{"id":239293,"date":"2026-04-20T19:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239293\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:04:08","slug":"no-12-florida-resumes-homestand-vs-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/239293\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 12 Florida Resumes Homestand vs. Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators begin the back half of their two-week homestand with the second of two regular season meetings against the Jacksonville Dolphins on Tuesday night.
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\nFirst pitch between the Gators (28-13) and Dolphins (21-18) is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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\nMarking the Orange & Blue’s penultimate midweek game, Florida dropped the first matchup to Jacksonville, 4-3, for their first midweek loss of the season back on March 31. Even so, the Gators have won 14 of the last 18 contests against the Dolphins, and swept the two-game series last season with victories in Jacksonville (W, 10-7) and in Gainesville (W, 16-4, 7 innings).
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\nFlorida now sits at 23-9 overall and 17-7 at home in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<\/a>. Across 106 all-time meetings, the Gators lead the series at 69-37 while playing to a 45-18 record against the Dolphins at home. Florida looks to maintain its dominance in midweek contests (10-2) and against in-state teams (12-2).<\/p>\n

Pitching Matchups
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\nCHECKING OUR POLLS
\nFollowing a 1-3 week on the diamond, the Gators dropped from No. 7 to No. 12 in the Baseball America Top 25. Remaining ranked in every major poll, Florida fell just one spot at D1Baseball to No. 21 while coming in at No. 20 and No. 22 according to Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches poll, respectively.
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\nLAST TIME OUT
\nIn the three-game series against No. 13 Auburn, the UF pitching staff worked to a 2.33 ERA, .241 batting average against and 26-to-eight strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27.0 innings pitched. Unfortunately, the Florida defense committed five errors resulting in nine unearned runs to allow the Tigers to steal games two and three. Florida hurlers did not throw a wild pitch all weekend and plunked just one batter.
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\nHOLD ON SEC
\nDespite the series loss to Auburn, the Gators have won nine of their last 12 SEC series dating back to last season. In that span, Florida has gone 24-12 across 36 SEC contests.
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\nDOLPHINS DOWNLOW
\nSince defeating Florida on March 31, Jacksonville has been on a heater with two-straight series victories and wins in eight of their last 10 games. As winners of four in a row, the Dolphins upset No. 21 UCF in Orlando last Tuesday before sweeping West Georgia over the weekend. As a result, Jacksonville sits at 21-18 and is up to 9-9 in Atlantic Sun Conference action. As a unit, the Dolphins are batting .276\/.382\/.404 with 30 homers and 40 steals in 49 attempts. Meanwhile, the pitching staff has logged a 5.02 ERA, .270 batting average against and 298-to-183 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 331 2\/3 frames. Jacksonville has backed that up with a .966 fielding percentage defensively.
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\nEARLY CASE FOR A TOP-EIGHT

\nBy taking two of three at No. 4 Georgia and winning game one vs. No. 13 Auburn, the Gators boast the nation’s best record against ranked opponents at 11-3 on top of being tied for the most Quad 1 wins in the country (12). Backed by a No. 9 RPI and No. 3 strength of schedule, Florida has gone a dominant 7-1 vs. top-10 foes featuring a 6-1 mark against the top five. Interestingly, all seven of UF’s top-10 victories have come away from home. The Gators are 12-8 and 2-1 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games, respectively, giving the Orange & Blue a combined 14-9 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2.<\/p>\n

SHUTTY BUDDIES \/ NCAA RANKINGS

\nFlorida enters the midweek repping a nation-high seven shutouts thrown \u2013 four shy of the program record of 11 set in 2011. The Gators have produced a shutout in 17.1% their games (41) for 25.0% of their victories (28). In addition to pacing the country in shutouts, Florida ranks 10th\u00a0nationally in strikeouts per nine (11.1), 11th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.12), 18th with an SEC-high 24 sacrifice flies, 18th in WHIP (1.27), 19th in ERA (3.89), 27th in walks allowed per nine (3.56), 31st in hits allowed per nine (7.9), 34th in win percentage (.683) and 54th in home runs (52).

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\nLIMITING THE LONG BALL

\nIn game two against Auburn, starter Liam Peterson<\/a> surrendered his first home run of the season in the second inning, snapping his streak of 46.0 frames without giving up a long ball in his 10th start of the campaign. As the lone big fly coughed up by UF starting pitching in the series, Florida starters have now allowed just four homers in 169 2\/3 innings, equating to 0.21 HR\/9 on the season. Across 93 2\/3 SEC frames, UF starters have surrendered just two home runs (0.19 HR\/9).

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\nCYRIOUSLY LOCKED IN

\nLeaving the yard in all three games against Auburn, senior outfielder Blake Cyr<\/a> capped off a tremendous week with a two-homer game in Saturday’s finale to finish with four long balls in the series. Driving in all five runs for Florida in game three, Cyr tallied a team-high nine RBI in the Auburn series alone on his way to racking up 19 total bases, 10 RBI and five runs across four games last week. Adding in a three-hit effort in Tuesday’s midweek contest, Cyr finished 7-for-16 with a .438\/.471\/1.188 slash line, leading the Gators in OPS (1.659), batting average, slugging percentage, total bases, home runs (four), RBI and hits while recording at least one hit, one run and one RBI in all four contests. The hot streak raised his season batting line to .326\/.392\/.583, and he is tied for first on the roster in RBI (39) in addition to the second-most home runs (eight).

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\nGOLDEN SPIKES WATCH

\nAs one of 45 players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, shortstop\u00a0Brendan Lawson<\/a>\u00a0leads the Gators in every slash category (.333\/.543\/.721), OPS (1.264) and homers (11) while totaling 40 runs, 34 RBI, 42 walks and 10 stolen bases in 36 games played. Lawson leads the entire SEC in walks and on-base percentage while sitting third and fifth in the county, respectively. The Canadian sophomore also ranks sixth in the SEC in slugging and eighth in runs per game (1.11) while drawing significantly more free passes than strikeouts (31). If the season ended today, Lawson’s .543 OBP would be the fourth-best in program history behind only Matt LaPorta (.582, 2007), Brad Wilkerson (.547, 1996) and Jac Caglianone (.544, 2024).

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\nRELENTLESS REPTILES

\nFlorida boasts 10 come-from-behind victories through 41 games, having erased a one-run deficit to take the series opener against No. 13 Auburn last Thursday night. In particular, the Gators’ five-run comeback on March 8 vs. High Point marked their largest since May 15 of last season against Alabama (five runs).<\/p>\n

DESTINATION OMAHA

\nComing off the program’s 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O’Sullivan is in his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O’Sullivan’s 2008 arrival, Florida leads the nation with 315 SEC wins, 41 MLB debuts, 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 15 College World Series overall \u2013 by far the most in the country.

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\nTICKET INFORMATION

\nSeason tickets<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans<\/a>\u00a0are currently on sale now in addition to\u00a0single-game tickets<\/a>. Tickets can be purchased\u00a0online<\/a>\u00a0or by contacting the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683.<\/p>\n

MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP

\nAs a reminder, mobile ticketing is required. There will be two ways to access your tickets:

\n1) through the\u00a0Florida Gators app<\/a>\u00a0from your mobile device or

\n2) through\u00a0FloridaGators.com\/myaccount<\/a>. Fans will also be able to transfer or donate their tickets easily within the app or online.<\/p>\n

PARKING\/SHUTTLES

\nFans are encouraged to park at the Fifield and IFAS lots during the weekend. An increased number of shuttles will be available for transportation to the ballpark each day.<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0HERE<\/a>\u00a0for a Parking map.
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\n\tGeneral Parking\u00a0is available in the west Condron Family\u00a0Ballpark baseball lot and the Fifield parking lot located directly across Hull Road.
\n\tDisabled parking\u00a0is available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Condron Family\u00a0Ballpark west lot with a valid Disabled Placard.
\n\tFans can follow\u00a0this link<\/a>\u00a0to an interactive parking map.
\n\tRV Parking\u00a0is available in the Fifield Flat lot. \u00a0Reserved RV parking is not available for Florida baseball games. All motor home parking is on a first come, first-served basis.
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\n\t\tOn-board generators are permitted, however exterior or pull-along generators are prohibited at all times. For safety reasons, all motor homes\/RVs are required to utilize exhaust extensions or “smoke stacks” to channel exhaust fumes to the top of the motor home\/RV.
\n\t\tOvernight stays are only allowed on weekend series in the\u00a0Fifield\u00a0Flat\u00a0lot.\u00a0
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\n\tDo Not Park Illegally
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\n\t\tPark in designated parking spots (Do not park on\u00a0grass or in No Parking Zones).
\n\t\tVehicles are subject to towing if they block streets, sidewalks, service drives, or fire lanes, or if illegally parked in a disabled space.
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\nTRAFFIC PATTERNS ON GAME DAY
\nThose visiting Condron Family Ballpark on game day should be aware of updated traffic patterns surrounding the ballpark. Fans are advised to utilize Ballpark Way, which will serve as a connecting route to the ballpark from Archer Road. For departures, a postgame traffic flow pattern guide can be found\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

BALLPARK PURCHASES

\nCondron Family Ballpark food and beverage sales are fully cashless. For convenience and to improve speed of service, all concession stands will only accept credit cards, debit cards, or touchless payment with smartphones. Fans with cash can stop at the first\u00a0base Concession Stand to exchange cash for a Gift Card. Gift Cards can be used at any concession stand within Condron Family Ballpark.<\/p>\n

ON DECK

\nThe Gators put a bow on an eight-game homestand this upcoming weekend with a three-game series against No. 7 Texas A&M from April 24-26. The series begins on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.<\/p>\n

Follow the Gators

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