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.
Those fortunes changed in Gainesville this time around, though, as UF won its rivalry matchup against Florida State to take the season series in the Sunshine Showdown.
The Gators (21-14) took down the No. 9 Seminoles(25-7) at Condron Ballpark 5-4 thanks to a big night from freshman first baseman Brendan Lawson, as Florida snapped its three-game skid.
“It was a heck of a ballgame,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “The crowd was outstanding. I know it’s been a difficult year, but I really do appreciate our fans staying with us and supporting our players.”
Freshman right-hander Jackson Barberi started for UF. He gave the Gators three good innings, allowing five hits and just one earned run. The score came in the third inning after he surrendered back-to-back singles to begin the frame, with the first runner scoring on a sacrifice fly from FSU junior center fielder Max Williams.
Barberi didn’t walk any batters in his three innings of work — but he did strike out four of them. This was the first time a Florida starter hasn’t allowed a walk since March 18 against Jacksonville — another Barberi start on the mound.
“I thought his stuff was really good,” O’Sullivan said. “Against an older lineup, especially the top half of their lineup. I thought he did everything he was supposed to do.”
O’Sullivan turned to redshirt freshman righty Caden McDonald in the fourth inning. He gave up two walks in the frame but escaped the jam with a double play. He didn’t fare as well in the fifth, giving up a leadoff opposite-field home run to Seminoles redshirt freshman left fielder Brody DeLamieleure. This was followed by two straight free passes before McDonald departed.
Freshman southpaw McCall Biemiller was called by O’Sullivan into action in a tough spot, with two on and nobody out. Nevertheless, he still managed to find a way out of it, inducing a double play and securing a strikeout to end the inning.
“Momentum is huge for baseball,” redshirt sophomore Jake Clemente said. “Him being able to come into a moment like that and get a double play and get out of it right after it, I mean that’s huge, especially coming from a freshman. He’s worked really hard, and you can see the hard work paid off in that moment.”
Biemiller came back out to start the sixth inning but surrendered a leadoff walk that ended his night on the mound. Sophomore right-hander Luke McNeillie was next in line for Florida. He came out of the bullpen on fire, striking out two batters in a row to end the frame scoreless.
In the seventh, McNeillie gave up a walk and a single to begin the inning. He then secured two straight outs before allowing an RBI single to FSU freshman first baseman Myles Bailey. Later in the frame, a passed ball tipped off the glove of junior catcher Luke Heyman and the second run of the inning crossed the plate.
Clemente took McNeillie’s spot on the mound to begin the eighth. He tossed a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts. In the ninth, he struck out the first two and forced a flyout to end the game. He retired all six batters he faced, while striking out four of them to secure the six-out save.
“I like to stay on the attack and keep the pressure on them,” Clemente said. “We had the lead, and I was working at a nice pace. Being able to get that first strikeout is huge for me and the team. It was just awesome.”
Florida’s bats got the Gators on the board early. After two singles from senior third baseman Bobby Boser and junior shortstop Colby Shelton, Heyman grounded out to bring home Boser for the first tally of the game.
Two innings later, Heyman hit a two-out double that landed along the left-field line.
This knock extended his hitting streak to eight games, having gone 15-for-30 in that stretch. Lawson followed Heyman’s extra-base hit with a double, bringing the latter home and giving the Gators back-to-back two-baggers.
UF wasn’t done with its two-out heroics from there, however. In the ensuing inning, Florida got a single from Shelton, a walk from Heyman and, to cap it all off, a three-run blast from Lawson to put the Gators back ahead. The 412-foot no-doubter marked Lawson’s eighth long ball of the year. He finished the night 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs.
“I think it’s a huge killer for any defense,” Lawson said. “When you can get knocks and drive in runs with two outs. It’s huge when we’re able to do that and just come up and score runs with two outs in big spots.”
Florida wasn’t able to muster anything else on the scoreboard, but it didn’t need to, as Lawson’s productive night was enough to secure a victory. With four of their RBIs coming with two outs, the Gators broke out of a recent major hitting slump in late-game situations.
The Gators will now turn their attention back to SEC play, where they have gone 1-11 in their first four series. Florida will welcome Missouri to town for a three-game series which will get underway on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
“It was an important win for us,” O’Sullivan said. “It gives us a chance and an opportunity to win a series against one of our rivals, and hopefully this game gets us jumpstarted. Something has to get going for us.”
Contact Hugh Green at hgreen@alligator.org. Follow him on X @HGreen_15.
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.
