{"id":232200,"date":"2026-04-15T03:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232200\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:12:08","slug":"no-7-gators-drop-tuesday-tilt-to-wildcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232200\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 7 Gators Drop Tuesday Tilt to Wildcats"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013 No. 7\/20 Florida was outslugged by Bethune-Cookman in a 13-7 affair at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
\n\u00a0
\nThe Wildcats (26-11) opened a one-run lead on the Gators (27-11) in the top of the first inning, as Andrey Martinez hit a solo homer to left field with one out. After plunking the three-hole hitter, UF starter Jackson Hoyt<\/a> bounced back to retire the next two batters in order. Florida punched back to even the tally at 1-1 in the home half, putting together a two-out rally as Ethan Surowiec<\/a>, Blake Cyr<\/a> and Cade Kurland<\/a> barreled three-straight singles.
\n\u00a0
\nBethune-Cookman tacked on two more runs in the top of the second to retake a 3-1 edge. Darryl Lee singled to right field to plate Jorge Rodriguez, but the relay throws from right fielder Hayden Yost<\/a> to first baseman Landon Stripling<\/a> to catcher Cole Stanford<\/a> nabbed Jose Fernandez at home for the second out of the frame. Martinez added an RBI double down the right-field line to cap off the rally.
\n\u00a0
\nFlorida answered again in the bottom of the second, beginning with a leadoff walk by Stanford. Following a single through the right side by Justin Nadeau<\/a> and a failed pickoff attempt from BCU catcher Maikol Lucena that moved both runners into scoring position, Kyle Jones<\/a> produced a sacrifice fly to center to score Stanford for a 3-2 ballgame.
\n\u00a0
\nIn the top of the third, UF reliever Billy Barlow<\/a> pitched a scoreless inning before the Wildcats returned to the scoring column with a solo home run to left from Fernandez in the fourth. Florida turned to right-hander Caden McDonald<\/a> out of the bullpen as a result, who fanned Lee and induced a 5-4-3 double play to navigate UF away from further damage.
\n\u00a0
\nA leadoff walk to Michael Rodriguez followed by a Lecena single gave Bethune-Cookman runners at the corners with no outs in top-five, allowing Jeter Polledo to extend the BCU lead to 5-2 with a sacrifice fly to center. Despite surrendering a subsequent single, McDonald worked out of the frame by retiring back-to-back Wildcats.
\n\u00a0
\nChasing three runs, Florida received a leadoff single from Cyr in the home half of the fifth while Stripling singled through the left side to put Gators at the corners. \u00a0The Gators were unable to cash in, as a flyout and fielder’s choice to second base stranded a pair.
\n\u00a0
\nMcDonald and left-hander Eli Blair<\/a> teamed up to chuck a scoreless inning in the top of the sixth. In the home half, the UF offense roared back to life to retie the contest at 5-5. Jones and Brendan Lawson<\/a> worked a one-out walk and hit-by-pitch, respectively, before Cyr stepped to the dish with two on and two out. On the seventh pitch, Cyr lined a 2-2 offering to center for an RBI single and advanced to second on the throw to third base. The very next pitch, Kurland hammered a two-run double into the left-center field gap for a brand-new ballgame.
\n\u00a0
\nThe tie did not last long, as Bethune-Cookman stormed back with seven runs in the seventh to push ahead at 12-5. A throwing error by reliever Cooper Walls<\/a> on a sacrifice bunt allowed Lucena to scamper home safely, followed by a two-run single to center from J. Rodriguez with nobody out. With one down, Lee singled in J. Rodriguez while Martinez hit a two-run double down the left-field line. M. Rodriguez then plated Martinez with an RBI single.
\n\u00a0
\nRefusing to lay down, Florida drew within five runs with a two-spot in the home half of the seventh. Jones chipped in another sacrifice fly to score Yost and Lawson smacked an RBI double off the left-center field wall to cut the Bethune-Cookman lead to 12-7. Schuyler Sandford<\/a> logged a zero for the Orange & Blue in the eighth to hold the score.
\n\u00a0
\nBethune-Cookman extended its advantage on a solo home run to right field from Lee with one out in the top of the ninth, bringing the score to its final tally of 13-7.
\n\u00a0
\nWildcats reliever Anthony Anselmo (2-1) registered the win, tossing 3 2\/3 frames with two earned runs allowed on three hits, two walks and one strikeout.
\n\u00a0
\nBlair (0-1) was charged with the loss, pitching one-third of an inning and allowing one earned run on one walk.
\n\u00a0
\nHoyt received a no-decision in his first-career start. The freshman southpaw threw 1 1\/3 innings with three earned runs allowed on one hit, one walk and two strikeouts.
\n\u00a0
\nBethune-Cookman starter Dawson Turner did not factor into the decision. The senior lefty gave up two earned runs on five hits and two walks across 1 2\/3 frames while fanning one batter.<\/p>\n

NOTABLES
\n \n<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Gators are now 10-2 in midweek play and 12-2 vs. in-state foes this season.
\n\tHoyt made his first-career start.
\n\tThe Gators tied their season high with seven runs allowed in the seventh inning (March 22 at Alabama, sixth inning).
\n\tJones hit two sacrifice flies to extend Florida’s SEC-leading total to 24 on the season.
\n\tFlorida starting pitchers have allowed three home runs in 154.0 innings pitched, featuring just one homer surrendered in 78.0 SEC frames.
\n\tFlorida has won 44 of its last 60 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
\n\tThe Gators are now 37-2 all-time and 36-2 at home against Bethune-Cookman.
\n\tFlorida is 17-2 overall against the Wildcats under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<\/a> (all at home).
\n\tTuesday night’s official attendance was 4,466. <\/p>\n

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
\nOn tonight’s pitching\u2026
\n“Yeah, I mean, the guys obviously just didn’t do what they were expected to do. It was pretty clear when we started the game that we wanted Jackson to go two innings. Obviously, we couldn’t get that, and then to kind of keep things close, it didn’t get away from us this early, went to Billy and Caden to kind of hold it together, and I thought they did\u00a0a really nice job of doing that. And then we scored three to tie the game at five, and Eli got the big out there to end the inning, and then this is the\u00a0first time all year that I’d take somebody out in a mid-count. But we had the momentum and the two misses that he had were not close… It was a tough game to manage pitching-wise because it’s a short week. And of course, Ricky (Reeth)’s not on the card. Josh (Whritenour) is not on the card. McNeillie’s not on the card. Ernie’s not on the card. So some of these other guys needed to step\u00a0up and unfortunately, we did not. And offensively, I thought we did enough to win\u00a0a game, any time we score seven. But big takeaway from us offensively tonight, I have to look at it closely, but I think we had 19 fly ball outs and we talked about that, that we really need to hit the ball on the line tonight and put pressure on infield, and we just hit a lot of balls in the air. So, it was an effort on both sides. Yeah, of course it’s disappointing, but this is a crazy game, you know….”
\n\u00a0
\nOn the importance of getting Reeth back in the bullpen\u2026
\n“It’s extremely important. I hope moving forward you’ll see how important he is. That’s what I told him, when you look around the league right now, pretty much everybody’s set on their three starters\u2026 and you start looking at the stat sheet, and it really comes down to five or six bullpen arms. That’s what people are starting to rely on on the weekends, but you need some of these other guys to step up in the midweek. That’s kind of where we’re at. Guys have kind of separated themselves tonight. Some guys could have pitched a little bit better and maybe pushed themselves into a little bit more of a role on a weekend, but maybe they’re just not ready for that just yet. We just\u00a0got\u00a0to hold this thing together until we get (Jackson Barberi<\/a>) back, because once we get Barbs\u00a0back, we’ll be at full strength and then I feel like our pitching will be right back where it needs to be. Moving forward I’m excited about the\u00a0starts\u00a0that we got out of Aidan and Liam. I do believe that Russ is going to bounce back and have a really good start for us this weekend. Games like tonight are hard, your main four relievers, I can’t use them tonight, I just can’t. I got to save them for Thursday and Friday, that’s just the way it is. Not that you’re looking ahead, but being a Thursday, Friday, Saturday made things a little bit more difficult. If it was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday series and we had two days off for a couple of those guys to get an extra day’s rest,\u00a0might\u00a0have been able to handle it a little bit differently, but that was just not the case tonight.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn different levels of success starting vs. relieving\u2026
\n“Well, I get that question a lot, but if you think about it in the big leagues, every guy that’s in the pen started their whole life. When you really simplify things, and Coop (Walls) and I have had some really good conversations, when it really comes down to it, regardless of what your role is, whether it be a starter, middle reliever, or closer, your job is to get outs regardless. There’re some guys that can handle coming in\u00a0whit\u00a0people on base and can handle that and there’s some guys that need to start the inning clean, so we’ll keep working at it. Every year it’s the same thing. Every year we’ve been successful, gotten to Omaha, it’s always boiled down to five or six arms. You just need some other guys to step up in the midweek.”<\/p>\n

ON DECK

\nFlorida hosts Auburn at Condron Family Ballpark for a three-game, Thursday-Saturday series from April 16-18. All three matchups will air on linear television, beginning with Thursday night’s series opener at 7 p.m. on SEC Network. Game two follows on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on SEC Network while Saturday’s finale airs on ESPN at 12 p.m.

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