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Alex Lodise had himself a night Tuesday at sold-out VyStar Ballpark in Jacksonville. Lodise drilled a walk-off grand slam to lift No. 4 Florida State to an 8-4 win against Florida.
The home run in the ninth completed Lodise hitting for the cycle. He had four of Florida State’s eight hits and four RBI in the second game of the Sunshine Showdown series.
Final from Jacksonville.
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— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 26, 2025
The Seminoles (21-3) were dominant and took advantage of Florida’s pitching staff for most of the game.
McCall Biemiller made his first collegiate start. He threw two innings, struck out two, walked two and gave up the first run by Lodise. Freshman Niko Janssens then stepped on the mound for an inning, in which he gave up a two-run homer to Brody DeLamielleure that extended the Seminoles lead 3-1 in the fourth.
Caden McDonald took over for an inning and two thirds, doing his job by striking out four and giving up no hits or runs. Luke McNeillie and Jake Clemente followed, keeping the ‘Noles scoreless. Closing for the Gators, Alex Philpott (0-2) threw a quick one-two-three in the eighth inning. However, the ninth got him where he walked all batters to load bases, gave up a RBI single to tie to the game and then followed with a grand slam to Lodise.
Struggling Gators
Florida (18-9) only managed three hits, and only one in the first eight innings, in scoring four runs. Ty Evans scored the Gators first run on a wild pitch in the top of the third inning. The Gators remained scoreless until the sixth when Bobby Boser scored on a walk.
The Gators did go up 4-3 in the ninth when Landon Stripling hit a double to bring Brendan Lawson home and Hayden Yost’s hit a RBI single.
HAYDEN YOST!!!
GATORS LEAD!!!#GoGators // ACCNX pic.twitter.com/UBEXmW6Apu
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) March 26, 2025
The Seminoles rallied in the bottom of the inning when Gage Harrelson legged out an infield single to drive in Jaxson West and tie the game a 4-all. Lodise then settled the outcome with his eighth homer of the season.
“Our guys battled their butts off to get us the lead there in the ninth and we had it all lined up perfectly, we had 7-8-9 coming up,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Walk, hit by pitch, couldn’t throw a strike in a bunt situation and, obviously, they got the big hit there at the end. It’s disappointing, I mean we had a really positive meeting before we left today, everybody was in a good spot, but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to close it out.”
Up Next
The winner of the series will be determined April 8 at 7 p.m. at Condron Family Park. It will be streamed on ESPN2 and air on ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM. UF won the series opener 7-2 on March 11 in Tallahassee.
Florida has lost seven of its last nine games and play at No. 15 Ole Miss, starting Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPNU and 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM.
