Sitting at a perfect 9-0 in midweek outings this year, the No. 21-ranked Florida Gators baseball team looked to make it 10-0 Tuesday night.
But Jacksonville had other plans, scoring four unanswered runs to steal a win from the Gators on their own diamond. Florida’s pitching staff, despite surrendering just six hits, hit six batters on the night.
“We caused our own problems,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We just didn’t pitch well enough.”
Florida (23-7, 6-3 SEC) fell against Jacksonville (13-16, 2-7 ASUN) 4-3 at Condron Family Ballpark for its first midweek loss of the season.
The Gators saw trouble early, as starting freshman pitcher Schuyler Sandford walked his first two batters with no outs.
But Sandford bounced back, retiring three straight Dolphins in the top of the first to strand two runners on first and second.
In the second, Sandford walked one and surrendered a single down the right side to JU senior outfielder Blake Edmonds before being relieved for fellow freshman Eli Blair with two outs.
Blair walked his first batter, hitting freshman outfielder Cade Walter on the arm to give Jacksonville bases loaded. But Blair responded, forcing a groundout to leave the bags juiced.
Despite a two-out single to left field from senior catcher Cole Stanford, Florida could not capitalize, as freshman outfielder Jacob Kendall flew out to center field to leave Stanford stranded.
UF freshman infielder Kolt Myers led off the third with a triple to right-center on one pitch. Then, sophomore outfielder Kyle Jones was walked to put runners on the corners for Florida with zero outs.
Sophomore shortstop Brendan Lawson hit a sacrifice fly to center field, sending Jones to third and scoring Myers to give the Gators a one-run lead. Fellow sophomore infielder Ethan Surowiec joined the sacrifice ritual, grounding out to third with enough time to plate Jones, making it a 2-0 Florida advantage after three.
“[Myers is] a grinder,” Lawson said. “It’s nice to see him putting it all together.”
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Blair forced a groundout and hit one Dolphin in the top of the fourth before he was subbed from the slab in favor of sophomore Caden McDonald. Blair finished with one strikeout while hitting three batters.
McDonald’s first pitch was a single to left-center from sophomore shortstop Sammy Mummau, as Jacksonville had runners on the corners with one out. However, McDonald recovered, retiring two straight Dolphins with a strikeout and a groundout as Jacksonville left another two runners helpless.
The Gators tacked on another run in the fourth. With two outs on an 0-2 count, Stanford drilled his fourth long ball of the season to the left berm to extend Florida’s advantage to 3-0 after four.
“It’s tough coming to the school like this and earning a spot in the lineup consistently every day,” Stanford said. “We’re all working for that, and I think being able to do that has helped out a lot.”
Jacksonville cut the lead to two runs in the sixth. Junior outfielder Abdriel Delgado singled to left-center field and reached second on a fielder’s choice from Surowiec. Then, with two outs, Mummau singled to the left side to score Delgado to make it a 3-1 score.
Walter proceeded to single to right field to put runners on the corners for the Dolphins. McDonald limited the damage, striking out one to leave two more runners stranded.
Senior Billy Barlow stepped on the hill for the Gators to begin the seventh frame. McDonald finished with five strikeouts while issuing three hits and zero walks with one earned run.
Barlow came in and retired the side of Jacksonville’s order on 10 pitches to give Florida a chance to add to its lead. But the Gators went down in order on just five pitches to send Barlow back to the mound.
Despite striking out two batters to start the eighth, Barlow induced two straight Dolphins before exiting the slab in favor of sophomore Cooper Walls, making his second appearance as a reliever.
Walls hit his first batter, giving Jacksonville loaded bases with two outs. JU senior infielder Roger Vergara then singled to right field to plate two Dolphins to notch the game at three runs apiece. A passed ball scored Walter as the Dolphins took their first lead of the night.
Walls bounced back in the ninth, retiring three straight batters to give the Gators one more chance to at least tie the ballgame.
But with a runner on second, Stanford grounded out to leave one stranded.
Florida is back in action this weekend at Condron Family Ballpark, as the Ole Miss Rebels come into town for a weekend series. The series opener on Thursday is set for 6:30 p.m.
Contact Adrian Carmona at acarmona@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @abcarmona04.
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Adrian Carmona
Adrian is a senior journalism major and the baseball reporter for the Spring of 2026. He previously served as the soccer reporter in the fall of 2025. He enjoys playing Sporcle quizzes and ranting about South Florida sports.