Florida baseball: Series takeaways from home-and-home vs Stetson

Florida took both games of a midweek home-and-home series against Stetson, giving Gators fans a better look at the pitching staff and offense. It's still very early in the season, so revelations are coming with each game. The offense looks good, and some stars are emerging beyond Kyle Jones and Brendan Lawson. Depth is always important to get through the grueling college baseball schedule.

On the mound, plenty of arms that didn't appear over the weekend got their chance. Billy Barlow and Luke McNeillie flashed their stuff as starters, and Caden McDonald got a three-out save to close out the run-rule victory on Tuesday. Ernesto Lugo-Canchola should be the talk of the town after starting his Gators career perfect through 17 outs.

This group has the makings of being one of the best in the country, if these early games are any indication. Here's what we learned about the club this week. Is Blake Cyr returning to freshman form? Blake Cyr was still finding his footing a year ago as he returned from injury and got used to life in the SEC.

Even though the early season is played against mid-major talent, Cyr looks like a completely different player than Florida fans saw a year ago. This is the Cyr that wowed as a freshman in Miami, and he looks like one of Florida's best bats Through five games, Cyr leads the team with nine hits (tied with Kyle Jones) and three home runs.

His 1.455 OPS is the third-highest on the roster and he is one of three Gators with an OPS at or above 1.000. A 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio is also encouraging. Cyr has lowered his strikeout rate with each season, but his walk rate and batting average have also fallen at the same rate.

With all of the hits, a 4.5% walk rate is acceptable, and a sub-10% strikeout rate adds to that confidence that he's seeing the ball better than ever before. He moved up to fifth in the order by Wednesday, but he could bat sixth when Karson Bowen is in the lineup. Either way, it gives Florida a dangerous bat outside of the top four.

Florida has its lefty specialist Ernesto Lugo-Canchola followed up his perfect debut on Saturday with a nine-up, nine-down performance on Wednesday. It's still very early in the season, but it feels like Kevin O'Sullivan has struck gold in the transfer portal, from the DII ranks no less.

Obviously, Lugo-Canchola will give up a base at some point, but few players make the transition from DII ball to DI ball this cleanly. Florida lacked a true left-handed specialist last year, with Frank Menendez going down early. Lugo-Canchola has filled a big void in that regard.

McNeillie is better served out of the bullpen Luke McNeillie wasn't available for whatever reason — likely a minor injury — but he looked fine against Stetson in his start on Wednesday. He only got two innings of work, thanks to a strict pitch count, but the fastball looks good, touching 96 mph, and his slider was its usual plus pitch, with the exception of one that ran in and plunked a batter.

The problem with McNeillie's arsenal is that it lacks a true third pitch. He doesn't have great command of his changeup, which hurts him against left-handers. Still, he's an excellent option out of the bullpen, and Florida is likely to use him there against Kennesaw State this weekend. It's unclear where McNeillie fits in as a starter for Florida.