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The No.10 Florida Gators opened the 2025 baseball season with a solid win at home Friday night by shutting out the Air Force Falcons, 7-0.
The pitching staff was excellent for Florida in setting a school record with 16 strikeouts, the most strikeouts on opening day this millennium. The offense took a few innings to wake up, but once the Gators did, it became a long night for Air Force.
Liam Peterson’s Career Night
Liam Peterson made his season debut on the mound for the Gators and made some history along the way. Peterson set a career-high with 11 strikeouts. The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Palm Harbor had his best stuff right from the jump. He used his entire arsenal to keep Air Force hitters guessing.
Have a night, 1️⃣2️⃣.
6.0 IP
2 H
0 R
1 BB
11 K pic.twitter.com/MTORzSwsiq— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 15, 2025
Peterson’s fastball was lively, sitting mid-to-upper 90s, and even touching 98 mph at one point. His slider was filth and used it as the main put-away pitch.
“I thought my slider was moving well. One thing I worked on, it was a newer pitch last year, so the shape wasn’t always consistent,” Peterson said. ” I felt today I kept the shape and velocity pretty consistent throughout and had a good feel for it.”
Peterson pitched six innings, gave up just two hits with one walk and struck out 11 in only 74 pitches.
Donay Leads Offense
Florida seemed out of sync at the plate through the first two innings. Zero runs and just one hit were all that showed. That was until Brody Donay blasted an estimated 450-foot home run over the left field wall.
Brody Donay’s home run from tonight’s win. Donay finished the night 2-3 w/ a home run and a double. pic.twitter.com/js9ECuawAD
— Hunter DeLauder (@DelauderHunter) February 15, 2025
The home run in the third seemed to be just what the Gators needed to get into gear. From that point, Florida tacked on 10 more hits and six more runs. Donay followed his first at-bat with a double down the left field line in the fourth inning.
While Donay had the extra-base hits, the Gators who were picked up in the transfer portal combined for five of Florida’s 11 hits.
Kyle Jones did have to leave the game early after what it appeared to be a lower-body injury that happened trying to stretch a double into a triple. Hayden Yost replaced him in center field. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan did not comment about the injury.
The Negative: Base Running
The base running for Florida needs work. Blake Cyr was picked off twice, but got out of one when Air Force was called for interference in the third inning. But his luck ran out in the sixth inning when he was caught again.
Outfielder Ty Evans was also gunned out from right field.
The Positive: Team Looks Legit
Yes, it’s only one game, but the outfield and the rest of the defense looked good (see Ty Evans’s laser beam to get a base runner out at third).
Outfield assists are hot pic.twitter.com/LEl8hYdyG0
— Stephen Schoch (@bigdonkey47) February 15, 2025
The inexperience that last year’s pitching staff had doesn’t seem to be around. This means these guys can go out there and perform without overthinking. The offense, even on a not-so-ideal day for the ball to jump off the bat, performed well too.
Up Next
Due to the threat of inclement weather in the area Sunday, Florida moved Sunday’s game up to Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader to finish the series. Game 2 will start at 1 p.m. and Game 3 shortly after the conclusion of the first game.
Tickets for Saturday’s originally-scheduled 4 p.m. game will be good for Game 3 of the series on Saturday evening. Tickets for Sunday’s originally-scheduled noon finale can now be used for Game 2 on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Coverage is available on the SEC+ Network and at ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF.
