GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013\u00a0Riding a three-game win streak, the No. 13\/21 Florida Gators wrap up their regular-season home schedule with a three-game series against Kentucky in the penultimate weekend of the campaign from May 8-10.<\/p>\n
The series opens on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. followed by game two on Saturday at 4 p.m., with both contests on SEC Network+. Senior Day is set for Sunday’s finale, which airs on SEC Network at 12 p.m.<\/p>\n
Last facing off in Omaha, Neb., the Gators (32-17, 13-11 SEC) and Wildcats (29-16, 11-13 SEC) met four times during the 2024 season with Florida taking the most-recent contest via a 15-4 thrashing to eliminate Kentucky at the College World Series. Prior to that battle, the Wildcats won a pair of 10-inning affairs in Gainesville to beat the Gators in a weekend series (L 12-11, W 10-1, L 7-5).<\/p>\n
After splitting the four meetings in 2024, Florida leads the all-time series at 150-74-1 including a dominant 80-32 record at home. Under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<\/a>, the Gators are 29-23 overall and 13-11 in Gainesville against the Wildcats. Florida has won six of the last seven series vs. Kentucky, featuring three of four at home, and is 15-7 across the last 22 head-to-head matchups overall.<\/p>\n Pitching Matchups
\nSERIES PROMOTIONS & GIVEAWAYS FOOD TRUCKS Friday: Mayflower, Nothing Bundt Cakes CHECKING OUR POLLS HITTING STRIDE EARLY CASE TO HOST HOLD ON SEC CAT FACTS ABNORMAN IN OKLAHOMA ROAD WARRIORS NCAA RANKINGS:\u00a0STACKING SHUTTIES AK FOR SEC PITCHER OF THE YEAR K-BOW GO BOOM MCDONALD SPECIAL WIEC IS LIT OUTFIELD OUTPUT MURDERERS’ ROW REINFORCEMENTS RELENTLESS REPTILES DESTINATION OMAHA MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP PARKING\/SHUTTLES Click\u00a0HERE<\/a>\u00a0for a Parking map.
\u00a0 BALLPARK PURCHASES ON DECK Follow the Gators
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\nPrior to Friday night’s series opener, the first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive Florida orange replica jerseys, presented by Meldon Law. Sunday’s series finale features a closet cleanout of miscellaneous giveaway items fans may have missed out on earlier in the season (excludes bobbleheads and quarter-zips).<\/p>\n
\nThere will be two food trucks located in Dizney Grove beyond the outfield wall for each game of the weekend series.<\/p>\n
\nSaturday: Mayflower, Mi Apa
\nSunday: B’z Gelati, Cilantro Tacos
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\nSENIOR DAY SUNDAY
\nTen Gators will be honored as part of Sunday’s pregame Senior Day festivities: right-handed pitcher Billy Barlow<\/a>, catcher Karson Bowen<\/a>, outfielder Blake Cyr<\/a>, second baseman Cade Kurland<\/a>, left-handed pitcher Ernesto Lugo-Canchola<\/a>, infielder Sam Miller<\/a>, infielder\/outfielder Justin Nadeau<\/a>, right-handed pitcher Ricky Reeth<\/a>, catcher Cole Stanford<\/a> and outfielder Ashton Wilson<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nGoing 2-1 last week with a series win at Oklahoma, Florida rose to No. 13 in the Baseball America Top 25. The Gators are ranked at No. 20 via Perfect Game and the USA Today Coaches Poll while coming in at No. 21 per D1Baseball and the NCBWA.<\/p>\n
\nDuring Florida’s three-game win streak, the Gators have won two-straight games via the run rule and scored double-digit runs in every contest to outscore opponents by a 34-8 margin. In that stretch, Florida has batted .324\/.466\/.696 with 10 home runs, eight doubles, 17 walks, 11 hit-by-pitches and 24 strikeouts. The pitching staff has worked to a 2.62 ERA, .216 batting average against and 24-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24.0 innings.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough Florida has played to an 18-11 record against unranked teams, the Gators boast the nation’s best mark against ranked opponents at 14-6 and have two more Quad 1 wins (15) than any other team in the country. Backed by the nation’s No. 3 strength of schedule and No. 12 RPI, Florida has gone a dominant 8-3 vs. top-10 foes featuring a 6-1 mark against the top five.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nFollowing the series win over Oklahoma, the Gators have won 10 of their last 14 SEC series since last season. In that span, Florida has gone 27-15 across 42 SEC contests for a .643 win percentage.<\/p>\n
\nTaking two of three last weekend for a series win over Tennessee, Kentucky comes in with a 29-16 record and 11-13 resume in SEC play. The Wildcats have played to a 10-10 mark on the road, most recently dropping a three-game series at South Carolina two weekends ago. Through 45 games, the Wildcats are batting .287\/.409\/.459 backed by 90 doubles, 46 home runs and 108 stolen bases in 131 attempts. On the hill, Kentucky owns a 5.13 ERA, .249 batting average against and 409-to-198 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 388.0 innings. The Wildcats have committed 45 errors this season for a .970 fielding percentage.<\/p>\n
\nAfter spoiling a seven-inning gem from ace Aidan King<\/a> in game one at OU, Florida roared back to claim the next two games for a top-25 road series win. The Gators outscored the Sooners, 23-7, over the final two games, capped by a 13-2, run-rule drubbing in the finale. In game three, Florida clubbed 13 hits highlighted by a season-high seven home runs – the team’s most ever in an SEC contest. Four long balls were swatted in an eight-run fifth inning, representing Florida’s second-highest-scoring frame of the season. Across the three-game series, the Gators batted .283\/.395\/.613 with 10 homers and five doubles while pitching to a 3.60 ERA, .223 batting average against and 30-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 25.0 innings.<\/p>\n
\nFlorida has yet to drop a series to a ranked opponent on the road, going 10-2 in top-25 away contests. The Gators have delivered three upsets against top-15 SEC teams on the road by toppling No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 4 Georgia while sweeping No. 4 Arkansas, in addition to sweeps of No. 20\/10\/5 Florida State and No. 17 Miami (two games). Adding in a neutral-site win over No. 10 FSU, the Gators are 11-2 away from home vs. top-25 teams. Interestingly, seven of UF’s eight top-10 victories have come away from home. Florida’s is 11-5 in away games and has lost one road series. The Gators are looking to bring that same success to their home turf, where they are 20-12.<\/p>\n
\nRepping the second-most shutouts thrown (seven) in the country behind USC (eight), Florida is four shutouts shy of the program record of 11 set in 2011. The Gators rank inside the top-50 teams nationally in 10 categories, including ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.12), 12th in walks allowed per nine (3.39), 15th in ERA (3.92) and strikeouts per nine (10.6), 19th with an SEC-leading 28 sacrifice flies, 28th in hits allowed per nine (8.05), 39th in win percentage (.653) and 41st in home runs (68).<\/p>\n
\nAs the frontrunner for SEC Pitcher of the Year,\u00a0King leads the conference with a 1.73 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 5.85 hits allowed per nine – all of which rank top-10 nationally. He also ranks fourth in wins (seven) and innings pitched (67 2\/3), fifth in walks per nine (2.0) and 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.73), while his .180 batting average against is in line to be the lowest by a Gator since 2011 (Nick Maronde: .178). King has thrown a team-high eight quality starts this season including six in SEC play, having going 7.0-plus innings in four of his last five SEC starts. As a result, King paces the league with 50 1\/3 innings and 6.3 innings per start in SEC play, where he sits second in WHIP (0.79), fourth in ERA (2.32) and fifth in strikeouts (54) on top of a .153 batting average against. In conference play, King has a lower WHIP and batting average against than LSU’s Paul Skenes finished with in 2023. Throwing quality starts in five-straight outings, King has gone 4-0 with a 1.51 ERA in 35 2\/3 frames to lower his season ERA to 1.73 – which would be the best by a Gator since Michael Byrne<\/a> in 2017 (1.67). Across his last 17 starts dating back to last season, King is 11-3 with a 1.35 ERA and 99-to-25 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 106 1\/3 innings pitched (16 earned runs allowed).<\/p>\n
\nTwo of Florida’s season-high seven home runs on Sunday came from Bowen, who recorded his first-career, multi-homer effort in his 194th-career game. Bowen finished 3-for-5 with three RBI while homering to both right and left field. Across Florida’s last eight games, Bowen is hitting .333\/.387\/.630 for a 1.017 OPS.<\/p>\n
\nEarning John Olerud National Two-Way Player of the Week honors while being selected as the two-way player on Baseball America’s National Team of the Week, right-handed pitcher\/designated hitter\u00a0Caden McDonald<\/a> produced one of the most incredible, single-game performances at Oklahoma. In game two, McDonald went 4-for-5 at the plate with 12 total bases, two home runs, two doubles, six RBI and three runs scored while pitching three shutout, one-hit innings of relief to register the victory. Setting career highs in every offensive statistic, all four of his extra-base hits had an exit velocity over 110 mph. All told, McDonald batted .462\/.500\/1.077 while going 6-for-13 during the three-game set with 14 total bases, two home runs, two doubles, six RBI, five runs scored and one walk. All four of McDonald’s home runs have come in the last six SEC games, as he is now slashing .378\/.425\/.784 on the season with a 1.209 OPS.<\/p>\n
\nIn 24 SEC games,\u00a0corner infielder Ethan Surowiec<\/a> leads the squad in batting with a .330\/.409\/.536 slash line as the only Gator hitting over .275. Five of his homers have come in league play in addition to five doubles, 21 runs and 20 RBI.<\/p>\n
\nIn Tuesday’s win over UNF, center fielder\u00a0Kyle Jones<\/a> and Cyr logged their 18th and 17th-multi hit efforts of the season, respectively. Cyr has reached base safely in 13-consecutive games, during which he has batted .392\/.467\/.863 with seven homers, three doubles, 17 RBI and 17 runs. Cyr leads Florida in batting average (.333) and is tied with shortstop\u00a0Brendan Lawson<\/a> for the team high with 11 homers while Jones paces UF in runs (49), steals (16) and hits (59) alongside Surowiec.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough the pitching staff has been stellar with a 3.92 ERA and .235 batting average against, six UF hitters are batting over .280 with an OPS above .850. McDonald leads the way with a .378 average and 1.209 OPS, followed by Lawson (.283 AVG, 1.098 OPS), Cyr (.333 AVG, 1.019 OPS), Surowiec (.311 AVG, .918 OPS), Jones (.314 AVG, .897 OPS) and infielder\u00a0Landon Stripling<\/a> (.284 AVG, .860 OPS). Stripling has homered in back-to-back games entering the UK series to double his season total (four), and is 5-for-11 with four extra-base hits in the last three contests.<\/p>\n
\nHaving been without two key players for over one month, Florida will return freshman outfielder\u00a0Cash Strayer<\/a> and sophomore right-hander\u00a0Jackson Barberi<\/a> from injury this weekend. Prior to going down, Barberi was 3-2 with a 2.00 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, .143 batting average against and 40-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27.0 innings. As UF’s primary right fielder, Strayer slashed .267\/.364\/.430 with three homers and 22 RBI across 27 games (26 starts).<\/p>\n
\nBy erasing a two-run deficit to win game two at Oklahoma, Florida now wields 12 come-from-behind victories through 49 games, equating to 24.5% of the team’s victories.<\/p>\n
\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 318 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
\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
\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
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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
\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
\nAfter wrapping its home slate against Kentucky, Florida travels to LSU for a three-game series from May 14-16 to close out the regular season.<\/p>\n
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