Facing a full count in the top of the first inning, UF junior catcher and single-season RBI record holder Jocelyn Erickson was looking for her first big moment in Florida’s 2025 SEC slate.
While the reigning SEC and NFCA Division 1 Player of the Year has followed up her stellar campaign with another successful season so far, she had yet to hit a home run against Power 4 competition entering Saturday’s game.
Erickson took the full-count pitch in the top of the first, remaining calm and collected, and blasted a line-drive three-run homer to a group of Aggie fans sitting underneath the 12th Man flag in right center field. Her seventh home run of the season gave the Gators a 4-0 lead, which they only built on as the night progressed.
Behind this momentum-boosting blast from Erickson, the No. 3 Florida Gators (25-2) defeated the Aggies (22-3) 12-4 on Saturday in six innings at Davis Diamond. This marked UF’s 18th run-rule victory of the season.
This contest allowed the Gators to get back to their winning ways against the Aggies following a 3-2 loss in their Friday series opener. Coming into the weekend, Florida had not lost to the Aggies since March 19, 2022, with UF now having won seven of the last eight meetings between the two teams.
The top of the first inning spelled trouble for TAMU junior starting pitcher Grace Sparks (5-1), who lasted just one-third of an inning after giving up four runs (three earned).
UF senior center fielder Kendra Falby started the game with a walk, which extended her streak of reaching base in every game this season. Freshman right fielder Taylor Shumaker followed with a ground-rule double to set up senior left fielder Korbe Otis with no outs and two runners on. Otis opened the scoring by reaching on a fielder’s choice, as Aggies junior catcher Gracyn Coleman recorded a throwing error.
However, UF sophomore starting pitcher Ava Brown (6-0) faced trouble in the bottom of the first. TAMU senior center fielder Allie Enright reached first base on a throwing error by Brown, and freshman second baseman KK Dement fouled out to score graduate third baseman Mac Barbara, which was all for the Aggies in the bottom of the first to cut their deficit in half.
Brown pitched six innings for the Gators, giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits. She also struck out five Aggie batters and walked three. The final two runs she yielded came in the bottom of the fifth, with Barbara recording a single, and Dement bringing her home on a sacrifice fly. Brown secured a crucial groundout on freshman right fielder Frankie Vrazel to end the fifth.
However, the UF offense showed it was up to the task of supporting Brown on Saturday, as the Gators responded to Texas A&M’s early scoring with four runs. In the top of the fourth, sophomore second baseman Mia Williams temporarily took possession of second place on the home run leaderboard with her eighth blast of the season on a line drive to left field.
Freshman designated player Gabi Comia reached on an infield single later in the frame, and Falby brought her home with a RBI triple to left field that was just over senior left fielder Kramer Eschete’s head. Facing two strikes, Shumaker, the country’s leader in total bases, RBIs, runs and home runs, hit an RBI single to end a three-run fourth inning.
In the top of the fifth, senior first baseman Reagan Walsh made her mark in this contest. Heading into the Feb. 26 contest against Florida Gulf Coast, she was hitting .214 and had two home runs on the season. Now, she holds an average of .343, and she added to her home run total in this game.
Walsh sent her first blast, a line-drive solo home run, over the center field wall while facing two strikes to equal the total Williams had set earlier in the game.
Back-to-back singles by senior shortstop Rylee Holtorf and Falby allowed Otis to have a chance to extend the lead. She hit a ground ball past third base to score both runners.
Later in the inning, Walsh took sole possession of second place in home runs on the team, as she sent a two-run moon shot to the same location as her first to score Otis.
After evening the series, UF will go for the series on Sunday in a winner-take-all game three at 1 p.m. UF has not lost a series to Texas A&M since 2007, and Sunday’s game will provide an indication of where the team will be heading in conference play. UF’s streak of winning six-straight opening SEC weekend series will also be on the line once again.
Contact Jackson Colding at jcolding@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Colding_Jackson.
Jackson Colding is a junior sports journalism major and the Spring 2025 softball reporter. He is in his second semester at the sports desk. In his free time, he likes playing hockey, soccer and going to the gym.
