Florida Baseball to Defend Condron Ballpark Against Kennesaw State

Riding high after a midweek sweep of Stetson, No. 12 Florida baseball defends at Condron Family Ballpark against Kennesaw State starting Friday.

The Gators (4-1) had six of their 12 players who suited up in Florida’s 12-2 run-ruling of Stetson on Tuesday score at least one run. That included a grand slam from Kyle Jones in the sixth inning and a homer from freshman outfielder Jacob Kendall, the first of his career. Florida’s offense is humming.

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan made his return Tuesday from a three-game suspension last weekend. The Gators are 90-36 all-time and 51-11 at home against Stetson.

The Gators will continue their early-season quest to prove their opening-day loss against UAB was a fluke. Kennesaw State, however, could see some hope against this Gators squad.

Kennesaw State (3-0) will enter the series undefeated with its most recent win coming against West Georgia on Tuesday, when the Owls took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and played keep away for the remaining of the game to win 9-4. Charlie Jones and Grayson McCollum led the Owls with two runs.

Jones leads the Gators in runs with seven and in batting average at .529. After a shoulder injury ended his season last March, Florida is glad to have its outfielder return for his sophomore season.

“You’re looking for that guy to set the tone,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s certainly done that for us in the first four games, and it just goes to show how much we missed him last year.”

Luke McNeille (1-0) made his first start of the season against Stetson on Wednesday. The move came as O’Sullivan wanted to get the reliever ready ahead of this weekend’s games.

Of Note: McNeillie’s last appearance saw the Gators lose against East Carolina in the final game of the season last year.

In their last eight games against non-power conference opponents, the Gators are 5-4. The Gators can’t look past Kennesaw State toward their first Power Four contests. All three games air on SEC Network+ with the opener at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Coverage on 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF starts at 6:25 p.m.

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