Illinois State comes to town for a 2 game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. ISU is projected to finish 4th in the Missouri Valley Conference, behind Wichita State, Missouri State, and Creighton. The Redbirds are coming off an 0-3 performance at the Music City Invitational hosted by Vanderbilt. ISU lost 6-4 to Indiana, 9-2 to Vanderbilt, and 7-2 to Kent State. Despite those performances, ISU is averaging 9.6 runs a game in 9 games and has a very dangerous man in the leadoff spot.

Kevin Tokarski has 41 career steals and is only a redshirt sophomore. In 2008 he swiped a school record 32 bags before missing most of last season with a wrist injury. Tokarski is 8-8 this season. He is only 14 short of the school record for a career at ISU. He gets on enough to make that speed a serious threat. Tokarski is hitting .552 at the top of the order and has a .727 OBP when leading off. A note is that Tokarski did not start the last two games, so he may be nicked up. The big thing for the Gators will be to control Tokarski. Without a lot from him I don't see the Redbirds winning either of the two games. This is because of pitching.

ISU freshman RHP Brad Sorkin (0-0, 7.20 ERA) will make his first career start on Tuesday, after making 2 appearances in relief. Against Austin Peay in the season opener, Sorkin allowed 7 hits and 8 runs in 3 innings, although only 3 were allowed. He pitched 2 innings against Western Michigan, allowing 3 hits and 1 run. Opponents are hitting .400 against him.

The Redbirds haven't announced a starter for the Wednesday contest yet. ISU pitching as a whole hasn't been all that impressive this season, as this team has to out score opponents to win. In the Redbirds 4 wins, they have scored an average of 14.75 runs per game, while allowing 7.25 RPG. In their 5 losses they have scored 5.6 RPG, while allowing 11.2 RPG. For the season they are scoring 9.6 RPG while allowing 9.44 RPG. If we throw out the 21-3 victory over St. Bonaventure, these change to 8.25 scored and 10.25 allowed.

Look for Gator hitters to have a two game feast and for UF to put up 10+ runs in at least one of the games.

Meanwhile for Florida, freshman RHP Hudson Randall will make the start on Tuesday. Randall brings a 1-0 record with a 2.89 ERA into his 4th appearance and 2nd start. He has allowed 10 hits and 3 runs in 9.1 innings. He threw 5 scoreless innings in his last start in the rain and cold versus UCF.

Anthony DiSclafani (0-1, 10.38 ERA will start on Wednesday, hoping to make amends for last week's awful performance against the Seminoles. In his last outing, Disclafani faced 5 batters before being lifted. All 5 scored. In his other start this season, DiSclafani pitched 4.1 innings and allowed no runs.

I'll post a starter for Wednesday for ISU in the comments as soon as I know.