- The Florida Gators baseball team secured a crucial SEC road series win against Mississippi State, boosting their conference standing.
- Florida's offense excelled, scoring 32 runs over three games, showcasing depth and resilience by overcoming deficits.
- Despite the offensive success, pitching remains a concern for the Gators, with starters and relievers struggling at times.
- Florida faces a challenging remaining SEC schedule, needing to perform well against top-ranked opponents to improve their postseason chances.
Florida baseball’s long climb back to relevancy took another positive step this weekend in Starkville.
The Gators took two of three games this weekend at Mississippi State in what was their first SEC road series win and a critical one over a Bulldogs squad UF might be fighting with for a spot in the postseason.
The 13-3 win Friday and 11-8 Saturday lifted Florida (27-15, 6-12 SEC) to 13th in the conference standings – two games behind Kentucky and Texas A&M.
Here’s what we learned from the series win in “Starkvegas.”
Florida baseball’s lineup shows its depth
No doubt this was the best SEC series for the Gators’ offense. Florida scored a remarkable 32 runs in three games – topping seven in each game. Against an MSU pitching staff that ranks in the top half of the SEC in ERA, that’s no small feat.
Better yet, the offensive explosion came from nearly everyone in the lineup. In Friday’s 13-3 run-rule win, Blake Cyr and Ashton Wilson were the lone two to not drive in runs. The next day – an 11-8 win – Cyr and Wilson each drove in two runs.
Friday, Brody Donay and Luke Heyman played hero as each hit home runs. Donay, in fact, belted two. Brendan Lawson stepped up the entire series. He hit nearly .500 (6-for-14) and hit a “little league home run” in Saturday’s game, tripling and scoring on an error. That was enough for the third baseman to win SEC Player of the Week for the second time.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan called it one of the best offensive weekends he’s seen in a while. It was further impressive that UF came back from deficits Friday and Saturday.
“That's two games in a row we had to fight from behind, and it's not easy to do—especially on the road in an environment like this,” O’Sullivan said. “So, from that standpoint, I was really pleased."
Florida could have scored more if it capitalized with runners on base. It left 26 on base in three games.
“There were a lot of things that happened in that game that we need to do a better job of (like) situational hitting,” O’Sullivan said after Friday’s game. “We had about four or five situations where we had runners at third with less than two outs and didn't put the ball in play.”
Pitching struggles continue
Liam Peterson’s showing Friday was solid. After escaping early trouble, him and the bullpen held the Bulldogs to three runs. Saturday and Sunday were different. Starters Aidan King and Luke McNiellie couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning in either game. McNeillie acquiesced seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. King, the true freshman, allowed six in 4 1/3 innings, but O’Sullivan was more complementary of him.
“His line, for me, doesn't really indicate how he threw,” O’Sullivan said. “Getting out of a bases loaded situation with nobody out was really big for him.”
The bullpen had one of their better weekends, allowing just three earned runs through nearly the entire series – until Billy Barlow gave up five runs in the eighth inning in Sunday’s 14-8 loss.
The Bulldogs do hold one of the best offenses in the conference, so it is understandable. But this weekend showed O’Sullivan can’t rely on the staff, especially with a critical SEC series coming up.
The hard work begins
Florida’s 5-1 mark over Missouri and Mississippi State was the easy step. The Tigers don’t have a conference win, and the Bulldogs sit right around the Gators in the bottom quarter of the SEC.
Still, UF is 6-12 in the conference. That’s two wins behind its 8-10 record at this time last year, and Florida was one of the last teams in the NCAA tournament field in 2024.
The Gators final four SEC series come vs. No. 4 Arkansas and No. 17 Alabama and at South Carolina and No. 1 Texas. USC is the lone of the four not ranked. For Florida to reach its 13-17 mark, it likely needs to sweep South Carolina, win the series vs. Alabama and not get swept vs. Arkansas and Texas.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email atNram@gannett.comand follow him@Noah_ram1on X/Twitter.
