Gators Run-Rule Dayton, 13-1, to Open Series

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The weather may have been cold, but the bats were hot as the the No. 10 Florida Gators baseball team on Friday dominated Dayton, 13-1, to open its three-game series at Condron Ballpark.

The Gators move to 5-0 on the year, its best start in five seasons, with its second-run rule victory of the seaosn. Florida plated six runs through the first two innings followed a six-run sixth inning as eight of Florida's 10 total batters recorded hits with six recording RBIs.

"I though out situational hitting was outstanding the first couple of innings," UF head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "We moved some runners over to third with less than two outs, stole some bases again... We had production up and down the lineup."

Bobby Boser smacked a two-run home run to start, his second homer in as many games, with no outs, and Colby Shelton scored off a groundout after drawing a walk and stealing two bases.

"Sully, he had a message for us. He said he'd like to see a few runs in the first, so kind of made sure to put it on in the first. Just open it up out of the gates and then go from there," Boser said.

Oppo taco 🌮 for Bob!#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/XyeZx4GtrX pic.twitter.com/YzMcgzJ1VO
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 21, 2025

Additionally, the Gators took advantage of multiple pitching issues from Dayton. Flyers pitcher Chris Peguero threw three wild pitches, hit two batters and had a throwing error off a pickoff attempt, which directly lead to two runs for Florida.

Cade Kurland knocked in another run off a single, the only Florida run to not come from a ground out or a wild pitch in the frame, and Brendan Lawson plated one more in the fifth inning off a single.

Florida took advantage in the bottom half of the sixth with a six-run frame to put the game in run-rule territory. The Gators loaded the bases with a walk, double and hit-by-pitch before Kurland drew another walk to plate a run.

Lawson scored another after also being hit by a pitch, Heyman batted in one run off a sacrifice flyout and Cyr brought two runs home with a double. Hayden Yost added one more with his own sacrifice flyout.

CYR'ed 🔥🔥#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/XyeZx4FVCp pic.twitter.com/jeKj27nBCf
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 22, 2025

Meanwhile, the Gator defense continued its dominance with another strong outing from pitcher Liam Peterson. Fresh off a career outing last week, the sophomore allowed no runs off two hits with five strikeouts in four innings pitched.

Although not as clean as his previous outing, Peterson continued to pitch well in moments where his back was against the wall. In his last inning of work, Peterson loaded the bases before recording a strikeout to end the inning.

"I'm not thrilled by the performance by any means, but at the end of the day, it's still four zero's," Peterson said. "Obviously, there's a lot I need to improve on. There's a lot of stuff that I could have done better, but you just ask for zero's at the end of the day."

After an inning of work from Jackson Barberi, Florida turned to Caden McDonald, and Dayton's bats promptly began to come alive.

Flyers recorded three base hits, including an RBI single from Ty Mainolfi. However, Kurland was able to stop further damage with an assist to home on a double-steal attempt to end the inning.

1st & 3rd D = executed 🤝#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/XyeZx4FVCp pic.twitter.com/BozA98dasw
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 22, 2025

That would be about as much offensive damage as Dayton would do as Christian Rodriguez struck out two batters in the seventh in his collegiate debut.

5-0 to start 2025! 👍 pic.twitter.com/D5ojeIyPM6
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 22, 2025

Next Up

Florida returns to Condron Ballpark on Saturday as it looks to take the series against the Flyers for Game Two. First pitch is at 4 p.m. with streaming-only college on SEC Network+. Jake Clemente is expected to be the starter for Florida on the mound.