Sophomore shortstop Brendan Lawson crushed the longest home run of his career Friday night.
His 496-foot blast capped another explosive offensive performance as Florida (36-18, 17-12 SEC) defeated LSU (29-26, 9-20 SEC), 11-1, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to clinch its final regular-season series. The Gators hit four home runs and junior right-hander Liam Peterson struck out 11 in a seven-inning complete game.
After opening Thursday’s win with a six-run first inning, the Gators struck again early. Lawson led Florida’s offensive outburst in the first by getting aboard on a hit by pitch, and he later scored when sophomore third baseman Ethan Surowiec ripped an RBI double down the third base line to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
A passed ball moved Surowiec to third, allowing freshman outfielder Cash Strayer to drive in Florida’s second run with an RBI groundout.
Florida added to its lead in the second when junior first baseman Landon Stripling drew a leadoff walk and senior second baseman Cade Kurland followed with a slow-rolling single to right field. Junior outfielder Hayden Yost lifted a deep sacrifice fly to center that scored Stripling and pushed the lead to 3-0.
Later that inning, Lawson stepped to the plate and launched a mammoth two-run home run — 496 feet — to right field. It was the longest homer of the sophomore's career and extended Florida’s lead to 5-0. It was also Lawson’s third home run in the last four games.
Though LSU got one run back in the bottom half of the fourth, Florida immediately responded in the fifth. Lawson worked a leadoff walk before Surowiec hit a towering two-run home run off the batter’s eye in center field to push UF’s lead to 7-1.
It didn’t take long for the Gators to put the game out of reach in the seventh inning. With two runners aboard, Strayer launched a three-run home run that barely cleared the right-field wall and extended Florida’s lead to 10-1.
Stripling followed with a solo home run of his own to cap Florida’s scoring and put the game away. When the bottom of the seventh rolled around, the Gators held an 11-1 advantage.
After throwing 7.2 innings and allowing four runs in his last outing against Kentucky, Peterson shut down the LSU offense through seven innings. He matched Florida’s fast offensive start by striking out two batters in a scoreless first inning and allowed just one run on three hits across seven frames. He fanned 11 Tigers and worked a complete game on 95 pitches in the 11-1 run-rule win.
Peterson dominated the first three innings, compiling five strikeouts and holding LSU scoreless.
The Tigers finally broke through in the fourth when junior shortstop Steven Milam hit a solo home run to cut Florida’s lead to 5-1. The home run marked Milam’s second straight game with a long ball against the Gators, but Peterson didn’t allow another run.
The sophomore settled back in after the homer, striking out two batters in the fifth and tossing a scoreless sixth inning.
Peterson came back out for the seventh and ended the game the same way he started it, dominating. He struck out back-to-back batters to finish his much-needed stifling outing in Florida’s final regular season series.
The Gators will look to complete the sweep against LSU in their regular-season finale Saturday at 3 p.m.
Contact Colton Veres at cveres@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @colton_veres.
Colton Veres is a senior sports journalism student in his first semester at The Alligator. He is currently the Summer 2026 baseball reporter. In his free time he enjoys watching the Red Sox and spending times with friends and loved ones.
