Florida Baseball Turns to NCAA Tournament With Rider First Up

Thursday marked the beginning of a new chapter for Florida baseball. The crack of the bat echoed across Condron Family Ballpark during the Gators’ morning practice as Florida prepared for its 18th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance Friday against Rider at 1 p.m.

In a 2026 season full of injuries, errors and blown leads, Florida also secured series sweeps, found the strike zone and watched the bats of Hayden Yost and Caden McDonald come alive. 

Right-handed pitcher Russell Sandefer (3-2, 4.38 ERA) will take the hill in Florida’s first regional matchup. Sandefer pitched in the SEC Tournament semifinal but was pulled after taking a liner off his arm that left a large welt.

“I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to hinder him pitching tomorrow afternoon,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Thursday.

While Florida fans may look ahead to a potential matchup between Florida and rival Miami, Game 1 belongs to the Broncs. Historically, teams that win their regionals usually win their first game — 93% of regional winners (397 of 416) opened with a victory.

For the Broncs (33-18), winning the MAAC secured a place in the NCAA Tournament and set up a showdown with the Gators. Rider finished 13-3 at home but struggled on the road (17-14).

Rider is throwing its best arm at the Gators with right-hander PJ Craig (9-3, 3.39 ERA) leading the charge. Craig has thrown 95 innings for the Broncs, nearly 26 more than Rider’s second-most-used pitcher.

As a team, Rider accumulated 237 walks contributing to players stealing 52 bases throughout the season. The Broncs feature a top-heavy batting lineup, with five players recording 67 hits or more. Despite the success at the plate, no one reads Florida’s pitchers like Gators catcher Karson Bowen.

Bowen has spent most of the season calling games behind the plate for Florida, something few catchers under O’Sullivan have done.

“I had a conversation with both Liam (Peterson) and Aidan (King), they felt like the flow of the game was better with Karson calling the game,” O’Sullivan said. “I trust Karson, he’s done it before, he did it his freshman year at TCU.”

Bowen played four seasons for the Horned Frogs before transferring to Florida ahead of the season. In 2023, Bowen experienced the College World Series before TCU fell short to the Gators courtesy of a ninth-inning single by Cade Kurland — his current teammate. Bowen aims to bring his experience of what it takes to win regionals and make a postseason run.

“That’s the biggest thing, to try and bring that experience for some of these young guys who haven’t been to Omaha,” Bowen said.

“I, for one, obviously want to go back, but I really want everybody else to experience it because it is the best,” Bowen added.

For Florida and Miami baseball, no matter what page you turn to, it reads the same. Not only are the Gators 23-9 against Miami since 2016, but they also won both games played in Coral Gables earlier in the season.

“I’m not surprised, it seems like every year, every other year they’re in our regional,” O’Sullivan said about being matched up with Miami. “Whoever they put in front of us we play.”

The final team in the regional is Troy University. The Trojans (32-29) set the record for the most losses by an at-large team in the super regional era.

“They’re really old, they got seniors up and down the lineup,” O’Sullivan said. “I think they got six left-handed hitters, they’re left-handed heavy in the bullpen, and they got rewarded for playing a really tough schedule.”

One of the biggest factors to watch this weekend is the weather. Intense rainfall is expected around the ballpark, which could bring extended delays. The weekend features multiple games each day, meaning weather delays and start times should be monitored by fans planning to attend.

“As long as we’re staying up and staying active, we’re ready to play whenever, ” shortstop Brendan Lawson said. “It’s Gainesville, it rains.”

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