Bobby Boser (3-for-4) and Brendan Lawson (2-for-3) swatted homers as Liam Peterson earned his third-straight win.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 8 Florida came back from a pair of one-run deficits in the early innings by scoring five unanswered runs for a 6-2 win in game one against Miami at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
With the victory, the Gators (10-0) have won 10-straight games for the first time in five years – since rattling off 16 in a row to open the 2020 campaign. The win also tied the all-time series between Florida and Miami (8-2) at 135-135-1, which dates back to 1940.
The Gators were sparked by a pair of third-inning big flies from Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> (3-for-4) and Brendan Lawson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brendan-lawson/17350> (2-for-3), who combined for five of Florida’s eight hits while driving in two runs apiece. On the mound, Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/17332> threw a quality start to pick up the win followed by three shutout, one-hit innings of relief from the tandem of Frank Menendez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/frank-menendez/17331>, Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/17330> and Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/17333>.
The Hurricanes scored right away against the Gators in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Daniel Cuvet doubled down the left-field line with one out and later scored on a two-out RBI single to left from Jake Ogden.
Peterson rebounded for a clean frame in the second, striking out two batters to increase his total to four. The Gators took advantage by knotting the ballgame at 1-1 in the home half, beginning with a one-out hit-by-pitch of Lawson. After Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/17328> singled to short and Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> singled to left, Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Lawson for the tying run.
Miami answered right back to regain a 2-1 edge in the top of the third. After hitting a leadoff single to right, Michael Torres came home a wild pitch to Bobby Marsh with two outs in the inning.
The Gators then responded with two of their own to take a 3-2 advantage, this time utilizing the long ball. On the second pitch of the bottom of the third, Boser uncorked a no-doubter over the left-field wall to reset the score. Lawson gave Florida the lead, smashing a long, two-out homer off the batter’s eye in center field.
Peterson cruised through the fifth by retiring the side in order. He returned to the mound for the sixth, picking up his seventh strikeout en route to another clean frame to maintain the one-run lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Lawson and Kurland drew consecutive walks to start things off. After Cyr advanced the runners with a textbook sacrifice bunt, Miami elected to intentionally walk Heyman to load the bags. Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337> then entered as a pinch hitter and cashed in with a sacrifice fly to left-center to plate Lawson for a 4-2 edge.
The top of the seventh signaled the end of the road for Peterson, as Menendez took over on the hill. The left-hander rebounded from a leadoff infield single to strike out three-straight Hurricanes for a scoreless inning.
Boser led off the home half of the seventh with a single up the middle, then advanced all the way to third on a pair of groundouts. With two men down, Lawson again delivered by swatting an RBI single to left-center to push the lead to 5-2.
McNeillie assumed pitching duties in the seventh and worked a perfect inning with one strikeout to pass the baton to the UF offense. Boser staked an insurance claim for the Gators, hitting a two-out single to center field to score Yost and making it 6-2 entering the ninth.
Holding a four-run lead, Florida called on Philpott to close it out. The sophomore right-hander retired three-straight Canes to cement the victory, striking out Todd Hudson swinging for the night’s final out.
Peterson (3-0) twirled his second quality start of the campaign to earn his third-straight win. The sophomore chucked six innings of two-run ball in his third outing of the season. He finished with four hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Miami starter Nick Robert (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season. He allowed three earned runs over five frames on four hits and two walks while fanning seven.
NOTABLES
* Florida’s 10-game winning streak is the team’s longest since winning 16 in a row to open the 2020 season.
* The Gators have knocked at least eight hits in all 10 games and 10-plus in eight of 10.
* Florida tied the all-time series against Miami at 135-135-1 with tonight’s win.
* Florida is 80-51-1 in the series at home.
* The Gators are 42-18 overall and 22-9 in Gainesville in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Florida is 23-8 across the last 31 meetings with Miami and has won nine of the last 10 series.
* Boser tied the game in the third with his fourth homer of the season.
* Boser recorded his first three-hit game as a Gator.
* Lawson provided the lead in the third with his second home run of the campaign.
* Lawson finished 2-for-3 with one home run, three runs scored, two RBI, one walk and one hit-by-pitch.
* He reached base in four of five plate appearances.
* Peterson earned his second quality start of the season and improved to 3-0 through three starts with six innings of two-run ball, striking out seven.
* Florida pitchers have produced a 129-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 10 games.
* Since the start of the season, 35 of 36 UF pitching appearances have featured at least one strikeout.
* Florida pitchers have notched a strikeout in 78 of 84 innings pitched.
* After stealing 43 bags last year, Florida has already swiped 29 bases (67.4%) in 10 games.
* Friday night’s official attendance was 7,116.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Peterson’s pitching performance…
“Yeah, he did a heck of a job and I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway for him tonight is, even after the first inning when they scored, he kind of kept it together and their hitters did a nice job in the first inning. He ran his pitch count up close to thirty pitches there in the first and maybe last year, he wouldn’t have been able to keep it together for six innings, and he was outstanding. He set the tone for the weekend. And then what you say about our bullpen? Everybody kind of came in and just did their job, and it was a really well pitched game on the mound for us tonight.”
On Boser’s impact on the team…
“Yeah, nickname is Bobby Baseball, he does everything really well. He plays really good defense, obviously that play he made over by their dugout was outstanding. And he can hit, he can run, he’s just a baseball player. He’s really good and we’re really glad he’s here. But he’s a heck of a baseball player.”
On Florida’s ability to tack on insurance runs late…
“Yeah, I think that was a goal coming into the season, was being able to manufacture runs in different ways. We had a couple home runs tonight and we played some small ball. So, yeah, that’s been a main focus for us offensively coming into this season.”
UP NEXT
The Gators and Hurricanes face off in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on SEC Network+
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