Friday, May 1
Norman, Okla.
7:30 PM
Florida Gators
at
Oklahoma
Ethan Surowiec (right) celebrates a home run wth Blake Cyr (middle) and Kyle Jones (left) during the Gators' game against the Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday, April 12, 2026 at Foley Field in Athens, Ga. / UAA Communications photo by Madilyn Gemme
No. 15/25 Florida Visits No. 12/15 Oklahoma in Inaugural Series
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 | Baseball
The three prior meetings between Florida and Oklahoma all took place at the 2022 Gainesville Regional.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The No. 15/25 Florida Gators travel to Norman, Okla. for the first time in program history to take on the No. 12/15 Oklahoma Sooners in a three-game series from May 1-3.
The inaugural regular-season series between the two teams begins on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Game two airs on SEC Network at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by Sunday's finale at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
The Gators (29-16, 11-10 SEC) and Sooners (29-14, 11-10 SEC) previously faced off three times, all taking place at the 2022 NCAA Gainesville Regional. Florida and Oklahoma split the first-two matchups (L 9-4, W 7-2) before facing off in a winner-take-all-game (L, 5-4) with a Super Regional berth on the line. Having taken two of three back in 2022, Oklahoma leads the head-to-head series at 2-1. Both teams are coming off series losses and sit at 11-10 in SEC play.
The last time Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan and the Gators traveled to the state of Oklahoma, they came away as 2024 NCAA Stillwater Regional Champions before advancing to the College World Series for the second-straight season.
Pitching Matchups
CHECKING OUR POLLS
Wrapping their homestand with a 1-3 week, the Gators remain ranked in four of the five major polls led by Baseball America at No. 15. D1Baseball dropped Florida four spots to No. 25 while Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches Poll moved UF down three positions to No. 23 and No. 25, respectively.
8 HOURS & 42 MINUTES OF MAYHEM
At the 2022 Gainesville Regional, No. 13-national seed Florida hosted No. 2 seed Oklahoma, No. 3 seed Liberty and No. 4 seed Central Michigan. After defeating CMU (W, 7-3), the Gators lost to the Sooners to drop into the loser's bracket. A second win over CMU (W, 6-5) on the afternoon of Sunday, June 5 sent Florida into the championship round, needing back-to-back wins over Oklahoma to advance to Supers.
Later that night, a legend was born at Condron Family Ballpark. Entering with the bases loaded and zero outs in the first inning, true freshman lefty Carsten Finnvold stranded the bags juiced and proceeded to complete the nine-inning game on 116 pitches. Left without any starting options for game three vs. OU, Florida turned to true freshman righty Brandon Neely on two days' rest. Neely was masterful across 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and the Gators appeared to be headed to their first Super since 2018 - but weather intervened with two outs and nobody on in the top of the seventh, forcing Neely's removal.
Five hours and 33 minutes later, play resumed, but the Sooners plated four runs in the top of the eighth to steal a 5-4 victory and Regional Champion honors. Oklahoma went on to play in the 2022 College World Series Finals while Florida would compete in the 2023 CWS Finals one year later.
SCOUTING THE SOONERS
After dropping two of three games at Auburn last weekend, Oklahoma enters with a 29-14 overall record and 11-10 resume in SEC play. Owning an 18-5 record at home, the Sooners have batted .280/.390/.460 this season backed by 46 home runs and 93 steals in 111 attempts. Oklahoma pitchers have worked to a 4.63 ERA, .224 batting average against and 432-to-182 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Sooners play solid defense, as evidenced by a .979 fielding percentage.
ROAD WARRIORS
Florida has yet to drop a series to a ranked opponent on the road this season, going a combined 8-1 in top-25 away contests. The Gators have delivered series upsets against a pair of top-five SEC teams on the road by toppling No. 4 Georgia and sweeping No. 4 Arkansas, in addition to sweeps of No. 20/10/5 Florida State and No. 17 Miami (two games). Adding in Florida's neutral-site victory over No. 10 FSU on March 24, the Gators are 9-1 while playing away from home against top-25 teams. Interestingly, seven of UF's eight top-10 victories have come away from home. Florida's is 9-4 in away games and has lost one road series all season, having been swept by then-unranked Alabama from March 20-22.
EARLY CASE TO HOST
Although Florida has played to a 17-11 record against unranked teams, the Gators boast the nation's best record against ranked opponents at 12-5 on top of being tied for the most Quad 1 wins in the country (13). Backed by the nation's No. 2 strength of schedule and No. 14 RPI, Florida has gone a dominant 8-3 vs. top-10 foes featuring a 6-1 mark against the top five. The Gators have also handled business against lesser opponents, going a combined 13-3 against Quads 3 and 4.
HOLD ON SEC
Despite the series loss to No. 7 Texas A&M, the Gators have won nine of their last 13 SEC series dating back to last season. In that span, Florida has gone 25-14 across 39 SEC contests for a .641 win percentage.
STACKING SHUTTIES / NCAA RANKS
Florida comes into the weekend repping a nation-high seven shutouts thrown – four shy of the program record of 11 set in 2011. The Gators have produced a shutout in 15.6% their games (45) for 24.1% of their victories (29). In addition to pacing the country in shutouts, Florida ranks eighth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.16), 15th in WHIP (1.28) and walks allowed per nine (3.37), 16th with an SEC-leading 26 sacrifice flies, 16th in strikeouts per nine (10.6), 17th in ERA (3.99), 34th in hits allowed per nine (8.13) and 44th in win percentage (.644).
FEARSOME FIVESOME
Although viewed as a pitching-first team, the Gators have five projected positional starters with a batting average over .300 and OPS above .850. Leading the way with a 1.200 OPS on top of a .317 batting average, shortstop Brendan Lawson is followed by two-way player Caden McDonald (.350 AVG, 1.109 OPS), outfielder Blake Cyr (.347 AVG, 1.041 OPS), corner infielder Ethan Surowiec (.303 AVG, .896 OPS) and center fielder Kyle Jones (.306 AVG, .859 OPS). That powerful quintet has also set the tone on the basepaths, combining for 34 of the Gators' 42 stolen bases (81.0%).
CYRING HOT
Owning a nine-game hitting streak, Cyr has homered six times in the last seven contests to more than double his home run output on the season (10). During his hitting streak, the senior slugger has led UF in every slash category via a .472/.525/1.028 batting line as well as total bases (37), hits (17), runs (12) and RBI (13). Cyr has collected six multi-hit efforts in the last-nine games including four in the previous five, propelling him to a team-high .347 batting average and 43 RBI on the season. In line for career highs in batting average, slugging percentage (.626) and doubles (11), Cyr paces the Gators in multi-hit games (16) and multi-RBI performances (12).
THIS KING IS AN ACE
As the only qualified SEC hurler with a sub-2.00 ERA this season, ace starter Aidan King paces the conference with a 1.78 ERA (eighth nationally) and 11 games started, having logged four-straight wins and quality starts coming into Friday night. In line to finish with the league's lowest ERA in back-to-back seasons, King ranks second in the SEC and fifth nationally in WHIP (0.87), third in victories (seven) and ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.69) on top of a team-high seven quality starts and .182 batting average against in 60 2/3 innings – making him one of 43 semifinalists for National Pitcher of the Year honors. Having started four of Florida's nation-leading seven shutouts, King has surrendered three runs or less in nine of his 11 starts. During his four-start win streak, the righty has gone at least six innings every time out to total 28 2/3 frames with just five runs allowed for a 1.57 ERA. Across his last 16 starts dating back to last season, King is 11-3 with a 1.36 ERA and 89-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 99 1/3 innings pitched (15 earned runs allowed).
MCDONALD SPECIAL
Although McDonald went into the Texas A&M series with one-career start, nine at bats, two hits and zero home runs, he made the most of three-consecutive starts at designated hitter. Popping the first two homers of his career in games one and two vs. the Aggies, McDonald recorded a hit in all three contests and finished 5-for-12 at the plate (.417/.417/1.000) with a team-high 12 total bases and four RBI. As a true two-way talent, McDonald has also made 14 pitching appearances to the tune of a 3-1 record and 3.56 ERA in 30 1/3 innings. His breakout 2026 campaign comes on the heels of a stellar summer in the Cape Cod League, where he finished second on the circuit in home runs (six) while hitting .256/.396/.477 and pitching to a 3.51 ERA in 25 2/3 frames.
GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH
As one of 45 players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and a Brooks Wallace Award Semifinalist, Lawson leads the Gators in OPS (1.200), on-base percentage (.525), slugging (.675) and homers (11). In 39 games, the Canadian sophomore is hitting .317 while totaling 43 runs, 34 RBI, 43 walks and 10 stolen bases. Lawson leads the SEC in walks and on-base percentage while sitting sixth and 11th in the country in those categories, respectively. He also ranks 11th in the SEC in runs per game (1.10) and slugging. If the season ended today, Lawson's .525 OBP would be the fifth-best in program history behind only Matt LaPorta (.582, 2007), Brad Wilkerson (.547, 1996; .538 in 1998) and Jac Caglianone (.544, 2024).
RELENTLESS REPTILES
Florida boasts 11 come-from-behind victories through 45 games, having erased a one-run deficit to take the series opener against No. 7 Texas A&M last Friday. In particular, the Gators' five-run comeback on March 8 vs. High Point marked their largest since May 15 of last season against Alabama (five runs).
DESTINATION OMAHA
Coming off the program's 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O'Sullivan is in his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O'Sullivan's 2008 arrival, Florida leads the nation with 316 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 country.
ON DECK
The Gators return home for a four-game homestand, beginning against North Florida on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Florida then hosts Kentucky in a three-game series from May 8-10.
Follow the Gators
#GoGators
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
The inaugural regular-season series between the two teams begins on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Game two airs on SEC Network at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by Sunday's finale at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
The Gators (29-16, 11-10 SEC) and Sooners (29-14, 11-10 SEC) previously faced off three times, all taking place at the 2022 NCAA Gainesville Regional. Florida and Oklahoma split the first-two matchups (L 9-4, W 7-2) before facing off in a winner-take-all-game (L, 5-4) with a Super Regional berth on the line. Having taken two of three back in 2022, Oklahoma leads the head-to-head series at 2-1. Both teams are coming off series losses and sit at 11-10 in SEC play.
The last time Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan and the Gators traveled to the state of Oklahoma, they came away as 2024 NCAA Stillwater Regional Champions before advancing to the College World Series for the second-straight season.
Pitching Matchups
| Friday | 7:30 ET (SECN+) | Saturday | 7 ET (SECN) | Sunday | 3 ET (SECN+) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | RHP Aidan King (7-2, 1.78 ERA) | RHP Liam Peterson (1-4, 3.93 ERA) | RHP Russell Sandefer (2-2, 4.08 ERA) |
| Oklahoma | RHP LJ Mercurius (6-5, 5.33 ERA) | LHP Cameron Johnson (6-1, 3.02 ERA) | LHP Cord Rager (3-2, 4.74 ERA) |
| Links | WATCH | LISTEN | WATCH | LISTEN | WATCH | LISTEN |
CHECKING OUR POLLS
Wrapping their homestand with a 1-3 week, the Gators remain ranked in four of the five major polls led by Baseball America at No. 15. D1Baseball dropped Florida four spots to No. 25 while Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches Poll moved UF down three positions to No. 23 and No. 25, respectively.
8 HOURS & 42 MINUTES OF MAYHEM
At the 2022 Gainesville Regional, No. 13-national seed Florida hosted No. 2 seed Oklahoma, No. 3 seed Liberty and No. 4 seed Central Michigan. After defeating CMU (W, 7-3), the Gators lost to the Sooners to drop into the loser's bracket. A second win over CMU (W, 6-5) on the afternoon of Sunday, June 5 sent Florida into the championship round, needing back-to-back wins over Oklahoma to advance to Supers.
Later that night, a legend was born at Condron Family Ballpark. Entering with the bases loaded and zero outs in the first inning, true freshman lefty Carsten Finnvold stranded the bags juiced and proceeded to complete the nine-inning game on 116 pitches. Left without any starting options for game three vs. OU, Florida turned to true freshman righty Brandon Neely on two days' rest. Neely was masterful across 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and the Gators appeared to be headed to their first Super since 2018 - but weather intervened with two outs and nobody on in the top of the seventh, forcing Neely's removal.
Five hours and 33 minutes later, play resumed, but the Sooners plated four runs in the top of the eighth to steal a 5-4 victory and Regional Champion honors. Oklahoma went on to play in the 2022 College World Series Finals while Florida would compete in the 2023 CWS Finals one year later.
SCOUTING THE SOONERS
After dropping two of three games at Auburn last weekend, Oklahoma enters with a 29-14 overall record and 11-10 resume in SEC play. Owning an 18-5 record at home, the Sooners have batted .280/.390/.460 this season backed by 46 home runs and 93 steals in 111 attempts. Oklahoma pitchers have worked to a 4.63 ERA, .224 batting average against and 432-to-182 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Sooners play solid defense, as evidenced by a .979 fielding percentage.
ROAD WARRIORS
Florida has yet to drop a series to a ranked opponent on the road this season, going a combined 8-1 in top-25 away contests. The Gators have delivered series upsets against a pair of top-five SEC teams on the road by toppling No. 4 Georgia and sweeping No. 4 Arkansas, in addition to sweeps of No. 20/10/5 Florida State and No. 17 Miami (two games). Adding in Florida's neutral-site victory over No. 10 FSU on March 24, the Gators are 9-1 while playing away from home against top-25 teams. Interestingly, seven of UF's eight top-10 victories have come away from home. Florida's is 9-4 in away games and has lost one road series all season, having been swept by then-unranked Alabama from March 20-22.
EARLY CASE TO HOST
Although Florida has played to a 17-11 record against unranked teams, the Gators boast the nation's best record against ranked opponents at 12-5 on top of being tied for the most Quad 1 wins in the country (13). Backed by the nation's No. 2 strength of schedule and No. 14 RPI, Florida has gone a dominant 8-3 vs. top-10 foes featuring a 6-1 mark against the top five. The Gators have also handled business against lesser opponents, going a combined 13-3 against Quads 3 and 4.
HOLD ON SEC
Despite the series loss to No. 7 Texas A&M, the Gators have won nine of their last 13 SEC series dating back to last season. In that span, Florida has gone 25-14 across 39 SEC contests for a .641 win percentage.
STACKING SHUTTIES / NCAA RANKS
Florida comes into the weekend repping a nation-high seven shutouts thrown – four shy of the program record of 11 set in 2011. The Gators have produced a shutout in 15.6% their games (45) for 24.1% of their victories (29). In addition to pacing the country in shutouts, Florida ranks eighth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.16), 15th in WHIP (1.28) and walks allowed per nine (3.37), 16th with an SEC-leading 26 sacrifice flies, 16th in strikeouts per nine (10.6), 17th in ERA (3.99), 34th in hits allowed per nine (8.13) and 44th in win percentage (.644).
FEARSOME FIVESOME
Although viewed as a pitching-first team, the Gators have five projected positional starters with a batting average over .300 and OPS above .850. Leading the way with a 1.200 OPS on top of a .317 batting average, shortstop Brendan Lawson is followed by two-way player Caden McDonald (.350 AVG, 1.109 OPS), outfielder Blake Cyr (.347 AVG, 1.041 OPS), corner infielder Ethan Surowiec (.303 AVG, .896 OPS) and center fielder Kyle Jones (.306 AVG, .859 OPS). That powerful quintet has also set the tone on the basepaths, combining for 34 of the Gators' 42 stolen bases (81.0%).
CYRING HOT
Owning a nine-game hitting streak, Cyr has homered six times in the last seven contests to more than double his home run output on the season (10). During his hitting streak, the senior slugger has led UF in every slash category via a .472/.525/1.028 batting line as well as total bases (37), hits (17), runs (12) and RBI (13). Cyr has collected six multi-hit efforts in the last-nine games including four in the previous five, propelling him to a team-high .347 batting average and 43 RBI on the season. In line for career highs in batting average, slugging percentage (.626) and doubles (11), Cyr paces the Gators in multi-hit games (16) and multi-RBI performances (12).
THIS KING IS AN ACE
As the only qualified SEC hurler with a sub-2.00 ERA this season, ace starter Aidan King paces the conference with a 1.78 ERA (eighth nationally) and 11 games started, having logged four-straight wins and quality starts coming into Friday night. In line to finish with the league's lowest ERA in back-to-back seasons, King ranks second in the SEC and fifth nationally in WHIP (0.87), third in victories (seven) and ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.69) on top of a team-high seven quality starts and .182 batting average against in 60 2/3 innings – making him one of 43 semifinalists for National Pitcher of the Year honors. Having started four of Florida's nation-leading seven shutouts, King has surrendered three runs or less in nine of his 11 starts. During his four-start win streak, the righty has gone at least six innings every time out to total 28 2/3 frames with just five runs allowed for a 1.57 ERA. Across his last 16 starts dating back to last season, King is 11-3 with a 1.36 ERA and 89-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 99 1/3 innings pitched (15 earned runs allowed).
MCDONALD SPECIAL
Although McDonald went into the Texas A&M series with one-career start, nine at bats, two hits and zero home runs, he made the most of three-consecutive starts at designated hitter. Popping the first two homers of his career in games one and two vs. the Aggies, McDonald recorded a hit in all three contests and finished 5-for-12 at the plate (.417/.417/1.000) with a team-high 12 total bases and four RBI. As a true two-way talent, McDonald has also made 14 pitching appearances to the tune of a 3-1 record and 3.56 ERA in 30 1/3 innings. His breakout 2026 campaign comes on the heels of a stellar summer in the Cape Cod League, where he finished second on the circuit in home runs (six) while hitting .256/.396/.477 and pitching to a 3.51 ERA in 25 2/3 frames.
GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH
As one of 45 players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and a Brooks Wallace Award Semifinalist, Lawson leads the Gators in OPS (1.200), on-base percentage (.525), slugging (.675) and homers (11). In 39 games, the Canadian sophomore is hitting .317 while totaling 43 runs, 34 RBI, 43 walks and 10 stolen bases. Lawson leads the SEC in walks and on-base percentage while sitting sixth and 11th in the country in those categories, respectively. He also ranks 11th in the SEC in runs per game (1.10) and slugging. If the season ended today, Lawson's .525 OBP would be the fifth-best in program history behind only Matt LaPorta (.582, 2007), Brad Wilkerson (.547, 1996; .538 in 1998) and Jac Caglianone (.544, 2024).
RELENTLESS REPTILES
Florida boasts 11 come-from-behind victories through 45 games, having erased a one-run deficit to take the series opener against No. 7 Texas A&M last Friday. In particular, the Gators' five-run comeback on March 8 vs. High Point marked their largest since May 15 of last season against Alabama (five runs).
DESTINATION OMAHA
Coming off the program's 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O'Sullivan is in his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O'Sullivan's 2008 arrival, Florida leads the nation with 316 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 country.
ON DECK
The Gators return home for a four-game homestand, beginning against North Florida on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Florida then hosts Kentucky in a three-game series from May 8-10.
Follow the Gators
#GoGators
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP/1B
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballJosh Whritenour Postgame Press Conference April 26, 2026 | Texas A&M
Sunday, April 26
Kevin O'Sullivan Postgame Press Conference April 26, 2026 | Texas A&M
Sunday, April 26
Blake Cyr Postgame Press Conference April 25, 2026 | Texas A&M
Saturday, April 25
Kevin O'Sullivan Postgame Press Conference April 25, 2026 | Texas A&M
Saturday, April 25
