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Florida hit a season-high five home runs to beat North Florida 8-4 on Tuesday night at Condron Ballpark.
In a night that saw six home runs hit and a whopping 18 total pitchers used, Florida (20-11) got a solid win ahead of the big series against Vanderbilt this weekend.
Florida jumped on the Ospreys early. On the second pitch of the bottom of the first, Justin Nadeau sent one into the home bullpen to give the Gators a 1-0 lead. Colby Shelton followed with his fifth homer of the year to make it 2-0. Shelton’s home run traveled 400 feet at 113 mph.
The home run parade picked back up in the third inning when Bobby Boser sent his ninth home run over the left field wall to make it a 3-1 game.
Beltin’ Shelton strikes #GoGators // SECN+ pic.twitter.com/af1zxpLO3l
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 1, 2025
After a quiet fourth and fifth innings, Brody Donay put Florida back on top with his ninth homer to make it 4-3. After Nadeau worked a 10-pitch walk to load the bases, Boser sent one off the batter’s eye for a grand slam to make it an 8-3 ballgame. Boser leads the team with 10 homers on the season.
” Just looking for a ball up that I’m gonna smash, fortunately, he missed his spot and I capitalized,” Boser said.
BOB THE GRAND! #GoGators // SECN+ pic.twitter.com/vkgR64VOGr
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 2, 2025
Gators’ Pitching Does Just Enough
Jackson Barberi got the start for Florida. Barberi got out of trouble in the first after he walked two hitters. However, the second inning could not have started any worse. A lead-off home run from UNF (17-12) shortstop Mitchell Collins cut the lead to 2-1 and a hit batter immediately after. After striking out the next two hitters, Barberi walked another batter. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan had seen enough and pulled him. McCall Biemiller relieved Barberi and walked the first batter he saw, but escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to end the inning.
Like Barberi, Biemiller’s night was short-lived as he was pulled following a lead-off walk in the third inning. Caden McDonald was the next pitcher for Florida to take the mound. McDonald was efficient and made quick work of UNF, retiring all three hitters in a row to end the inning. It was a clean fourth inning for McDonald. He allowed a one-out single but got the next guy to ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Rough Fifth Inning
Carson Montsdeoca entered in the fifth and ran into trouble. After getting the first batter out, UNF first baseman Cade Bush sent one to Museum Road to make it a 3-2 game. UNF second baseman Connor Moore followed with a double. Montsdeoca’s night ended there. Alex Philpott was next to the mound. With a runner on third and two outs, a throwing error from Nadeau at second base allowed the tying run to score to make it a 3-3 game.
Things did not get any easier in the sixth for Philpott. A walk and an infield single put runners on the corners and ended Philpott’s night. Jake Clemente was the next pitcher called out of the bullpen to sort out the mess. Fortunately for Florida, that is what Clemente did. A strikeout and a groundout got the Gators out of another jam and kept the game tied at three.
After Clemente finished the seventh inning, Christian Rodriguez retired the UNF side 1-2-3 in the eighth. Billy Barlow closed things out for Florida in the ninth.
Barlow shuts the door pic.twitter.com/kZvDb76o0E
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) April 2, 2025
It will continue to be a short leash for all Florida pitchers until they can find enough guys who can consistently throw strikes. O’Sullivan made it clear that with Florida in desperate need to start winning games, if you cannot throw strikes, you are not going to last long on the mound.
“We’re trying to win baseball games,” O’Sullivan said. ” We’ve got to win some games here, we have created a situation where we don’t have a whole lot of room for error. We’re gonna throw guys that compete and throw the ball across the plate.”
Injury Updates
After recording a base hit in the first inning, catcher Luke Heyman did not return to the game after the inning ended. Backup catcher and DH Brody Donay replaced Heyman.
” Just a little hamstring,” O’Sullivan said. “Just precautionary, he could have still played, but you can’t take any chances because we got very little room on the weekends right now.”
Heyman is expected to start this weekend. He is 9-for-14 with three home runs and six RBIs in his last four games.
O’Sullivan spoke on the status of second baseman Cade Kurland, who has been dealing with a left shoulder injury since the Miami series. Unfortunately, Kurland’s shoulder will require season-ending surgery sometime in the next week or two. O’Sullivan made it known that surgery was inevitable, either now or at the end of the season.
” I know [Kurland] was really disappointed, obviously he tried everything he could to play, even when he played up against Florida State in Jacksonville,” O’Sullivan said.
A tough blow for Kurland, who dealt with a hand injury most of last season. Kurland finishes the year with a .316 batting average, 12 hits, three home runs and 15 RBIs.
Looking Ahead
Florida (1-8 SEC) enters a pivotal stretch in conference play starting Friday night when the Gators host No. 23 Vanderbilt (21-8, 4-5). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Watch live on SEC Network+ and listen live at ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM.
