Deja vu has hit the Florida Gators baseball team, dropping two straight games after emerging victorious in the series opener for the second consecutive weekend.
Once again, the Gators failed to string together hits in critical moments. That combined with inconsistent pitching and defense sealed their fate in another rubber-match collapse.
No. 21 Florida (29-16, 11-10 SEC) fell 5-1 in the finale against No. 7 Texas A&M (33-8, 14-6 SEC) Sunday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark.
“Pretty typical the way we've been losing games this year,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It’s disappointing.”
UF starting junior Russell Sandefer saw some trouble in the first, facing runners on the corners with two outs. But, he forced a fly out to leave them stranded.
Sophomore outfielder Kyle Jones led off the bottom of the opening frame with a single to center field. However, sophomore infielder Ethan Surowiec grounded out into a double play and senior outfielder Blake Cyr grounded out as well.
It was a much cleaner second frame for Sandefer, retiring the Aggies in order while logging his first strikeout.
With one out in the bottom, Florida junior infielder Cade Kurland was hit by a pitch, and junior first baseman Landon Stripling followed up with a base hit to right-center field to put two runners on.
Sophomore designated hitter Caden McDonald reached first on a fielder’s choice, but Stripling was caught at second as the Gators had runners on the corners with two outs. But, freshman outfielder Jacob Kendall left them stranded with a groundout to first base.
In the top of the third, Surowiec bobbled a ground ball and misfired to first base as Aggies shortstop Boston Kellner reached second.
Then, junior infielder Gavin Grahovac singled to center field to plate Kellner as Texas A&M drew first blood to take a 1-0 lead. Junior outfielder Caden Sorrell proceeded to line one to right field to put runners on the corners with no outs.
TAMU added another as junior infielder Chris Hacopian hit a sacrifice fly to center field with enough time to send Grahovac home.
Sandefer would strand a pair with a fly out, but Florida once again faced an early deficit.
The disaster continued in the top of the first, as Sandefer surrendered two consecutive hits as Texas A&M had runners on second and third with no outs. Sandefer proceeded to toss a wild pitch that plated one more with one out to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Kurland barrelled a two-out, ground-rule double to center field in the bottom of the fourth and reached third on a passed ball. Stripling drew a walk shortly after, and UF finally got on the board as McDonald hit an RBI single through the left side to cut TAMU’s lead to two runs.
Sandefer surrendered a one-out base hit from Duer in the top of the fifth, but forced a double-play right after to send it to the midpoint.
Freshman infielder Kolt Myers drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth, forcing a pitching change for the Aggies. Starting junior Weston Moss was relieved for sophomore Gavin Lyons.
Lyons did his job, fanning Jones and forcing a double-play from Surowiec to blank the Gators.
Sophomore Cooper Walls took the hill to replace Sandefer in the top of the sixth. Sandefer recorded three strikeouts while surrendering eight hits and three earned runs.
With one out, Wilson drove one deep to center field for his second home run of the series as the Aggies made it a three-run game again. Junior catcher Bear Harrison followed up with a double to the right-field wall.
That ended a short stint for Walls, who was promptly subbed for Joshua Whritenour. The freshman stranded Harrison at third with a ground out and fly out, but Florida’s offense had plenty of work to do.
However, UF went down in order as the team’s chances of coming back kept dwindling with just nine outs remaining for both sides.
Whritenour continued to do his job, setting down three straight batters in the seventh.
Stripling led off the bottom of the frame with a leadoff single to center field to get things going for Florida. Then, with one out, Kendall drew a walk to put two on.
But, Jones left them helpless with a fly out as the Gators continued to squander opportunities.
That didn’t stop Whritenour, as he retired the order once again in the eighth while picking up his first strikeout in the process.
Cyr singled to shallow left field in the bottom of the eighth, and senior catcher Karson Bowen doubled deep to left-center to put runners on second and third with one out.
However, Kurland flew out to right field and Cyr did not make it home on time as Wilson fired a missile to home plate for the pickoff as the Gators saw one of their final chances slip away
Harrison led off the top of the ninth with a solo bomb to center field to make it 5-1. Despite Whritenour retiring the order right after, that long ball would be the dagger as the Aggies held on defensively to secure the series.
“It’s frustrating,” Whritenour said, “Nobody wants to drop back to back series or a series at all. It’s a hard time to be in, but we still have a season that we have to look forward to.”
Florida now travels to Norman, Oklahoma next weekend for a series against the Oklahoma Sooners. Friday’s opener is set for 7:30 p.m.
Contact Adrian Carmona at acarmona@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @abcarmona04.
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.
