Two things you don’t see every day on a baseball diamond: the game being finished under protest and a dropped fly ball in center field that goes over the wall for a home run. Both things happened Tuesday night, as Florida won a wild battle against Stetson.
The No. 8 Florida Gators (8-0) took down the Stetson Hatters (4-4) 6-1 at Melching Field in DeLand to remain undefeated on the 2025 season.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Florida had a 2-1 lead. In the ensuing at-bat, Stetson sophomore catcher Salvador Alvarez seemingly beat out a grounder to shortstop, scoring the tying run from third base. After review, it was ruled that Alvarez did not step on the orange safety bag at first and only stepped on the white bag, meaning he was out and the run did not score. The Hatters officially put in a protest to the NCAA, which will make a ruling at a later date.
One inning later, Florida junior second baseman Cade Kurland blasted one to the warning track in center field that popped out of the glove of former UF center fielder Landon Russell. The ball went over the wall for a three-run shot that blew the game open. Kurland now has three long balls in the past two games.
Senior right-hander Billy Barlow got the start on the mound for the Gators. Barlow looked great through the first three innings, but struggled a bit in the fourth. He gave up back-to-back singles and a wild pitch in the frame. A sacrifice fly from Hatters junior left fielder Jordan Taylor brought home the first run of the ballgame.
Barlow’s night was done after four innings. In his second outing of the season, he allowed one run on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
Freshman righty Aidan King was phenomenal out of the bullpen for Florida. He tossed three hitless innings on just 32 pitches with four punchouts. Sophomore right-hander Alex Philpott threw the final two innings to shut the door for UF. He gave up just one hit and struck out two as he closed the game out.
The Gators were held hitless through four innings. Senior righty Dylan Jacobs, who got the start for Stetson, was masterful in his three innings of work, walking just two batters while tallying two strikeouts. Senior Ty Van Dyke came out of the bullpen for the Hatters and struck out the side in the fourth.
Florida cracked the scoreboard in the sixth inning thanks to a throwing error by Alvarez, which allowed senior third baseman Bobby Boser to score and tie the game.
The Gators added another run in the seventh, as junior left fielder Blake Cyr blasted a leadoff homer over the left-center wall to give Florida its first lead of the game. This marked the Miami transfer’s first homer as a Gator. UF tacked on one more in the ninth, as former Hatter and current Florida center fielder Kyle Jones flared an RBI single into left that put the game out of reach.
UF will have to turn around quickly as it welcomes North Florida to Gainesville on Wednesday. The Gators have won their last eight games against UNF, including sweeping the season series last year. First pitch at Condron Ballpark is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
Contact Hugh Green at hgreen@alligator.org. Follow him on X @HGreen_15.
Hugh is the Spring 2025 baseball beat reporter for The Alligator. He is a fourth-year journalism sports and media major. In his free time, Hugh enjoys watching all kinds of sports with his friends.
