Brody Donay homered for the fourth-straight game and Justin Nadeau (3-for-3) reached safely in all five plate appearances.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No. 10 Florida erased an early two-run deficit to post a 10-4 road win against Jacksonville at John Sessions Stadium on Tuesday night.
For the third-straight game, the Gators (4-0) tallied 13 hits. Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> (2-for-4) continued his torrid start to the season, homering for the fourth-straight game to open the year while scoring three runs. Also staying hot was Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> (2-for-6), who clubbed a mammoth three-run homer that proved to be the game-winning swing.
Still, the story of the night was Justin Nadeau’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/justin-nadeau/17342> (3-for-3) return to John Sessions Stadium after playing his first two collegiate seasons with the Dolphins. Nadeau singled in his first-three at bats and ultimately reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances while scoring and driving in one run.
In the top of the first, Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> avoided a one-two-three inning for the Gators by knocking a two-out double down the right-field line. JU starter Alex Walsh stranded Shelton, allowing the Dolphins (0-4) to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom half. Aidan Masters drew a bases loaded walk to force home Jaden Bastian and Blake Delamielleure scored on a fielding error at third base.
Florida starting pitcher Billy Barlow<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/billy-barlow/17355> rebounded in the second by chucking a clean frame. The right-hander struck out three in the third to strand a pair of Dolphins, raising his strikeout total to four.
Sophomore righty Luke McNeillie<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-mcneillie/17330> relieved Barlow in the fourth, recording three quick outs highlighted by back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame.
Nadeau laced a one-out single in the fifth in his second at bat, improving to 2-for-2 in his return to JU following a single in the third. After a Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337> walk, Boser worked a full count and unloaded on a go-ahead, three-run homer to straightaway center field. Two batters later, Donay popped his fourth home run of the campaign to left-center to give Florida a 4-2 edge.
Jacksonville got one of the runs right back, as Bastian led off the bottom of the fifth with a triple and came in to score on a subsequent balk. Florida then responded with a run of its own to take a 5-3 lead, as Nadeau improved to 3-for-3 with an infield single to first to plate Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327>, who led off the frame with a single to left.
McNeillie cruised through the middle innings, striking out the side in the sixth to notch a career-high seven strikeouts on the night. The Gators proceeded to add on in the bottom half, with Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> coming through with a two-out single to left to plate Donay. Yost kept the two-out rally going, driving in a pair with a single to right to push the UF advantage to 8-3.
Following the seventh-inning stretch, right-hander Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> took over on the mound. The Rattlers scratched out one unearned run in the frame on an RBI single to center by Delamielleure.
The Gators again responded, scoring twice more in the eighth to make it a 10-4 ballgame. Brendan Lawson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brendan-lawson/17350> singled home Donay for the first strike while Heyman brought the Gators to double digits with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/17328>.
King found his groove in his second inning of work, pitching a clean top of the eighth to hold the score. He was replaced by right-handed pitcher Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/17333> in the ninth, who retired the side in order to put a bow on Florida’s first road win of the season. He struck out two.
McNeillie (1-0) picked up the victory, allowing one run on one hit and one walk across three innings of relief. He also fanned a career-high seven batters.
Making his debut in Orange & Blue, Barlow received a no-decision after allowing two unearned runs on one hit and three walks in three innings. He struck out four.
Walsh (0-1) forfeited the loss after giving up three earned runs in 4 1/3 frames. He finished with five hits allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.
NOTABLES
* Florida pitchers have produced a 61-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio through four games.
* As a staff, UF pitchers have allowed just five earned runs on 16 hits and seven walks on the year, equating to a 1.32 ERA and .137 batting average against.
* The Gators have knocked at least 11 hits in all four games.
* Donay has now homered in four-straight games to open the 2025 season.
* Donay has also posted multiple hits in all four contests.
* The junior is 9-for-14 (.643/.706/.1.714) with a 2.420 OPS and seven extra-base hits through four games.
* Returning to the place he played his freshman and sophomore seasons, Nadeau roped singles in his first three at bats back in John Sessions Stadium.
* He finished 3-for-3 and reached base safely in all five plate appearances.
* McNeillie struck out a career-high seven batters over three innings of one-run ball.
* Barlow made his Gators debut in today’s start.
* Boser launched his second home run of the season, which proved to be the game-winning RBI in the fifth inning.
* The Gators have struck out just 23 times while drawing 18 walks and eight hit-by-pitches.
* Florida improved to 68-36 all-time against JU including 24-19 on the road.
* The Gators have won five-straight games at JU and 13 of the last 16 overall.
* UF is 22-8 overall and 17-6 on the road in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On getting going in the middle innings after the slow start…
“It was pretty much expected. First time on the road and we made some uncharacteristic mistakes there in the first inning, but I thought our pitching was really good all night long. Maybe in years past, you fall behind 2-0, next thing you know you get careless and you give up the third and the fourth and you’re chasing runs the entire night. I thought Billy settled in there. I thought Luke did a really nice job. It was good to get Aidan back out there and it was great to get Philpott out there for the first time. We swung bats good; their left-hander did a really nice job slowing them all down early in the count and it was a valuable learning experience for us. To go on the road for the first time, you’ve been here with me long enough to know none of these games are easy. We hung in there and we obviously swung the bats much better the second half of the game.”
On Boser’s big swing and the bottom of the order…
“There’s not many balls that go out in dead-center field here. He got that one and then obviously Brody continued to swing the bat good. We’ve gotten some length to our lineup. I know I kind of sound like a broken record, but the bottom half of our order has done a really nice job the first four games.”
On Cyr’s late knock and passing the first road test…
“Yeah, I think Blake’s been seeing the ball as good tonight as he has in any of the four games that we’ve played this year. Like I said, it was a complete game other than the first. It got a little sloppy there defensively, but it’ll certainly help us moving forward. These road games for the first time, there’s a lot of firsts. Open up the season, it’s a first. Going on the road for the first time is a first. So, I thought we handled it well, obviously after the first inning.”
UP NEXT
Florida returns home to host Florida A&M on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+) before welcoming Dayton for a three-game series at Condron Family Ballpark this weekend from Feb. 21-23. The series opens on Friday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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