Barring no game cancellations - there is a threat of rain for Wednesday's game at UF - Chris Williams will start on Saturday against Jacksonville. Williams, a redshirt senior and UCF's returning No. 1 starter, has been serving a nine-game NCAA suspension due to his participation on UCF's club team as a freshman.
Catcher Anthony George is closer to seeing his first action of the season. He was potentially available this past Sunday as a pinch hitter and Lovelady is hoping to play him against Florida in some capacity, whether it's a short-term catching stint or hitting role.
The video above includes the full 15-minute interview with Lovelady as well as conversations with Tyler Osik and Jaylyn Whitehead.
