Florida has won nine of the last ten regular-season series and is 22-8 vs. Miami across the last 30 meetings.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 8 Florida welcomes in-state rival Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference to Condron Family Ballpark this weekend for the Gators’ biggest test of the 2025 campaign thus far.
Friday’s opener against the Canes is set for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s contest scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and Sunday’s at 1 p.m. All three games will air on SEC Network+.
Florida (9-0) enters the series with a 134-135-1 all-time record against Miami (8-1), giving the Gators a chance to take the all-time lead this weekend. Even so, Florida commands a 79-51-1 mark in the series at home. Under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>, the Gators are a robust 41-8 overall 21-9 in Gainesville vs. Miami.
The Gators have won nine of the last 10 series overall and six of the last eight series in Gainesville. The two teams met in Coral Gables last season, with the Gators taking the series, two games to one (W 7-3, L 10-6, W 8-4).
Pitching Matchups
Friday | 6:30 ET (SECN+) Saturday | 4:30 ET (SECN+) Sunday | 1 ET (SECN+)
Miami RHP Nick Robert (2-0, 0.90 ERA) RHP Griffin Hugus (2-0, 1.50 ERA) RHP Brian Walter (2-0, 0.82 ERA)
Florida RHP Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/17332> (2-0, 0.00 ERA) LHP Pierce Coppola<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/pierce-coppola/17323> (2-0, 1.80 ERA) RHP Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/17322> (1-0, 1.80 ERA)
Links WATCH<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ff0fca89-f6dd-46ac-bcd6-847576f31ea9> | LISTEN<https://floridagators.com/showcase?Live=5600> WATCH<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/775f0869-cd1d-4601-a21a-fb40e190dfc3> | LISTEN<https://floridagators.com/showcase?Live=5601> WATCH<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/609651f9-953a-4551-883a-98da9413e0b2> | LISTEN<https://floridagators.com/showcase?Live=5602>
CHECKING OUR POLLS
Florida jumped from No. 10 to No. 8 in the D1Baseball Top 25 after going 4-0 last week. The Gators are a unanimous top-10 team and are ranked as highly as No. 6 in the country per Baseball America.
SERIES PROMOS
Sunday’s series finale against Miami marks the first date in Florida’s 2025 snapback hat series. The limited-edition caps are available to the first 1,000 fans through the gates for game three.
FOOD TRUCKS
There will be two food trucks located in the Dizney Grove area beyond the outfield wall on each day of the weekend series.
Friday: Sweet Meat, Kona Ice
Saturday: Mi Apa, Big Island Bowls
Sunday: B’z Gelati, Smoked Biscuit
CANES RECON
Miami is coming off a 27-30 season, falling just short of the ACC Championship Game to Duke. The Canes are starting the 2025 campaign off with a 7-1 record, featuring wins against Princeton and Niagara while their lone loss was to FAU in Boca Raton, Fla. The team has a lot of newcomers this year, with their 36-man roster containing 29 new faces (16 transfers and 13 freshman). Offensively, Miami has slashed .293/.419/.436 with six home runs and 11 stolen bases. The Canes’ pitching staff wields a 1.17 ERA and 96 strikeouts to 25 walks over 69 frames. Defensively, Miami has committed five errors for a .981 fielding percentage on the season.
SULLY SUPERLATIVES
Coming off the program’s 14th trip to the College World Series and second in as many seasons, O’Sullivan enters his 18th season. Since O’Sullivan’s 2008 arrival, Florida leads the sport with 290 SEC wins, 37 MLB debuts, 16 NCAA berths (T-1st), 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 14 College World Series overall.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gators are coming off midweek victories at Stetson (6-1) and against North Florida (7-6) at home. Two freshmen earned their first-career victories in the contests, as right-handed pitcher Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> (1-0) threw three shutout innings at Stetson before right-hander Caden McDonald<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/caden-mcdonald/17329> secured the win against North Florida by recording all three outs in the ninth en route to a wild finish.
GAUGING THE HOT START
The Gators’ 9-0 start is the team’s best since the 2020 campaign (16-0). Florida’s nine-game winning streak is the team’s longest since winning nine in a row from March 5-17, 2023. If the Gators reach 10-straight wins, it would mark the program’s longest since the aforementioned 16-game streak to open the 2020 season.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
After nine games, Florida is ranked inside the top-20 teams nationally across a whopping 14 statistical categories, headlined by the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.32) and third-best strikeouts per nine (14.0) in Division I. Florida ranks third in the country in doubles (27), sixth in stolen bases (26), sixth in hits (105), sixth in ERA (1.92), seventh in WHIP (0.93), ninth in walks allowed per nine (2.64), 10th in home runs (15), 10th in slugging percentage (.582), 11th in hits allowed per nine (5.76), 11th in batting average (.345), 13th in runs scored (87) and 20th in on-base percentage (.452).
SO, YOU THINK YOU CAN HIT?
Of Florida’s seven qualified hitters, all seven are batting at least .340 with an OPS above .950. That does not even take into account non-qualifiers such as utilityman Justin Nadeau<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/justin-nadeau/17342> (.538 AVG, 1.262 OPS) and outfielder Kyle Jones<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/kyle-jones/17345> (.385 AVG, .891 OPS).
DONAY DEMOS
Leading UF in every slash category with a .448/.590/1.069 batting line, catcher/designated hitter Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> paces the SEC in slugging percentage while ranking second in the conference with five homers and 31 total bases behind Alabama’s Justin Lebron. The 6-foot-5 slugger is also 3-for-3 on steals and leads the Gators with 13 runs.
MOUND MONSTERS
Through nine games, UF pitchers have produced a 107-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio. 31 of 32 Gator pitching appearances and 70 of 75 innings pitched have featured at least one strikeout. UF pitchers have allowed just 16 earned runs on 48 hits this year, equating to a 1.92 ERA and .182 batting average against.
STARTLING LINE – THREE’S A CHARM
Florida’s weekend rotation of right-handed pitcher Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/17332>, lefty Pierce Coppola<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/pierce-coppola/17323> and right-hander Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/17322> has been dominant through two turns. The trio wields a 5-0 record, 1.20 ERA, .120 batting average against and 51-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 30 innings. They already have recorded two quality starts after Florida received just five in 66 games last season.
USA BASEBALL CROSSOVER
This weekend’s rivalry meeting will see two pairs of former USA Baseball teammates reunite on the diamond. Peterson suited up with Miami’s Daniel Cuvet this past summer as members of the 2024 USA Collegiate National Team. Going back more than one decade, righty Christian Rodriguez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/christian-rodriguez/17334> played alongside Dorian Gonzalez of the Canes with the USA Baseball 12U Team in 2014.
WE’RE PC GUYS
By posting wins in his first two starts of the 2025 season, Coppola (2-0) has now won three-straight starts dating back to the 2024 College World Series. In that span, the southpaw has racked up 29 strikeouts across 15 innings for a 17.4 K/9. Funny enough, Coppola’s three-game winning streak signifies the first-three victories of his collegiate career.
MELTIN’ (HOT) SHELTON
Collecting hits in each of the first-nine games of the season, infielder Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/17335> has an 11-game hitting streak dating back to the 2024 College World Series. He has five multi-hit games in that span, four of which have come this season. As a mainstay in Florida’s three-hole, Shelton has a team-high 37 at bats and is hitting .378/.442/.595 with the second-most doubles and fourth-most hits in the SEC.
WORKING THE COUNT
Florida has drawn 45 walks and 19 hit-by-pitches for a total of 64 free bases. That surpasses the Gators’ strikeout total (59) as a team. Florida has struck out two times or fewer in three of nine contests.
RUNNING WILD
Florida has sprinted out of the gates with 26 stolen bases in 29 attempts (90.0%), equating to 2.8 steals per game. For reference, the Gators averaged 0.7 steals per game last season. After just nine games, the Gators are 60.5% of the way to reaching their 2024 steals total (43). Leading the way for the Gators, who rank sixth nationally in stolen bases, is outfielder Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347>, who is a perfect 5-for-5 on the season.
RESPECT THE B-LAW
Rookie infielder Brendan Lawson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brendan-lawson/17350> collected SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Monday. Across four games last week, Lawson drove in a team-high nine runs while producing hits and RBI in every game. He also launched his first-career homer in the form of a grand slam in game two against Dayton, becoming the first Gator to hit a grand slam for his first-career home run since Santino Miozzi against Winthrop on March 3, 2019. The Canadian freshman is fresh off his first-career three-hit game on Wednesday vs. UNF, and has registered multiple knocks in four of the last seven contests.
LEFTY LOOSEY
Two UF freshman southpaws made their collegiate debuts in the Wednesday win over North Florida in Niko Janssens<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/niko-janssens/17357> and McCall Biemiller<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/mccall-biemiller/17359>. The duo teamed up for 3 1/3 shutout frames of relief, with Janssens throwing 2 1/3 innings on two hits, zero walks and four strikeouts. As for Biemiller, his first-career out came in a huge spot to strand the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
CADER THE TATER CRUSHER
Having knocked three homers in the last three games, infielder Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/17328> is 6-for-12 in that stretch with a team-high 16 total bases and seven RBI. He has recorded a hit in all six games since Opening Weekend, leading Florida with a .409 average and .909 slugging percentage during that span. He leads the Gators with 13 RBI on the season.
YOUNG KING AIDAN
In no way looking like a rookie, King fired three scoreless, no-hit innings of relief to earn the win at Stetson on Tuesday, tallying a career-high four strikeouts. He has now allowed just one earned run across seven innings this season with nine strikeouts to zero walks. The right-hander owns a 1.29 ERA and .222 batting average against.
RELENTLESS REPTILES
Florida has already secured four come-from-behind victories in its 9-0 start. Last season, the Gators delivered 21 wins in comeback fashion, featuring 12 of the team’s 13 SEC wins. Florida trailed in six of its 2024 postseason victories and claimed five-straight NCAA Tournament elimination games to keep its season alive. Going back two seasons, 22 of the 2023 Gators’ program-record 54 victories came via comebacks.
PARKING/SHUTTLES
Fans are encouraged to park at the Fifield and IFAS lots during the weekend. An increased number of shuttles will be available for transportation to the ballpark each day. No parking is permitted anywhere on the grass, sidewalks, or along streets. Doing so runs the risk of receiving a parking citation.
Click HERE<https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/5ac9cd965a374d738efecd844a83d425/> for a Parking map.
* General Parking is available in the main Condron Family Ballpark baseball lot, the small lot in front of the Donald R. Dizney Stadium and the Fifield Hall parking lot located directly across Hull Road.
* Additional parking is available at:
* UF Facilities Services lot off Radio Rd
* Maguire Village Lot off Bledsoe Dr
* Disabled parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Condron Family Ballpark west lot with a valid Disabled Placard.
* Fans can follow this link<http://floridagators.com/EventParking> to an interactive parking map.
* RV Parking is available in the Fifield Flat lot. Reserved RV parking is not available for Florida baseball games. All motor home parking is on a first come, first-served basis.
* On-board generators are permitted, however exterior or pull-along generators are prohibited at all times. For safety reasons, all motor homes/RVs are required to utilize exhaust extensions or “smoke stacks” to channel exhaust fumes to the top of the motor home/RV.
* Overnight stays are only allowed on weekend series in the Fifield Flat lot.
* Do Not Park Illegally
* No parking on grass, sidewalks, or along streets. Doing so runs the risk of receiving a parking citation.
* Park in designated parking spots (Do not park on grass or in No Parking Zones).
* Vehicles are subject to towing if they block streets, sidewalks, service drives, or fire lanes, or if illegally parked in a disabled space.
TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets<https://am.ticketmaster.com/gators/en/buy/virtual-venue/QlMyNQ==?utm_source=WEB&utm_medium=STORY&utm_campaign=BASE-SEASON&camefrom=CFC_GATORS_WEB_STORY_BASE-SEASON> and SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans<https://am.ticketmaster.com/gators/en/buy/flexplan/10312?utm_source=WEB&utm_medium=STORY&utm_campaign=BASE-MINI&camefrom=CFC_GATORS_WEB_STORY_BASE-MINI> are currently on sale now in addition to single-game tickets<https://www.ticketmaster.com/florida-gators-baseball-tickets/artist/1294070>. Tickets can be purchased online<https://floridagators.com/sports/2015/12/10/_tickets_baseball_.aspx> or by contacting the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683.
MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP
As a reminder, mobile ticketing is required. There will be two ways to access your tickets:
1) through the Florida Gators app<http://s1445136311.t.en25.com/e/er?s=1445136311&lid=1301&elqTrackId=F42DAD870CD1B888DE14DCC3F8C8916F&elq=f69e4978773d47758819914b4936bd42&elqaid=3046&elqat=1> from your mobile device or
2) through FloridaGators.com/myaccount<http://s1445136311.t.en25.com/e/er?s=1445136311&lid=1324&elqTrackId=E19038CB8FD63F3F29DC57131044A028&elq=f69e4978773d47758819914b4936bd42&elqaid=3046&elqat=1>. Fans will also be able to transfer or donate their tickets easily within the app or online.
TRAFFIC PATTERNS ON GAME DAY
Those visiting Condron Family Ballpark on game day should be aware of updated traffic patterns surrounding the ballpark. Fans are advised to utilize Ballpark Way, which will serve as a connecting route to the ballpark from Archer Road. For departures, a postgame traffic flow pattern guide can be found here.<https://floridagators.com/common/controls/image_handler.aspx?thumb_id=0&image_path=/images/2022/4/22/BB_Post_Game_Traffic_20220421.png>
ON DECK
Florida travels to UCF on Tuesday (6 p.m. on ESPN+) before hosting Florida Atlantic on Wednesday (6 p.m. on SEC Network+).
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