Blake Cyr swatted a go-ahead solo shot in the seventh and Aidan King earned his first-career win.
DeLand, Fla. – No. 8 Florida scored all six of its runs from the sixth inning on to post a 6-1 comeback victory over Stetson, improving to 8-0 at Melching Field at Conrad Park on Tuesday night.
Held without a hit until the fifth inning, Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> (2-for-4) led the comeback for the Orange & Blue. The first-year Gator broke up the no-hit bid with a double and later drove in the game-winning run with a solo home run in the seventh. Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/17328> (1-for-4) chipped in the big blow of the night via a three-run homer in the eighth.
Florida’s comeback was made possible by excellent pitching from starter Billy Barlow<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/billy-barlow/17355> in addition to relievers Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> and Alex Philpott<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/alex-philpott/17333>. The trio combined for nine frames of one-run ball, led by King’s three no-hit innings. The performance earned the promising freshman his first-career win.
The Gators (8-0) traded zeroes with the Hatters (4-4) in the first inning, as catcher Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> threw out Landon Russell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/landon-russell/16636> attempting to steal followed by a diving play by Kurland in the three-four hole to end the frame.
Barlow tossed another scoreless inning in the second, notching his first strikeout to send the matchup into the third. The Hatters threatened with a man on third and one out, but Barlow utilized a lazy fly out to left and line out to first base to maintain the deadlock.
Stetson broke through in the home half of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. With one out and two runners in scoring position, Jordan Taylor produced a sacrifice fly to right-center to score Landon Moran. Barlow proceeded to strike out Foster Apple swinging to limit the damage to one run.
Cyr lined a leadoff double to left for the Gators in the fifth, but was ultimately left stranded on third base. King took over pitching duties in the bottom half of the inning, firing a one-two-three frame featuring back-to-back strikeouts to finish.
The Gators broke through to tie it at 1-1 in the sixth, with Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> leading off with a double to left. Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> made it runners on the corners with a single to left, then swiped second and advanced to third on an error as Boser scampered home to tie the game.
King remained on the hill, cruising through the sixth by inducing a pair of groundouts to short and a strikeout.
Florida scored again in the seventh to grab its first lead of the night. On the first pitch of the inning, Cyr drilled his second extra-base hit of the game with a solo shot over the left-center field wall to make it 2-1 in favor of the Gators.
Stetson appeared to answer in the home half of the seventh, as Evan Griffis reached second base to lead off due to a fielding error in right. After advancing to third on a groundout, Griffis came home on an RBI infield single from Salvador Alvarez. However, following review, Alvarez was ruled out for not using the safety bag at first base, erasing the run and sending a 2-1 matchup into the eighth.
Still holding a slim lead, Kurland busted the game open in the top of the eighth. Shelton and Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> hit consecutive one-out singles to put traffic on, allowing Kurland to connect for a three-run home run to center field to push the lead to 5-1.
With the Gators finally having some breathing room, Philpott assumed pitching duties in the eighth and worked a scoreless inning. From there, Florida added a ninth-inning insurance run to bring the score to its eventual final tally of 6-1. Following a pinch-hit, leadoff single by Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337> and Heyman walk, Kyle Jones<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/kyle-jones/17345> came through with an RBI single to left field.
Philpott took the Gators through the finish line by throwing up a zero in the bottom of the ninth. The sophomore finished with two shutout frames on one hit, two walks and two strikeouts.
King (1-0) picked up his first-collegiate victory. The freshman fired three scoreless, no-hit innings with four strikeouts. He did not walk a batter.
Hatters reliever Ethan Salak was saddled with the loss after allowing one earned run on one hit. He fanned three over 1 2/3 frames.
Barlow did not factor into the decision despite providing four innings of one-run ball in his second start of the season. He was charged with five hits and four strikeouts while not issuing a free pass.
Stetson starter Dylan Jacobs also received a no-decision, pitching three scoreless innings. He allowed two walks and fanned two batters.
NOTABLES
* Florida’s eight-game winning streak is the team’s longest since winning eight in a row during the 2023 postseason from June 4-21.
* The Gators’ 8-0 start is the team’s best since the 2020 campaign (16-0).
* Florida’s hot start has been fueled by four come-from-behind wins, including tonight’s victory over Stetson.
* Cyr hit his first home run of the season to give Florida a 2-1 lead in the seventh.
* He finished 2-for-4 with one homer and one double.
* King logged a career-high three scoreless innings and four strikeouts.
* Kurland swatted his third home run in the last two games.
* Florida struck out 10 batters against two walks for the second-straight game.
* The Gators have knocked at least nine hits in all eight games.
* Florida pitchers have produced a 7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio through eight games (105 strikeouts, 15 walks).
* All 25 UF pitching appearances have featured at least one strikeout.
* After stealing 43 bags last year, Florida has already swiped 26 bases (60.5%) in eight games.
* Florida is now 87-36 all-time against Stetson, including 38-25 on the road.
* The Gators are 12-2 overall and 5-2 in DeLand in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Tuesday night’s official attendance was 2,916.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On finding a way to win tonight…
“Yeah, I think you gotta give credit to our pitchers, they were pretty good. I think we hit the ball fairly hard the first three innings, but you know Landon Russell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/landon-russell/16636> made two really nice plays at center field, their infield played clean. So, sometimes you just gotta tip your cap to your opponent. And like I said, I thought we put some good swings on the ball early in the game and just had nothing to show for it.”
On individual performances and the result…
“Yeah, well he’s looked good before. It’s just trying to get his feet wet, and Philpott’s only thrown one inning, he’s as sharp as he’s gonna be. Obviously the three-run homer by Cade was huge for us, and then Blake hitting a home run to give us the lead, 2-1. Kind of had that free play at first to end the inning when their runner hit the wrong bag. But overall, it was a really good win over a really good Stetson team. I think they are picked win their conference, so we knew coming down here it was going to be a difficult game.”
UP NEXT
The Gators host in-state rival Miami in a three-game series this upcoming weekend from Feb. 28-March 2. The opener is set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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