No. 13/21 Florida Walks Off Kentucky to Complete Comeback
Entering the underside of the eighth inning, the Gators (33-17, 14-11 SEC) trailed the Wildcats (29-17, 11-14 SEC) at 6-1, however rallied for 5 runs to tie the sport heading into the ninth. Lawson (1-for-4) supplied the primary heroic second of the night time with a two-out, three-run double within the eighth earlier than scoring the tying run on a wild pitch whereas Jones (1-for-5) discovered a gap by the left aspect of the infield with two outs and the bases loaded within the backside of the ninth for his first-career walk-off hit.
Having trailed from the highest of the third till the underside of the eighth, Florida’s five-run comeback is tied for its largest throughout the final two seasons. Cade Kurland (2-for-4) was additionally instrumental within the win with two runs scored and his third homer of the season, which opened the scoring for the Gators within the third inning. Although SEC Pitcher of the Year frontrunner Aidan King was charged with a season-high 5 earned runs, he buckled down to full a minimum of six frames for his sixth-consecutive begin, ending with 6 1/3 innings pitched and 6 strikeouts to one stroll.
Following a delayed begin of three hours due to climate, recreation one received underway at 9:30 pm with King fanning the primary two UK batters of the night time on six pitches. He got here inside one pitch of an immaculate inning earlier than Luke Lawrence grounded out to first base on a 1-2 pitch to finish the body.
King struck out the leadoff man whereas working round a two-out hit batter within the second to clean the Wildcats. Kentucky drew first blood within the high of the third to take a 3-0 lead, as Owen Jenkins reached on an infield single to shortstop and scored on an RBI double to left-center area by Scott Campbell Jr. After a two-out stroll to Tyler Bell, Lawrence doubled dwelling two extra runs with a drive to the left-center area warning observe.
Chasing three runs in bottom-three, the Gators received a direct response from Kurland, who bashed a leadoff homer to left area on a 2-0 providing to minimize the UF deficit to 3-1. Lawson (hit-by-pitch) and Blake Cyr (stroll) reached with two outs however have been left stranded.
Unfortunately for the Gators, Kentucky responded proper again within the fourth to regain a three-run edge at 4-1. Jenkins stored the inning alive with a two-out, 0-2 single to left area adopted by an RBI double to left-center off the bat of Caeden Cloud. Karson Bowen (one out) and Kurland (two outs) knocked singles within the dwelling half for Florida however have been stranded because the Gators reached 5 runners left on base.
King picked up his fifth strikeout en route to a clear body within the fifth, then capped the sixth along with his sixth strikeout for one more one-two-three inning whereas sitting at simply 82 pitches. The Gators once more threatened within the backside half with a pair of two-out baserunners highlighted by a double from Landon Striplinghowever once more left each Gators on base.
At the highest of the seventh, King’s night time got here to a detailed after surrendering a one-out single to Cloud. The Wildcats promptly struck for 2 extra singles by Campbell and Jayce Tarnish upon their removing, with the latter knock plating Cloud. Two batters later with two outs, Lawrence singled by the left aspect to prolong the UK lead to 6-1.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Schuyler Sandford blanked the Wildcats within the eighth to maintain the rating. The following half inning, the Gators pulled a signature season second out of their hat – scoring 5 runs on 4 hits to come storming again and tying the sport at 6-6.
In the house half of the eighth, Caden McDonald led off with a double to left, superior to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Bowen. The Gators despatched Lawson to the plate because the tying run with the bases loaded and trailing 4 runs later within the inning, as Kurland (dropped-third strike), Hayden Yost (single) and Jones (stroll) all reached with two outs. On a 1-2 depend, Lawson delivered a bases-clearing double down the left-field line to carry Florida inside one, advancing to third on an error in left area. A wild pitch to Cyr opened the door for Lawson to scamper dwelling safely because the tying run, making a brand-new ballgame at 6-6.
Right-hander Joshua Whritenour was known as on out of the bullpen within the ninth and logged a zero to ship the matchup into the underside of the ninth, with Florida needing a lone run to ship followers dwelling. With one man down, Bowen doubled into the right-center area hole to get a rally going. Kurland and pinch-hitter Jacob Kendall then labored two-out walks to load the bases for Jones. On the second pitch, Jones snuck a 0-1 providing by the five-six gap into left area to plate Bowen for the walk-off winner and full the five-run comeback.
Whritenour (3-3) earned the victory with one scoreless body of aid. He didn’t give up successful or stroll and struck out one.
Kentucky aid pitcher Ira Austin IV (0-1) was saddled along with his first lack of the marketing campaign. He allowed one earned run on one hit in two-thirds of an inning, putting out one.
King obtained a no-decision, however accomplished a minimum of six innings for the sixth-straight begin. The UF sophomore completed with 5 earned runs on six hits and one stroll in 6 1/3 frames whereas putting out six.
UK starter Ben Cleaver didn’t issue into the choice both, pitching 4 innings of one-run ball on 4 hits, one stroll and three strikeouts.
NOTABLES
- Florida improved to 2-11 when trailing after seven innings by erasing a five-run deficit heading into the underside of the eighth.
- The Gators’ five-run comeback is tied for his or her largest throughout the final two seasons, most just lately doing so on March 8, 2026 towards High Point.
- Florida final overcame a five-run deficit in an SEC recreation on May 15, 2025 vs. Alabama.
- Florida produced its thirteenth come-from-behind victory together with its third walk-off win of the season.
- During Florida’s four-game win streak, it has outscored opponents by a 41-14 margin.
- The Gators have gained 10 of their final 14 SEC sequence relationship again to final season, going 28-15 throughout 43 SEC contests in that span.
- Florida is now 19-11 towards unranked groups this season on high of being a nation-best 14-6 towards ranked opponents and repping probably the most Quad 1 wins within the nation (15).
- King noticed his streak of five-straight high quality begins come to an finish, however he nonetheless accomplished a minimum of six innings (6 1/3 IP) for the sixth-consecutive begin.
- In his final six begins, King has pitched a mixed 42.0 frames for a median of seven.0 innings per begin.
- Across his final 18 begins relationship again to final season, King is 11-3 with a 1.68 ERA and 105-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 112 2/3 innings pitched (21 earned runs allowed).
- Kurland linked for his third dwelling run of the season within the third inning.
- Lawson’s bases-clearing double with two outs and two strikes within the ninth snapped an 0-for-19 stretch on the plate.
- Jones gained the sport on the backside of the ninth along with his first-career walk-off hit.
- Cyr reached base safely for the 14th-consecutive recreation whereas registering his 18th multi-hit effort to tie Jones for the group lead.
- Florida has gained 50 of its final 72 regular-season video games relationship again to final season.
- The Gators are actually 151-74-1 all-time and 81-32 in Gainesville towards Kentucky.
- Florida is 30-23 total and 14-11 at dwelling vs. the Wildcats below Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
- The Gators have gained 16 of the final 22 matchups towards Kentucky.
- Friday night time’s official attendance was 5,937.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On evaluating King’s begin and the pitching as an entire…
“I thought it was one of those outings where he just gutted it out. We thought that going into this week that we were going to keep his pitch count to 90 and he threw 93. We have extended him the last two starts. But, give credit to Kentucky. They came out extremely aggressive. Three of their first four runs were with two outs. It was good to get Schuyler Sandford back out there. He gave us a valuable inning and two-thirds. And it was good to get Josh Whritenour back out there as well. So, from a pitching standpoint, I thought we were competitive. I thought Aidan threw a bunch of first-pitch strikes. It seemed like he was ahead in the count. He maybe did not locate his two-strike pitches as well as he may have wanted to, but I am just glad the plan worked out the way that we talked about it.”
On Lawson’s clutch hit within the eighth and the comeback…
“Everyone struggles. Everyone goes through things like that. You just have to stay with it. You never know which hit is going to be the one to get you going. Obviously, the hit he had in the eighth was a huge one for us at that point in the game. I do think we came out a little flat, honestly. Not to take away from anything Kentucky did tonight. I do not think our at bats were very good the first six innings. We had a great crowd tonight. I mean a three-hour rain delay, and a tons of people stayed around. We have to thank them for staying around because they helped us in the latter part of the game. Kyle Jones may not have had his best game offensively at the plate, and he would probably tell you that. The thing about this game is that it can be extremely humbling, extremely difficult. But for some reason, the game always seems to get back to you at the most pivotal points. It’s weird how that happens… I think the last time we had a comeback win like this was High Point, so it was a good win for us. Everyone is playing for something during this time of year. So many things are at stake. It seems like all of these games are magnified. So to be able to come back on this one where we were not very good offensively for the first seven innings, should make our locker room feel pretty good about themselves.”
On getting a comeback win like this one late within the season…
“Yeah, it’s a big win for a lot of reasons. It gets another win in the win column in the league. It helps our RPI. It helps our strength of schedule. I do not know what the magic number is to host, but we are certainly in the discussion. Who knows what happens when we have five games left in the regular season? Every game is important… It always seems like the last two weekends get wrapped up in a bunch. So this was a big win for us.”
ON DECK
The Gators and Wildcats battle once more in recreation two, scheduled for Saturday at 4 pm on SEC Network+.