No. 12 Gators Primed for Home-and-Home Midweek with Stetson

Tuesday, February 17

DeLand, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Gators

Stetson

Cade Kurland (left) and Blake Cyr (right) celebrate the Gators' series-evening win against UAB on Saturday, February 14, 2026 at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla. / UAA Communications photo by Senay Kinnon

No. 12 Gators Primed for Home-and-Home Midweek with Stetson

Monday, February 16, 2026 | Baseball

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Florida has won three-straight games vs. the Hatters after victories in DeLand (W, 6-1) and Gainesville (W, 14-4) last season.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Midweek play officially begins for the No. 12 Florida Gators as they travel to Stetson on Tuesday before hosting the Hatters on Wednesday night at Condron Family Ballpark.

Tuesday's matchup in Deland, Fla. is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+ while Wednesday's tilt in Gainesville, Fla. is scheduled for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Having rebounded for a series win vs. UAB on Opening Weekend with a Saturday doubleheader sweep, the Gators (2-1) are looking to win their third-straight game this season after a loss on Opening Night. A victory on Tuesday would also mark Florida's fourth in a row against the Hatters (0-3) after sweeping the season series one year ago in DeLand on Feb. 25 (W, 6-1) and in Gainesville on April 15 (W, 14-4 - 7 inn.).

Overall, Florida is 88-36 all-time vs. Stetson including 50-11 at home and 37-25 on the road. The Gators have won 13 of 15 meetings in the series under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan, featuring a perfect 8-0 mark at home and 5-2 record in DeLand (only losses in 2021 and 2024). Florida enters the midweek boasting victories in 19 of their last 25 regular-season games dating back to last season.

Pitching Matchups

	Tuesday \| 6:30 ET (ESPN+)	Wednesday \| 6 ET (SECN+)
Florida	RHP Billy Barlow (0-0, 0.00 ERA)	TBA
Stetson	RHP Zane Coppersmith (0-0, 0.00 ERA)	TBA
Links	WATCH \| LISTEN	WATCH \| LISTEN

CHECKING OUR POLLS
The Gators moved up one spot this week and sit at No. 12 in the D1Baseball Top 25. That matches Perfect Game (No. 12) for Florida's highest national ranking. The Orange & Blue slot in at No. 24 on Baseball America's list.

SCOUTING STETSON
After finishing the 2025 season as Co-Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Champions with a 41-22 record (24-6 ASUN) and NCAA Regional berth, Stetson is 0-3 out of the gate this season. The Hatters fell to Minnesota (L, 11-5), Ball State (L, 5-2) and St. John's (L, 11-7) during Opening Weekend in DeLand. Through three games, Stetson is batting .268/.381/.351 with zero home runs and three steals while pitching to a 6.92 ERA and an even 16 strikeouts to 16 walks in 26 innings. The Hatters have already committed eight errors for a .931 fielding percentage.

MIDWEEK MAGIC
Florida went 12-2 in midweek play one year ago with the lone losses coming against Florida State on March 25 (L, 8-4) and to USF on May 9 (L, 7-1). The Gators started 8-0 in home midweek contests before dropping their final home midweek game of the season to USF. Florida outscored midweek opponents, 111-to-64, last season. Looking beyond the midweek, the Gators are 24-5 in regular-season, non-conference play dating back to the start of the 2025 campaign.

RUNNING THE STATE
Tuesday and Wednesday represent Florida's first two games of the season against another team from the state of Florida. In 16 games against in-state competition in 2025, Florida was 12-4 featuring wins against Jacksonville (two), Stetson (two), North Florida (two), Miami (two), Florida State (two), Florida Atlantic and Florida A&M.

TRAILBLAZERS
After dropping a 9-7 contest in extra innings on Opening Night, Florida stormed back to win the series with a dominant doubleheader sweep on Saturday. Winning by scores of 11-0 (7) and 6-1, Florida outscored UAB, 17-1, and out-hit the Blazers, 25-to-8, across the twin bill. The pitching set the tone, allowing just one run, one walk and eight hits in 16 innings pitched along with 13 strikeouts for a 0.56 ERA and .145 batting average against. That was more than enough for the UF offense, which collected 15 extra-base hits including 10 doubles over the doubleheader.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
Florida wasted no time finding the scoring column all weekend long, plating multiple runs in the first inning of all three games. The Gators scored two runs in the opening frame of Friday's season opener, then exploded for a nine-run first inning in game two before a three-run first in the finale. Owning 14 first-inning runs in three games, Florida combined to score 12 first-inning runs on 13 hits including three homers and five doubles during Saturday's doubleheader alone.

OK, KJ
Much of Florida's ability to start games fast can be attributed to redshirt sophomore outfielder Kyle Jones. After missing all but four contests last season due to injury, Jones led off all three games against UAB with first-inning doubles. He finished with five doubles in the three-game series, four of which led off innings. Smacking multiple hits in every game of the series, Jones went 7-for-13 with a .538 batting average, .923 slugging percentage, four runs scored and three RBI. During Opening Weekend, he led Florida in total bases (12), hits, runs, doubles and at bats.

CASHIN' IN ON HIS DEBUT
Although he did not appear in Friday's season opener, rookie outfielder Cash Strayer made a major impact on the series on Saturday en route to earning SEC Co-Freshman of the Week honors. Making his first two career starts in games two and three, Strayer batted 5-for-8 along with his first-career home run, two doubles and two runs scored. The Tampa, Fla. native led Florida in every slash category (.625/.625/1.250) as well as OPS (1.875). Excelling in all aspects of the game, Strayer did not strike out during the series and registered a 1.000 fielding percentage across five putouts in the outfield.

BILLY GOAT
Entering his second campaign in Orange & Blue, redshirt senior right-hander Billy Barlow will toe the slab on Tuesday at Stetson in his season debut. Despite pitching to a 1-4 record and 6.26 ERA one year ago, Florida won six of Barlow's seven starts – the only loss coming vs. Georgia on March 22. The Gators went 4-0 in midweek games started by Barlow, outscoring opponents by a 27-9 margin in those matchups. One of those contests was a Feb. 25 trip to Stetson last year, when Barlow chucked four innings of one-run ball on five hits and four strikeouts to lift UF to a 6-1 road victory. In four midweek starts last season, Barlow was truly elite with one earned run allowed in 15 1/3 innings pitched for a 1-0 record, 0.59 ERA and 15-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

IT'S THE LAW
As Baseball America's top-ranked college player for the 2027 MLB Draft, Canadian sophomore infielder Brendan Lawson has started all three games at shortstop this season and is 4-for-9 with one homer, one double, four runs, three RBI, and one stolen base. Lawson is fresh off Freshman All-America honors after starting 60 of 61 games and slashing .317/.417/.522 for a .939 OPS. Slugging 10 homers and 14 doubles, Lawson ranked second on the team in RBI (61), multi-RBI games (15) and multi-hit games (23) while seeing action at first, second and third base.

FIRING FIRST FLORIDA ZEROS
Four pitchers provided scoreless outings in their Gator debuts over the weekend including two hurlers who made their collegiate debuts in righties Schuyler Sandford (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and Joshua Whritenour (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K). Two transfers delivered multi-inning relief gems, led by righty Ricky Reeth's 3 2/3 shutout frames of one-hit ball and two strikeouts. Southpaw Ernesto Lugo-Canchola was called on for the first time in the series finale, retiring all eight batters he faced to complete 2 2/3 perfect innings with two strikeouts. Sophomore transfer right-hander Cooper Walls excelled in his game three start, going 5 1/3 frames with one run allowed on four hits, one walk and four strikeouts to earn the win.

2026 ROSTER OUTLOOK
Florida welcomes back 22 players including 19 letterwinners from last year's roster, featuring six returning positional starters and two weekend starting pitchers in right-handers Liam Peterson and Aidan King. While 12 pitchers departed from the team, nine new hurlers were brought in during the offseason. Nineteen fresh faces joined the Orange & Blue for 2026, composed of 10 transfers and nine freshmen.

RETURN OF THE KING
The first act in King's second season after 2025 Freshman All-America honors came via six shutout innings with four hits allowed, zero walks and four strikeouts to earn the series-evening win vs. UAB. Across his last six starts dating back to last season, he is 4-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 33-to-10 K-to-BB ratio over 34 2/3 innings.

THE TALE OF 2025
Starting conference play with a 1-11 record before rallying to finish 15-15 and securing a No. 2 Regional seed, Florida became the first-ever SEC team to reach the NCAA Tournament after starting league play 2-10 or worse since 1992 expansion. The Gators won 14 of their final 18 SEC tilts while claiming six-straight series victories – twice as long as the next-closest team in the conference entering the postseason.

TURNAROUND TIDBITS
In their 1-11 start to SEC action, the Gators pitched to a 9.63 ERA, .311 batting average against and 110-to-75 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 100 innings. They batted just .244/.333/.384 with 14 homers and 10 steals. In the final 18 SEC games, Florida pitchers more than cut their ERA in half at an SEC-best 3.76 while producing a .228 BAA and 197-to-71 K-to-BB ratio over 153 frames. The offense exploded in that time, slashing .296/.406/.500 with 26 homers and 32 stolen bases. The turnaround shifted the Gators from the NCAA Tournament bubble into the NCAA Regional host conversation, ultimately resulting in UF earning one of the top No. 2 seeds in the field.

STAFF AFFECTION
Florida wields a surplus of quality arms for the 2026 season, returning an astounding 366 2/3 innings pitched – 72.2% – from last year's staff. To put into context, the Gators brought back 198 2/3 innings in 2025 and 273.0 frames in 2024. That means the 2026 Gators return 84.6% more innings compared to the 2025 team. As arguably the nation's top one-two punch out of the starting rotation, Peterson (69 1/3 IP) and King (73 1/3 IP) logged the most frames for UF in 2025 and will revert to their weekend roles in 2026 after combining for a 15-6 record, 3.41 ERA and 11.0 strikeouts per nine one year ago.

ROSTER RECONSTRUCTION
Florida returns 54.2% of its at bats (1,084 of 2,001) from the 2025 season, but just 49.4% of run production (212 of 429) and 36.2% of home run output (34 of 94). To combat the departing offense, the Gators brought in several potential starters via the transfer portal in infielder Ethan Surowiec (Ole Miss), catcher Karson Bowen (TCU), infielder Sam Miller (Columbia), and outfielder Jaden Bastian (Jacksonville). Last season alone, those four players combined to hit .325 across 603 at bats with 144 runs, 126 RBI, 33 homers, eight triples, 31 doubles and 40 stolen bases. Factoring in UF's talented true freshmen contingent, Florida has adequately retooled for the upcoming campaign.

THUNDER ONE THROUGH NINE
Thanks to the aforementioned portal additions, Florida boasts 11 players that finished with an OPS above .750 last season. Of that group, eight posted an OPS of at least .830 while six were above .935.

2025 OPS Leaders
Surowiec – 1.274
Kurland – 1.095

Miller – 1.013

Bastian – .985
Bowen – .941

Lawson – .939

Brookins – .864

Nadeau – .830

Cyr – .787
Yost – .772

Stripling – .765

Jones – .728
Wilson – .718

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Although a single pitch has yet to be thrown, Peterson embarks on his junior year as a First Team Preseason All-American (Baseball America, Perfect Game) in addition to being on Baseball America's Preseason College Pitcher of the Year Watch List. Baseball America also included Lawson on its Preseason College Player of the Year Watch List while King (D1Baseball) and Luke McNeillie (Baseball America) garnered Second Team All-America honors. As the 2025 D2 Baseball Pitcher of the Year at Northwest Nazarene, Lugo-Canchola rounds out the group, having collected Fourth Team All-America status from the NCBWA.

THEIR SPIKES ARE GOLDEN
In addition to the aforementioned honors, Peterson and King were also among 55 players named to the 2026 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List. Florida was one of 13 programs to place multiple players on the preseason list. This is the first-career appearance on the Golden Spikes Preseason Watch List for both Peterson and King, although the former was featured on the 2025 midseason list.

DESTINATION OMAHA
Coming off the program's 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O'Sullivan enters his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O'Sullivan's 2008 arrival, Florida leads the sport with 305 SEC wins, 41 MLB debuts, 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 15 College World Series overall – by far the most in the sport.

TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets and SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans are currently on sale now in addition to single-game tickets. Tickets can be purchased online or by contacting the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683.

MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP
As a reminder, mobile ticketing is required. There will be two ways to access your tickets:
1) through the Florida Gators app from your mobile device or
2) through FloridaGators.com/myaccount. Fans will also be able to transfer or donate their tickets easily within the app or online.

PARKING/SHUTTLES
Fans are encouraged to park at the Fifield and IFAS lots during the weekend. An increased number of shuttles will be available for transportation to the ballpark each day.

Click HERE for a Parking map.

General Parking is available in the west Condron Family Ballpark baseball lot and the Fifield parking lot located directly across Hull Road.
Disabled parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Condron Family Ballpark west lot with a valid Disabled Placard.
Fans can follow this link to an interactive parking map.
RV Parking is available in the Fifield Flat lot. Reserved RV parking is not available for Florida baseball games. All motor home parking is on a first come, first-served basis.
- On-board generators are permitted, however exterior or pull-along generators are prohibited at all times. For safety reasons, all motor homes/RVs are required to utilize exhaust extensions or "smoke stacks" to channel exhaust fumes to the top of the motor home/RV.
- Overnight stays are only allowed on weekend series in the Fifield Flat lot.
Do Not Park Illegally
- Park in designated parking spots (Do not park on grass or in No Parking Zones).
- Vehicles are subject to towing if they block streets, sidewalks, service drives, or fire lanes, or if illegally parked in a disabled space.

TRAFFIC PATTERNS ON GAME DAY
Those visiting Condron Family Ballpark on game day should be aware of updated traffic patterns surrounding the ballpark. Fans are advised to utilize Ballpark Way, which will serve as a connecting route to the ballpark from Archer Road. For departures, a postgame traffic flow pattern guide can be found here.

BALLPARK PURCHASES
Condron Family Ballpark food and beverage sales are fully cashless. For convenience and to improve speed of service, all concession stands will only accept credit cards, debit cards, or touchless payment with smartphones. Fans with cash can stop at the first base Concession Stand to exchange cash for a Gift Card. Gift Cards can be used at any concession stand within Condron Family Ballpark.

ON DECK
Florida is back at home this weekend for a three-game series against Kennesaw State (Feb. 20-22). All three games air on SEC Network+ with the series opener set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

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