![Florida players head to the dug out as the game against Texas A&M begins during an NCAA baseball game at Condron Family Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field in Gainesville, FL on Friday, April 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_154,w_2773,h_1559/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01kr8sj79va7vdwq2w8g.jpg "Florida players head to the dug out as the game against Texas A&M begins during an NCAA baseball game at Condron Family Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field in Gainesville, FL on Friday, April 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida used some midnight magic in game one against Kentucky to come back and steal a game that looked like it was lost. The Gators tried to employ some of that magic on Saturday night, but ran into one small problem:
The clock never struck midnight.
The end result was a 4-2 loss that sets up a massive rubber match at 10 AM on Sunday.
Florida drops game two to Kentucky
Once again, Florida and Kentucky were delayed by rain, and once things started the Gators were not the ones ready to play. Liam Peterson took the mound, and his first three batters were:
- Single
- Double
- Two-run RBI single
To be fair to Peterson, he mostly settled down after the first three batters. He went 7.2 innings with four earned runs. After the initial ambush from Kentucky’s first three batters, Peterson only gave up five more hits while striking out seven.
The issue is that the third run came off a fielder’s choice, where it looked like Ethan Suroweic had at least a chance of cutting down the runner at home, and the fourth run came off a solo home run.
The deeper issue is that Florida’s batters never showed up or settled in. The Gators struck out 12 times while walking just once. They did a decent job of trying to extend at-bats and had an average of 2.5 extra pitches per at-bat once the count reached two strikes, but they struggled to ever get the payoff from it.
And despite all that, Florida was one hit away from pulling off another comeback. The Gators entered the 9th down 4-1 but loaded the bases with one out. Suroweic jumped on the first pitch he saw and gave it a ride to the warning track, but it fell short of a walk-off grand slam and ended as a sacrifice fly.
Florida reloaded the bases with two out, with Hayden Yost being given the chance to be the hero, but he popped out to shortstop to end the game.
With weather still expected for Sunday, Florida and Kentucky are set to take the field at 10 AM on Sunday. For Florida, it absolutely needs a win on Sunday to keep its hopes of hosting Regionals alive. A loss would lead to the 4th SEC series loss in Florida’s last 6.
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