Florida Baseball Sweeps South Carolina For 4th Consecutive Series Win

The red-hot Florida baseball team swept South Carolina in a Sunday doubleheader, 22-3 and 8-0, at Founders Park in Columbia for its fourth consecutive series win. The Gators started conference play in a 1-11 hole and have since gone 10-2 in the league and have won 13 of its last 15 games overall for a 33-16, 11-13 record.

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The Gators’ Game 3 win marked coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s 750th overall at Florida, where he is 750-365 (.673) in 18 seasons.

7️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ for skip!#GoGators pic.twitter.com/6j9quqUbOx

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 5, 2025

Double-Digit Domination

Sunday’s series-claiming game Sunday started at the bottom of the third after severe weather postponed on Saturday. The Gators dominated the Gamecocks (26-23, 5-19) by scoring half of their runs in the ninth inning.

“The big innings, usually the winning team scores more runs in one inning then the losing team does throughout all nine,” O’Sullivan said. “And we had three in the fourth, five in the eighth and 11 runs in the ninth.”

Blake Cyr hit a RBI double on Saturday in the first inning before the game was halted in the bottom of the third. The Gators then scored three more in the fourth Sunday and Luke Heyman nuked a homer in the fifth and seventh to give the Gators a 6-2 lead.

Luke Skywalks another one out!! ✌️#GoGators // SEC Network+ pic.twitter.com/lkEKCaYbJP

— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 4, 2025

Six more Gators also produced at bat in the eighth and ninth innings. Freshman Brendan Lawson gave the Gators the final runs of the game with a grand slam.

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Florida’s pitching staff executed well. Combined, they struck out eight and gave up three runs. However, they also walked six and gave up nine hits.

“I thought that Liam (Peterson, 8-2) did what he needed to do, he wasn’t as sharp as he’d like to be today, but he did what he needed to do,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, Jake came in out of the pen. Really didn’t want to use him in the first game ’cause we had a lead there, but with the tying run at the plate in the seventh, we really weren’t left with any choice.” 

Clean Sweep

The Gators shut out the Gamecocks 8-0 in the final seven-inning game of the series.

Ty Evans started the rally for the Gators with a bomb to right field. In the fourth, the Gators scored two more with a Hayden Yost sacrifice bunt and Ashton Wilson RBI single. Then in the sixth, Yost performed again for the Gators with a two-run homer, his third of the season. Lawson, Brody Donay and Wilson drove in the final three runs of the game, with Donay’s being his 13th dinger of the season.

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Pierce Coppola started for the first time since Week 3. He only pitched one inning, but struck out two and walked two. Jackson Barberi (2-1) relieved next for three and one third innings, where he struck out four and walked none.

It’s Florida’s first sweep of South Carolina in Columbia since 1996 and UF’s first road sweep of any team since 2022. The Gators pounded 27 hits in the 16 innings.

Up Next

Florida, on a four-game winning streak, hosts its final midweek contest of the season Tuesday against USF (24-21). The first pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF.