Luke Heyman left the yard twice behind six strong innings from starter Liam Peterson.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida evened the series against No. 4 Kentucky behind 12 hits for a 10-1 victory in game two at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.
The Orange & Blue’s 12 knocks were powered by two hits, two runs and three RBI apiece from Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372> (2-for-5) and Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> (2-for-4), with the latter connecting for two home runs while the former blasted one. Dale Thomas<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/dale-thomas/16378> (2-for-3) also continued his impressive weekend, chipping in one double, one RBI, one run and one walk. On the mound, starter Liam Peterson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/liam-peterson/16631> was stellar across six innings of one-run ball to earn the win as well as his first-career quality start.
For the second time in as many days, the Wildcats (36-11, 19-7 SEC) and Gators (26-24, 11-15 SEC) exchanged zeros in the first inning. Peterson stranded a two-out double and struck out two in the opening frame. The freshman blanked Kentucky again in the second while Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/16633> provided Florida with a 1-0 lead in the bottom half via a two-out, RBI double to left-center to plate Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621>.
Peterson utilized a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the third, then fanned Emilien Pitre to complete three scoreless innings. The Gators promptly added on, as Kurland launched an opposite-field homer into the right-field bullpen followed by an RBI single through the right side by Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639>.
Florida pushed its edge to 4-0 in the fourth. Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/16376> led off with a single through the left side and Thomas cashed in with an RBI double off the left-center field wall.
The Wildcats eventually broke through for one run in the fifth to cut the lead to 4-1. With two outs and runners at the corners, Devin Burkes reached on an infield single as Ryan Waldschmidt came home.
The Gators quickly answered in the bottom of the fifth, chasing starter Dominic Nieman from the contest. On a full count, Heyman hammered a two-run homer into the left-field bullpen to push the advantage to 6-1.
Peterson worked a clean sixth while notching two more strikeouts to conclude with six on the day. He was replaced by Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/16377> at the onset of the seventh, who retired the side in order to maintain the five-run lead.
Florida added to that lead in the bottom of the seventh, beginning with a two-out, two-run double down the left-field line off the bat of Kurland. Ashton Wilson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ashton-wilson/16638> then produced a pinch-hit, RBI single to left field for his first Gators hit and RBI to give the Orange & Blue a 9-1 advantage.
Slater threw a scoreless eighth, then Heyman opened the bottom half with his second long ball of the day – this time into Dizney Grove in right-center field to push the score to 10-1.
Remaining on the hill to close it out in the ninth, Slater recorded three-straight outs for his second save of the campaign. The right-hander finished with three perfect, shutout innings and one strikeout.
Peterson (2-4) earned the victory behind six innings of one-run ball for his first-career quality start. He was charged with five hits allowed, two walks and six strikeouts.
Nieman (8-4) was saddled with the loss after pitching four-plus innings and allowing six earned runs on seven hits and three walks. The southpaw struck out three.
NOTABLES
* Saturday’s official attendance was 5,571.
* Florida’s scoring streak of 130-consecutive games is the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 36 games and hitting streak to 29 in a row.
* Caglianone has hit safely in 48 of 50 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
* Jacob Young (2019-21) holds Florida’s hit streak record at 30 games.
* Kurland and Heyman both hit their 10th home runs of the season, giving the Gators seven players with double-digit homers.
* Last year’s team had six players with 10 or more home runs featuring five with 17-plus.
* Heyman swatted his 11th homer in the eighth for his second-career multi-homer game and first of the 2024 season.
* Heyman’s first-career multi-homer game came March 26, 2023 at Ole Miss.
* Peterson pitched six innings with one earned run allowed for his first-career quality start.
* The freshman threw a career-high 101 pitches and tied his career high with six innings pitched.
* Wilson collected his first hit and RBI as a Gator with a pinch-hit, run-scoring single to left field in the eighth inning.
* Slater nailed down his second save of the year.
* The Gators are 55-19 at home since the start of last season despite an 19-12 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
* Across the team’s last 79 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 48-31.
* That includes a 40-28 regular-season mark.
* The Gators are 49-28 in weekend series since the start of last season and 58-29 across their last 30 series.
* Florida is now 149-73-1 all-time vs. Kentucky including a 80-31 mark in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 28-22 against the Wildcats under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (13-10 at home).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the win and Peterson’s start…
“I thought Liam was really good. That’s kind of how you draw it up. You got six innings from your starter, managed some innings with runners on. I think that’s where the biggest improvement he’s made over the last month or so, slow the game down when he has to get in the stretch with runners on. Ryan came in and did his thing for three innings… so that’s kind of how you draw it up. It was one of the cleaner games we’ve played in some time.”
On only needing to use two arms…
“Yeah, we needed it. Obviously, we went to the well yesterday with just about everybody. We did tell [Peterson] he has to go deeper in the game. And now we should be fully rested for tomorrow and we got Jac on the mound on senior day. There’s a lot to play for. We have a chance to win the series tomorrow.”
On Peterson’s confidence growing…
“Today, I thought his breaking ball was as good as it looked all year long. He’s always had a slider, but now he’s got the breaking ball going. He threw quite a few right-on-right changeups that most guys can’t do, and the other thing, he has the ability to throw the ball to both sides of the plate. He can locate fastballs in to right handers, which in this day and age, a lot of pitchers have trouble doing that. Today, he was really good.”
UP NEXT
Florida and Kentucky face off in the series finale on Sunday, scheduled for 12 p.m. on SEC Network.
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