It was yet another up and down outing for Florida’s pitching staff.
Junior Liam Peterson, junior Luke McNeillie, senior Ernesto Lugo-Canchola, senior Ricky Reeth and freshman Eli Blair combined to surrender 15 hits and four home runs while recording just seven total strikeouts.
No. 21 Florida (29-15, 11-9 SEC) was outscored 8-3 after the second inning as No. 7 Texas A&M (32-8, 13-6 SEC) took an 8-4 win Saturday evening at Condron Family Ballpark.
“[A&M] took advantage of some balls that were up in the zone,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Seemed like every time we scored, we turned around and gave up one.”
UF junior starter Liam Peterson surrendered two hits in the opening frame, but left one stranded. He got some help from senior catcher Karson Bowen, who threw a laser to second base to pick off Aggies junior infielder Gavin Grahovac.
But, A&M sophomore pitcher Aiden Sims set the tone early against the top of Florida’s order, striking out the side.
After Peterson retired the order in the top of the second, the Gators drew first blood in the bottom. Senior outfielder Blake Cyr needed just one pitch, leading off with a solo bomb to left field for his tenth long ball of the year to put Florida up 1-0.
“We have approach going into it,” Cyr said. “I just stick to it.”
However, the Aggies had a quick response as junior catcher Bear Harrison went long to center field to notch the game at one run apiece. Grahovac walked with one out, and he was plated by a two-out double from junior infielder Chris Hacopian as Texas A&M took a one run lead.
Peterson recovered to leave him stranded with his fourth strikeout to send it to the bottom of the third. The Gators could not respond, as Sims retired the order.
The Aggies extended their lead in the fourth, as freshman infielder Nico Partida led off with a homer deep to right-center field to make it a 3-1 ballgame. Peterson bounced back to retire three straight batters right after, but TAMU’s bats continued to make him uncomfortable.
Cyr was hit by pitch with two outs in the bottom of the frame, marking the first Gator to reach base. Bowen followed up with a base hit up the middle to put two runners on, but a fielder’s choice groundout from junior infielder Cade Kurland left two stranded.
Peterson surrendered a leadoff single to start the fifth, and it came back to bite him as Grahovac went long for the second time to make it a four-run advantage for the Aggies. Peterson retired three straight batters to limit the damage, but that would be the last inning of action he saw.
UF sophomore designated hitter Caden McDonald refused to back down, leading off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to left-center. It was his second straight day with a long ball after hitting his first career home run Friday.
However, the Gators could not tack on more runs as they still faced a 5-2 deficit after five.
Junior Luke McNeillie took the hill for Florida to start the sixth, replacing Peterson.
The Aggies extended their lead back to four runs, as freshman outfielder Jorian Wilson hit an RBI single through the left side to score Partida with one out. Texas A&M proceeded to load the bases with two outs, but McNeillie left them stranded with a strikeout to limit the damage.
Sophomore infielder Ethan Surowiec drew a one-out walk, and Cyr sent him to third with a single to center field. Then, Bowen hit a sacrifice fly to plate Cyr to make it a 6-3 score.
Florida had two runners on shortly after, as Kurland was hit by a pitch. But McDonald went down swinging to leave them stranded.
McNeillie bounced back in the seventh, retiring the order to give the Gators another chance to claw back.
The Gators earned a pair of two-out base hits from sophomore outfielder Kyle Jones and sophomore shortstop Brendan Lawson, but Surowiec hit a fielder’s choice groundout as Lawson was taken down at second.
McNeillie walked his first batter to start off the eighth and was relieved for senior Ernesto Lugo-Canchola on the mound.
Wilson proceeded to launch a two-run homer that almost hit the scoreboard as Texas A&M took an 8-3 lead. That ended the outing for Lugo-Canchola, as he was promptly subbed for fellow senior Ricky Reeth.
Reeth saw trouble as he surrendered a walk and a base hit to put two runners on with one out. But, he left them stranded to limit the damage.
However, the Gators’ offense had its work cut out for them now down five runs.
Kurland slugged a two-out single to right field, but was left stranded as McDonald went down on strikes to end the eighth.
Freshman Eli Blair took the hill to start the ninth for Florida. He did his job, leaving two runners stranded with his lone strikeout of the evening.
Junior infielder Landon Stripling led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, and freshman outfielder Jacob Kendall scored him in a pinch-hitting effort with an RBI single down the right side to make it an 8-4 differential.
However, Lawson was left stranded after a fielder’s choice single as the Aggies’ defense held to tie the weekend series.
“There's some positives to take away from this,” O’Sullivan said. “But we gotta bring some energy tomorrow.”
The series will be decided Sunday for a rubber-match set to begin at 1 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.
