A rainy Saturday in Gainesville pushed back the start of a doubleheader between the Florida Gators and Harvard Crimson. Nevertheless, the delays didn’t affect Florida, as it breezed through its Ivy League opponent thanks to some stellar pitching performances and a phenomenal day at the plate, scoring 29 runs combined.
The No. 7 Gators (15-2) won both games of the double-dip against the Harvard Crimson (0-9) at Condron Ballpark, as they took game one 7-0 and game two 22-6, both in seven innings, to complete the series sweep.
True freshman right-hander Aidan King was on point for the Gators in his first career start in game one. Replacing injured redshirt junior lefty Pierce Coppola in the weekend rotation, King tossed six scoreless innings. He also allowed just two base hits, neither of which reached the outfield. The Jacksonville, FL native notched eight strikeouts and issued one walk.
Two of his eight punchouts came against the final pair of batters he faced in his third one-two-three frame of the outing. Through five appearances this year, King has struck out 20 and walked just two.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He threw his fastball both sides of the plate, had his slider going, straight change going, split-finger going. He had all four pitches going. He was extremely efficient, and he was really good.”
O’Sullivan turned to redshirt freshman right-hander Caden McDonald to shut the door in the seventh. He did just that, striking out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect inning to close out the Gators’ second-straight shutout victory over the Crimson.
Senior third baseman Bobby Boser had himself a game at the plate. After junior center fielder Justin Nadeau walked to begin the bottom of the first, Boser blasted his first homer of the day, a 425-foot bomb that hit the batter’s eye in center field. The two-run shot marked his sixth of the season.
One inning later, Boser found himself back at the plate with the bases loaded after two walks and a single from sophomore right fielder Hayden Yost. The USF transfer went to right field this time, as he connected for a grand slam that went 107 mph off the bat.
“It kind of just sparks the day,” Boser said. “I mean, getting those two barrels in your first two at-bats is pretty huge. It builds confidence through those two at-bats and then carried on throughout the rest of the day, so it’s pretty huge.”
Boser finished the first game 2-for-4 at the dish and drove in six of Florida’s seven runs. Yost brought in the final RBI, as he ripped a single up the middle that put the finishing touch on an impressive game one at the plate.
Yost, Boser and junior shortstop Colby Shelton all had two hits in game one. Shelton continued his hot streak with two opposite-field hits in four at-bats. The second was a double down the left-field line and marked his 10th two-bagger of the season.
UF sophomore right-hander Matthew Jenkins got the start in game two and struggled out of the gates. He surrendered four hits in the opening inning, including a two-run double from Harvard freshman catcher Liam Wilson, as the Crimson scored for the first time in the series.
He settled in nicely after the first, allowing just one baserunner in the next two innings. Jenkins’ day was done after the third, as he racked up four strikeouts in the outing.
“He’s probably gonna need to tighten up his slider a little bit,” O’Sullivan said. “He threw some really good right-on-right changeups today. I thought he was good.”
O’Sullivan used four relievers to close out the series, two of which threw scoreless frames. Redshirt freshman righty Christian Rodriguez tossed a scoreless fifth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two. True freshman righty Jackson Barberi followed and struck out the side in the seventh to end the landslide victory.
Finding themselves down for the first time in the series, the Gators responded quickly with a three-run bottom of the first. Back-to-back doubles from Nadeau and Boser, followed later by an RBI single from freshman second baseman Brendan Lawson, resulted in a 3-2 lead after one inning.
Florida added to its advantage in the third, batting around and scoring four runs in the frame. Junior catcher Brody Donay got it started with a two-run home run into the left-field bullpen for his team-leading eighth of the year. He reached base in eight of his nine plate appearances on Saturday, including all five in game two.
Later in the third inning, Yost knocked an RBI single to right field, and Boser was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home another run.
The Gators had another big inning in the fourth, adding five more to their lead. Florida had three walks and three hits in the inning, punctuated by a two-run double for senior right fielder Ty Evans.
UF continued to pour it on in the fifth. Lawson connected on his fourth home run of his freshman campaign, a two-run shot. Three batters later, Evans hit an RBI triple that pushed Florida’s run total to 16 at the time. Evans went 3-for-4 at the plate in game two with three runs scored and three more driven in.
“Obviously, [Evans] has been a staple in our program,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s a veteran, he’s played in Omaha a few times, and he’s had some really big moments. So, I think this weekend was good for him.”
Florida tacked on six more in the sixth as the Gators batted around for the second time in the game. Sophomore first baseman Landon Stripling plated two with a single, and Yost cleared the bases with a double to eclipse the 20-run mark for the first time since the Gators’ 24-4 victory over LSU in the 2023 College World Series.
Riding a four-game win streak, Florida will face its toughest test this season on Tuesday, as the Gators head to Tallahassee to take on the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles. FSU swept Florida in their season series in 2024. The first game of this year’s Sunshine State showdown on the diamond begins at 6 p.m. EST.
“They got a really good team,” O’Sullivan said. “Their pitching is outstanding, they’re balanced in their lineup. This weekend should give quite a few guys some confidence moving forward. But, it’s gonna get a lot more difficult moving forward.”
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.
