Gators Transfer Additions Show What's to Come With Strong First Series

The Florida Gators swept Air Force to start the season, and the recent transfers played a role over the weekend

Coach Kevin O'Sullivan was pleased with the performance of the new members of the lineup | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

Gainesville, Fla. – The Florida Gators brought back many familiar faces from the 2024 squad that made the College World Series. Players like Brody Donay, Liam Peterson and Colby Shelton are the first to come to mind. 

But they also added some new ones this offseason through the transfer portal and in their opening series this past weekend against Air Force they showed out.

Beginning in the outfield, former Miami outfielder Blake Cyr had a hit in all three games this weekend and, in total, was 3-for-8. Additionally, he brought in a run, was walked twice and hit once by a pitch. Cyr also showed off his defensive abilities making an acrobatic catch out in left field in Game One of this series. 

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AF 0, UF 7 // E7#GoGators pic.twitter.com/ytfymZCobJ

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Cyr’s fellow outfielder Kyle Jones opened his season off on the right foot as well. He only played in Game One but was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in that game. Unfortunately for himself, he was injured trying to turn his double into a triple. 

“It's just his knee is bothering him a little bit and I think it just a little bit swelling,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Obviously this earlier in the year we don’t want to take any chances.” 

It also helps that the Gators are stacked at this position. With Jones going down, Hayden Yost and Justin Nadeau served as his backups. While Yost has already played in an orange and blue uniform, Nadeau has not, at least up until Game Three. In this one game, the former Jacksonville utility man was 3-for-4 with one double, one stolen base and three RBIs. 

The outfield isn’t the only thing O’Sullivan addressed, though. He brought in new infielders as well. Of the players brought in at this position, former USF infielder Bobby Boser had the best debut series. The new third baseman for the Gators had five hits this weekend and had four RBIs to go along with it. He also hit his first homer as a Gator. 

BOSER BLAST™#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/shPGh4Zxuk pic.twitter.com/D9gNWbfqld

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But he wasn’t the only newcomer to hit their first Gator home run, former Texas Tech infielder Landon Stripling matched Boser in this category. While he made a pinch-hit appearance in Game One, he would get his first start in Game Two. He went 2-for-5 with a home run 

LANDO, LIFT-OFF 🚀#GoGators // 📺 https://t.co/shPGh4YZEM pic.twitter.com/PQy1QkTMK1

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 15, 2025

Having all of these players start the way they did will only make O’Sullivan’s life easier and harder at the same time. He will have the conundrum of trying to figure out which players to start and bench every game, which he admitted struggling with for this series. 

“It’s a little bit challenging, but we all knew that going in,” O’Sullivan said. “I told the team, I was brutally honest with them, before the game last night that this was the most difficult in any other opening day lineup for me to put together. There’s a lot of guys that deserved the opportunity to see what they could do.”

It’s only the first series of the year, but still an impressive one for the newly minted Gators.