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.
It didn’t take long for Florida to get the bats going on Thursday night. The Gators scored five runs before recording their first out in the bottom of the first inning. That included back-to-back home runs from junior catcher Luke Heyman and left fielder Blake Cyr that quickly put the game out of reach.
It had been over a month since Florida baseball fans had a game to cheer about against a Power-Four opponent. Before Tuesday, the Gators hadn’t beaten a team from the top four conferences at home since they took down Miami on March 1.
Never in the history of Florida’s baseball program have the Gators gotten off to as poor of a start to conference play as 2025. After starting 0-8 against SEC opponents, UF took one game against Ole Miss before returning to its rough showings.
Florida’s struggles in conference play have been well-documented. For most of its rough start against SEC opponents, the pitching has been the biggest issue. Whether it’s giving up late leads or being out-gunned in shootouts, the bats have not been the problem.
Florida hit a season-high five homers, including two from Bobby Boser, to take down UNF in a midweek battle.
The Gators baseball team has three former Marjory Stoneman Douglas pitchers this season, two of whom have important roles in Florida’s pitching staff.
The Gators fell to 0-8 in conference play in game one of the doubleheader against No. 15 Ole Miss but used a big ninth inning in game two to win their first SEC game of 2025.
Florida’s pitchers struggled with command all night in the series opener at No. 15 Ole Miss, as the Gators dropped to 0-7 in conference play.
The No. 13 Gators were swept for the second-straight weekend to open up SEC play against No. 4 Georgia.
The No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers scored nine runs in the seventh inning to shutout the No. 7 Gators in mercy-rule fashion.
Solutions by The State News
