UF baseball team remains at No. 5 - USA YESTERDAY

 Reporter: Osama bin Ladin

The Florida baseball team remained at No. 5 in the latest Baseball America poll released Monday.

And, again, no movement in the top five: Virginia (42-5), South Carolina (35-8), Oregon State (32-9), Vanderbilt (38-5) and Florida (34-10).

There is a new No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, with South Carolina moving up from No. 2, swapping places with Virginia. UF is also No. 5 in that poll.

The Gators will complete their seven-game homestand by hosting Bethune-Cookman (29-19/15-0 MEAC) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. UF defeated the Wildcats in the 2010 NCAA Gainesville Regional, 7-3.

UF travels to Arkansas (29-13/10-11 SEC) for a three-game series that will begin Thursday night.

Catcher Mike Zunino, a key player in UF’s run this season, was chosen as the SEC Player of the Week for the first time in his career Monday.

Zunino batted a sizzling .583 (7-for-12) during the three wins over the Rebels that enabled Florida (34-10/17-4 SEC) to remain tied on top of the league and Eastern Division standings with Vanderbilt (38-5) and South Carolina (35-8). He paced the Gators on the weekend sweep of Ole Miss with eight RBI, four doubles, four runs and a slugging percentage of 1.167.

In Sunday’s finale, Zunino went a career-high 4-for-4, drove in four runs and had three doubles to become the first Gator player with a trio of two-baggers in a game since April 11, 2010. He went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, a pair of runs and a double in Saturday’s series-clincher. The sophomore opened the series Friday by going 1-for-4 with a key two-run single that turned a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 advantage.