All Gators

Coppola Sets New Career-High as Gators Sweep Air Force

Pierce Coppola is the third of Florida's weekend pitchers to set a career-high as the Gators completed a three-game sweep of Air Force.
Kyle Lander|
Florida pitcher Pierce Coppola (18) was the starer for the Gators against Kentucky, Friday, May 10, 2024, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost 12-11 in extra innings. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024
Florida pitcher Pierce Coppola (18) was the starer for the Gators against Kentucky, Friday, May 10, 2024, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost 12-11 in extra innings. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024 | Cyndi Chambers Sports / USA TODAY NETWORK

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The No. 10 Florida Gators finished off Saturday's doubleheader by run-ruling Air Force 11-1 in seven innings, completing a three-game sweep of the Falcons to begin the year.

Starting pitcher Pierce Coppola threw five scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 12 batters, surpassing his previous high of nine set against Kentucky in last season's College World Series.

As a whole, each UF starting pitcher from the weekend in Liam Peterson, Jake Clemente and Coppola set new career-high strikeout marks, and the Gators notched 47 total strikeouts against Air Force.

Coppola coasted through the first four innings, striking out 10 of the first 12 batters and walking just one. The lefty looked to have multiple pitches working, mixing up a strong combination his fastball and off-speed pitches. 

Air Force didn’t register a hit until a triple in the fifth inning, but Coppola was able to nullify this hit by flashing the leather on a sacrifice bunt attempt to get the runner out at the plate. He followed that up by striking out his 12th batter of the game that ended the top of the fifth and his first outing of 2025. 

Florida's offense took almost as long as Air Force's to get going, but unlike the Falcons, the Gators made the most of its opportunities.

Brody Donay, already having two homers in the opening two games, launched his third long ball of the season to put the Gators in front 1-0. Florida did add another run as well in the fourth that pushed their lead to 2-0 with Brendan Lawson scoring on a passed ball.

While it was a quiet start for the Gator other hitters, Florida came alive in the fifth by every player to plate in this inning, netted them seven runs. 

The first run came from a Donay RBI single to center field, his fifth RBI of the series. Outside of Donay, four other Gators drove in runs in the inning.

Blake Cyr drove in a run on an infield single, Justin Nadeau singled to right field to bring in two runs, Hayden Yost doubled to right-center field that brought in another two and Bobby Boser added one more off a double to left center. By the end of the fifth, the Gators led 9-0. 

Air Force did respond with a run of their own in the top half of the sixth to make it 9-1, but Florida answered with an RBI double from Lawson, who was then brought in off a double from Nadeau.

Leading by 10 runs in the seventh, sophomore reliever Matthew Jenkins recorded two strike outs to give Florida its first run-rule win over the year.

Up Next

The Gators (3-0) will get a break on Monday before a short drive over to Jacksonville for a matchup with the Dolphins on Tuesday. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. with streaming-only coverage on ESPN+.

Published
Kyle Lander
KYLE LANDER

Kyle Lander is a contributing writer at Florida Gators on SI. He is also a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. On top of his writing, Kyle is a photographer for the site as well. Outside of his work with Florida Gators on SI, he likes to hike, travel, watch movies and hang out with family and friends.

Share on XFollow _KyleLander
Home/Baseball