Gators resiliency shows in 7-6 comeback win against Alabama

If there were ever a game that defined Florida’s second-half surge this season, it would likely be Friday’s 7-6 comeback win against Alabama.

The Gators trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning, and with two outs and nobody on, things were not looking good. Earlier, Florida (36-18, 14-14) watched not one but two starters exit the game with injuries. Luke Heyman took a pitch directly off his forearm in the first inning, and Justin Nadeau exited after losing a fingernail while fielding a ground ball.

“[Heyman] got a fracture,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame. Heyman’s fractured forearm will likely end his season—a brutal blow to a Gators team already battling a wave of injuries.

“[O’Sullivan] just love the kid more than anything, and you know everybody is disappointed for [Heyman],” O’Sullivan said. “You know he worked his tail off…. and now we’re coming down the stretch, and we put ourselves in a position, not only to make the tournament, but now there are discussions about hosting, and he was a big part of that.”

Heyman will finish the year with a .301 batting average, 13 homers, and 44 RBIs.

Luckily, Nadeau’s nail problem was not as serious and there is a chance he is back on the field this weekend. O’Sullivan said they will try to superglue the nail back on and see how he feels on Saturday.

Even with the injuries, the Gators still faced a big deficit with little going on at the plate. But in baseball, sometimes it is the unlikeliest of plays that can get your team going. In this case, it was a two-out error on Alabama (39-14, 15-13) that allowed Bobby Boser to reach and extend the inning.

Following the error, Florida kept the inning going with back-to-back base hits from Brendan Lawson and Landon Stripling to make it 5-2.

Ty Evans kept the two-out train rolling with an RBI double to drive Lawson in and cut the Crimson Tide lead down to two. After a walk loaded the bases, Brody Donay beat out an infield single that cut the lead to 5-4.

Both teams traded runs in the sixth, that made it a 6-5 game heading to the seventh. Evans leadoff the inning with a walk, and with one out, in stepped Donay, looking to build off his last at-bat.

After fouling the first one off, Donay got a pitch he could do damage with and crushed a two-run home run into the Florida bullpen-giving the Gators its first and only lead at 7-6.

Pitching to Brody Donay in Gainesville has been a fool's errand this year. He’s batting .337 with nine home runs, seven doubles, two triples and 23 RBIs. Clear 70 power and he gets to it here to give Florida a 7-6 lead over Alabama in the seventh. pic.twitter.com/l4JJvm0l9Q

— Jacob Rudner (@JacobRudner) May 16, 2025

“Do whatever I can to get on base; I had a pretty good swing and it felt good off the bat,” Donay said.

After the Gators secured the lead, Jake Clemente took the mound in the eighth, looking to get the final six outs. In his two innings of relief, Clemente faced eight batters, did not allow a hit, struck out two, and recorded his seventh save of the year.

ANOTHER COMEBACK WIN FOR SULLY AND THE GATORS

Get use to seeing Gainesville Regional on your timeline pic.twitter.com/IMcdwhWtkX

— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) May 16, 2025

“[Florida] has had some great wins here, but with how gutsy of a win this was for our team, because we easily could have folded the tent,” O’Sullivan said. “We could have easily hung our heads, but I think, without giving it much thought, starting 1-11 and going through that adversity is probably helping us right now.”

Since starting 1-11 in conference play, the Gators are now 14-14 and on the verge of winning its sixth straight series. This second-half success speaks to the resilience that this Florida team has.

Most teams with a 1-11 conference record and the amount of injuries Florida has had would have likely packed it in. But this Gators team never wavered and is now closing in on its 17-consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

“Everyone on this team has got plenty of fight; we’re all the way down, 1-11 in league, after a pretty good start to the year,” Evans said postgame. ” No one gives up on this team; it’s been like that all four years I’ve been here, it’s been preached and we’ve kind of lived by it every year for sure.”

The Gators and Crimson Tide meet again in game two on Friday night, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. You can also listen to the game on ESPN 98.1FM/850AM WRUF + WJXL 1010AM. Left-hander Pierce Coppola (3-0, 1.15 ERA) gets the ball for Florida against Alabama’s Riley Quick (7-2, 3.53 ERA).

“It would definitely be big, just to keep the momentum that [Florida] got going,” Evans said on what it would mean to win this series. “If we can just keep that rally going into the SEC Tournament, and then into a regional, see if we can keep staying hot.”