Florida came into Tuesday night’s midweek contest against North Florida having lost six of its last seven ballgames. UF’s lineup had the power swing going against the Ospreys, though, clubbing a season-high five home runs and scoring all of its runs off the long ball to get back in the win column.
Florida (20-11) took down North Florida (17-12) at Condron Ballpark 8-4, as it completed the two-game season sweep of its in-state foe.
UF’s pitching staff struggled from the jump. Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan used nine pitchers to get through the night. Freshman right-hander Jackson Barberi got the start, butonly lasted 1 2/3 innings. He surrendered a leadoff homer to Ospreys sophomore shortstop Mitchell Collins in the second inning and issued four free passes to the 10 batters he faced. Barberi eventually finished with one earned run on the evening.
“We got off to a rough start,” O’Sullivan said. “Twenty pitches out of 40 [were balls], went an inning and 2/3 for the start. We keep talking about the same things, and they’re not complicated. You throw two of the first three pitches for strikes, batting average is, historically, .210 or less.”
After 1/3 inning and two walks from freshman southpaw McCall Biemiller, redshirt freshman righty Caden McDonald stepped in and threw two scoreless innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out two batters.
McDonald was pulled for freshman right-hander Carson Montsdeoca in the fifth inning. He faced just three batters, but gave up two extra-base hits. The first was a towering blast by UNF senior first baseman Cade Bush. The second was a double into the left-field corner by senior second baseman Connor Moore, who scored two batters later due to a throwing error by Florida junior second baseman Justin Nadeau.
After McDonald, the next three right-handers Florida threw out did not allow any runs. Sophomore Alex Philpott and redshirt freshman Christian Rodriguez each threw an inning, as Philpott allowed just one hit and Rodriguez tossed a one-two-three frame with two strikeouts. Redshirt sophomore Jake Clemente followed with 1 2/3 hitless innings of his own, giving up just one walk with a pair of punchouts.
“We had to use Alex and Jake in the middle of the game,” O’Sullivan said. “Which we’re trying to get through games like this, hopefully we don’t have to use them. And Christian Rodriguez threw a good inning.”
In the ninth, freshman lefty Niko Janssens walked the only batter he faced before O’Sullivan brought in redshirt junior Billy Barlow to close it out. He allowed the inherited runner to score, but held onto the lead to finish off the victory for UF.
Florida’s bats were hot early and often. Nadeau led off the bottom of the first with a homer to right field. Two batters later, junior shortstop Colby Shelton blasted a no-doubt solo long ball to the same spot. This marked his second-straight game with a home run and the 50th of his career.
“Nadeau hit a homer first inning,” Shelton said. “Got us started going, and then I got one up there and got out to an early lead, which was a big start for us.”
To kickoff the third inning, senior third baseman Bobby Boser crushed a 427-foot long ball over the left-field bullpen.
The Gators put up a big sixth inning to push the game out of reach. Entering the frame tied, junior catcher Brody Donay led off with a bomb. It was his ninth of the year and the team’s third leadoff home run of the game. Later in the inning, Boser came through again, as he crushed a grand slam off the batter’s eye in center field for his team-leading 10th home run of the season.
“Was just looking for a ball up, something to smash,” Boser said. “Definitely a huge breath of fresh air. It gives us a cushion for our pitching. It’s definitely a good deep breath right there.”
Florida has now won its last two games after six straight losses and will turn its attention to No. 23 Vanderbilt. The Gators are 1-8 in SEC play so far this year and will face Vanderbilt in a three-game series this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET.
“I think when the Florida Gators are aggressive, nobody can really stop us,” Boser said. “So, we gotta keep that up.”
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.
