Liam Peterson twirled six shutout frames while Brody Donay homered and doubled in the 11-hit attack.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 10 Florida posted a 7-0 shutout victory over Air Force in front of an Opening Night-crowd of 6,935 fans at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
Ace hurler Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/17332> was masterful in his 2025 debut, firing six innings of shutout ball on just two hits and one walk to pick up the win. He struck out a career-high 11 batters – tied for the most by a UF pitcher on Opening Night since at least 1999. His performance lifted the Orange & Blue to its first shutout in a season opener since 2014.
Offensively, Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> went 2-for-3 with one homer and one double to lead Florida’s 11-hit barrage. Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/17328> drove in a team-high three runs en route to finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
Making his first-career Opening Night start, Peterson worked a clean first highlighted by back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame. After allowing a leadoff double in the second, the sophomore retired the next three Falcons in order to maintain the stalemate.
Peterson fanned the side in order in the third and the Gators (1-0) promptly took advantage in the bottom half. On the first pitch of the half-inning, Donay launched a solo shot 406 feet to left field for the first Gators tater of the year. Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> and Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> followed with a single and hit-by-pitch, allowing Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> to drive in the former with a line drive to left. Kurland capped off the four-run frame with a two-run single to right-center to empty the bases.
With a newfound 4-0 lead, Peterson blanked the Falcons (0-1) in the fourth while logging his eighth strikeout of the night. He reached a career-high 10 strikeouts in the fifth by fanning a pair of Falcons.
Florida went back to work at the plate in the fifth, with Kyle Jones<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/kyle-jones/17345> and Shelton opening with singles. Boser then reached on a bunt single while Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/17325> drew a bases-loaded walk to force home a run. Kurland followed with an RBI single to right to plate Shelton while Boser scored on a double play ball to move the tally to 7-0.
After six stellar innings, Peterson was lifted in favor of right-hander Caden McDonald<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/caden-mcdonald/17329>. Pitching in his career debut, McDonald went one-two-three and picked up his first-career strikeouts for the first and final outs of the frame.
After tossing a scoreless eighth, McDonald was replaced by rookie right-hander Jackson Barberi<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jackson-barberi/17354> for his own collegiate debut. Barberi set the Falcons down in order in the ninth while recording two strikeouts to cement the 7-0 win for the Gators.
Peterson (1-0) earned the victory, shutting out the Falcons for six innings to highlight his two-hit, 11 strikeout gem.
Air Force starter Dylan Rogers (0-1) was saddled with the loss after allowing seven runs (six earned) across four-plus innings. He was charged with 10 hits allowed, one walk and two strikeouts.
Jones (2-for-4), Shelton (2-for-3), Boser (2-for-4), Kurland (2-for-4) and Donay (2-for-3) turned in multi-hit nights.
NOTABLES
* The Gators delivered an Opening Night shutout for the first time since Feb. 14, 2014 vs. Maryland (4-0).
* Peterson’s first nine strikeouts came against all nine starters in the Air Force lineup, ultimately finishing with a career-high 11 strikeouts on the night.
* Peterson’s 11 strikeouts are tied for the most by a Gator on Opening Night since at least 1999.
* Hunter Barco struck out 11 batters vs. Liberty on Feb. 18, 2022.
* Florida’s 16 strikeouts as a team are the most by the Gators on Opening Day since at least 1999.
* Donay smacked Florida’s first homer of the season after swatting 14 long balls last season, finishing 2-for-3 with a homer and double.
* McDonald made his collegiate debut, pitching two scoreless innings and fanning three.
* Barberi also made his career debut, throwing a clean ninth inning with two strikeouts.
* The Gators struck out just five times offensively and surrendered two walks on the pitching end.
* Florida’s transfer additions of Jones, Boser and Cyr went a combined 5-for-10 in their Gators debuts.
* Florida’s has now won 11 of its last 12 season openers.
* Under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752>, Florida is now 16-2 in season openers and the program is 40-8 in season-opening series during his tenure.
* Florida improved to 68-42-1 all-time in season openers including 48-22-1 at home.
* Florida welcomed a crowd of 6,935 fans on Opening Night.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Peterson’s Opening Night start…
“I mean you never know what to expect Opening Day, but hopefully starts like this continue for him and hopefully he shows the maturation and the hard work he’s put in. Most of the time, it’s not the stuff holding him back in the beginning. Freshman year, it’s the ability to slow the game down and stay out of big innings, and he had that situation where he threw six balls in a row, and took a short visit and he made some big pitches after that. And I think we only walked two the entire night, hit one, so three free passes, a little different than we had last year, obviously. But Liam certainly set the tone and I think the one situation where they had the runner at third with one out, we got the big strikeout and kept the game tied at zero and then turned the next inning and scored four.”
On takeaways from tonight’s win
“On a tough night to hit, wind was blowing straight in, nothing hit in the air was a home run except Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324>, obviously. But all in all, it was a really good game, clean, only negative probably is baserunning. Got a couple situations where we open up our right hip at first and ran with our head down on a dropped ball in right-center field, and felt there was another situation where we could have went first to third on a base hit. The line drive to shortstop, we need to go back, not that we would have been safe, but we got to put the brakes on there. Made the last out at third base with [Jones] another time and we got picked on a 3-1 count trying to run. Can’t get picked on a 3-1, 3-2, or hit and run counts, but that was probably the only negative was just cleaning up the baserunning and it really comes down to running with your head up and being smart.”
On the success of the transfer hitters…
“I mean like I said, you never know what to expect opening weekend or Opening Night. Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> laid down a very nice bunt with first and second nobody out. KJ hit the ball and got a couple hits and Bobby got a couple hits I think, Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> got a couple hits. All in all, it was a good night and like I said, Opening night is anticipated by everybody and everybody is excited to get back out there again.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Air Force will finish the series with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.
###
