Florida scored the go-ahead run when Karson Bowen<\/a> drew a bases-loaded walk off Miami reliever Ryan Bilka. After a pitching change, Landon Stripling<\/a> drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-8. The Gators continued to pile on the runs with help from the Hurricanes until Jones, batting for the second time in the frame, cleared the bases with a three-run double to make it 15-8.<\/p>\n Normally, such an inning is so mind-blowing that all others turn to dust in the memory. Those who stayed around after midnight saw something they might never see again.<\/p>\n “The fans were unbelievable tonight,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<\/a> said. “I’ve never seen the atmosphere like it was tonight, and it helped. There is no question it helped us the entire night.”<\/p>\n In the bottom of the eighth, with the score 15-10 after Miami scored twice in the top of the inning, the Gators hit five home runs off Miami sophomore Tate DeRias, who had entered to close out the seventh. Florida’s seven home runs in the game set a program record for a postseason game.<\/p>\n Cade Kurland<\/a> started the homer party by hitting his second of the game with one out. Three batters later, Brendan Lawson<\/a> hit a two-run homer to make it 18-10, before Blake Cyr<\/a> and Ethan Surowiec<\/a> followed with solo shots as the Gators went back-to-back-to-back. They weren’t finished. Following a Caden McDonald<\/a> single, Bowen connected for his second home run of the game to make it 22-10 and leave fans looking at each other, wondering if what they had seen really happened.<\/p>\n It had, prompting the exit of DeRias, a seldom-used sophomore only in the game because Miami was running low on pitchers.<\/p>\n Florida’s seven-run eighth inning was the third time in the game that the Gators batted around and proved once again that you never know what you might see at the ballpark.<\/p>\n “I can’t explain tonight. It was amazing,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s just one of those weird moments that doesn’t happen very often.”\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n PLAYER OF THE GAME
\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n<\/p>\n![\"Bowen,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260531_Miami_08235_.jpg\")
\nThe look on Karson Bowen<\/a>‘s face says it all after he returns to the dugout after hitting the Gators’ fifth homer of the eighth inning on Saturday night\/Sunday morning. (Photo: Hannah White)
<\/p>\n
\nBowen finished 3-for-4 with five RBI, four runs and two homers in a game he will remember. Meanwhile, his patience at the plate\u00a0in the bottom of the sixth to draw the go-ahead walk opened the floodgates for Florida’s late offensive explosion.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nIN THE SPOTLIGHT
\nAidan King<\/a> got the start, and despite being handed a five-run lead after the first inning, was unable to keep the Hurricanes in check. King lasted only three-plus innings and surrendered eight hits and six runs in his shortest outing since a loss to High Point on March 7.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nKEY MOMENT
\n
\nThe Gators had taken the lead on the back-to-back two-out walks to Bowen and Stripling in the sixth when McDonald bounced a grounder to Miami shortstop Vance Sheahan with the bases loaded. Sheahan took the short play and threw to third baseman Gabirel Milano for the force out. However, Jones was safe when Milano was unable to find the bag with his right foot, extending the inning and allowing the extra damage by the Gators.
\n\u00a0
\nQUOTE OF NOTE
\n
\n“The guys really lock in on their approaches in the pregame stuff. They are really prepared. I’m just proud of the group. I’m just so proud of them on how they go about everything. The work really hard.” — Gators associate head coach Tom Slater<\/a> on the postgame radio show
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nUP NEXT
\nThe Gators face the winner of Sunday’s Miami-Troy game on Sunday evening. If they win, they earn an NCAA Super Regional berth.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nNOTABLES<\/p>\n
\n\tFlorida is 2-0 to begin Regional play with a win in the Saturday night game for the first time since the 2018 Gainesville Regional and will go for its first 3-0 sweep in Regionals since the 2016 NCAA Gainesville Regional.
\n\tThe Gators hit a program-record seven home runs in an NCAA Tournament game (t-season high) and set a program record with five home runs in an inning (eighth) \u2013 finishing with 2,729 feet of big flies.
\n\tFlorida launched five home runs in the eighth inning alone, including back-to-back-to-back jacks from Lawson, Cyr and Surowiec.
\n\t
\n\t\tIt marked Florida’s first time hitting three-consecutive home runs since Ty Evans<\/a>, Jac Caglianone and Tyler Shelnut accomplished the feat in the eighth inning at LSU on March 24, 2024.
\n\t
\n\t
\n\tThe Gators scored a season-high 22 runs \u2013 their largest NCAA Tournament total since defeating LSU 24-4 in the College World Series Finals on June 25, 2023 (postseason program record).
\n\t
\n\t\tFlorida plated its most runs a game since May 3, 2025 at South Carolina (W, 22-3).
\n\t
\n\t
\n\tFlorida has crushed 12 home runs in two games at the Gainesville Regional.
\n\tBowen and Kurland both recorded multi-homer games.
\n\tFlorida has won five-straight games as an NCAA Regional host dating back to 2023.
\n\tThe Gators have won 12 of their last 14 games while outscoring opponents, 147-75.
\n\tFlorida improved to 26-12 against unranked teams on top of being a nation-best 15-7 against ranked opponents while repping 16 Quad I wins.
\n\tThe Gators delivered their 16th come-from-behind win of the campaign including their second in as many days.
\n\tGoing into tonight’s game, Ciscar had only given up six first-inning runs all season before surrendering six runs in the first to Florida on Saturday night to double his total.
\n\tThe Gators have homered in 15-consecutive games dating back to the series opener at Oklahoma on May 1, cranking 45 homers in that span for 3.0 per game.
\n\tFlorida plated at least six runs in the first inning for the third time this season, last doing so on May 14 at LSU.
\n\t
\n\t\tThe Gators scored six runs on five hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch in the first.
\n\t
\n\t
\n\tKurland homered for the second-straight game (and second-straight at bat) to extend the UF lead to 6-1 with his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the first.
\n\tEight of nine UF starters had a hit, run or RBI in the first \u2013 seven of which scored or drove in a run.
\n\tBowen swatted his sixth home run in the third, marking his first long ball since recording a two-homer game at Oklahoma on May 3
\n\tFlorida scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth \u2013 on one hit, a bases-clearing double by Jones.
\n\tKurland homered for the third time in the Gainesville Regional with his eighth homer of the campaign in the eighth.
\n\tLawson connected for his team-high 18th home run to start of the back-to-back-to-back homers in the eighth.
\n\tCyr bashed his 14th homer to follow Lawson in the eighth.
\n\tSurowiec capped the back-to-back-to-back jacks with his 12th big fly.
\n\tBowen belted his second homer of the game to give him seven on the season in the eighth.
\n\tBowen recorded the second multi-homer effort of his career including the second in the past month after failing to accomplish the feat in his first three collegiate campaigns.
\n\tKurland has launched five home runs in the last six games.
\n\tFlorida plated seven runs on five homers in the eighth.
\n\t
\n\t\tThe Gators have now plated at least seven runs in an inning seven times this season.
\n\t\tFlorida plated at least six runs in three separate frames on Saturday (first, sixth, eighth).
\n\t
\n\t
\n\tAll nine UF starters scored runs and registered hits while eight scored, drove in runs and logged knocks.
\n\tFlorida is 140-90 across 41 NCAA Tournament appearances including a 93-54 mark at Regionals.
\n\t
\n\t\tFlorida has claimed 16 Regional titles.
\n\t
\n\t
\n\tFlorida is now 139-136-1 all-time against Miami including 82-52-1 at home.
\n\tThe Gators are 46-19 with a 24-10 home mark in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<\/a>.
\n\tFlorida has won 27 of the last 36 meetings with Miami.
\n\tSaturday night’s attendance was 5,673.
<\/p>\n
\nFROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
\nOn summarizing tonight’s instant classic\u2026
\n“I mean, it’s kind of crazy. I was thinking about this, this morning, like the first game of a Regional feels like it’s opening night. It’s like jitters and everybody’s not quite themselves and I can’t explain tonight, it’s one of those nights that we swung about really well offensively. I think we hit seven home runs. Jackson Barberi<\/a> bouncing back from the night before was probably the key to that whole thing on the mound.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn Florida’s five-homer eighth inning\u2026
\n“I was probably just like everybody in this room and all the fans. It was amazing. I mean, it was just one of those weird moments that just doesn’t happen very often, but it was incredible. The other thing I want to mention that popped in my head on the way down, the fans were unbelievable tonight. I mean, I’ve never seen the atmosphere like it was tonight and it helped. There’s no question it helped us the entire night. The other thing, I’d like to thank our managers. They were here, there was a late game last night. Half of them stayed until 4:30 in the morning and the other half until 6:30 in the morning. So, I just want to make sure that I said something about those guys because they are an incredible group and work extremely hard.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn the atmosphere at Condron Family Ballpark\u2026
\n“I think a lot of it had to do with our fans. Like I said, I don’t know how many were here, this is my 19th year and that’s the best it’s ever been by far. And it was helpful. I really appreciate people staying as long as they did because people could have easily left a lot earlier, but they stuck around. Looking forward to having a great crowd tomorrow, too.”
\n\u00a0
\n\u2014 Sullivan Bortner contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Scoring seven runs in an inning on one hit is not easy. Neither is sending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-290706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}