![Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan heads to the dugout before 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_0,w_2717,h_1528/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/production/213/01ksqw09qkxm3gsh5fmb.jpg "Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan heads to the dugout before 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]")
Being the host site for the NCAA Tournament has its advantages for Florida, the biggest of which is the option to toy with the pitching rotation ahead of game one against Rider. Kevin O’Sullivan could play it safe and start Aidan King to get Florida off to a 1-0 start, but he also has the option to start Russell Sandefer with hopes of saving King and Liam Peterson for a potential showdown with Miami.
After giving it some thought, O’Sullivan is opting for the more aggressive option to start Regional play.
Florida to start Russell Sandefer to open the NCAA Tournament
At his press conference on Thursday, O’Sullivan announced that Sandefer would get the start against Rider, and it would be matchup dependent as to who would start on Saturday, whether it's King or Peterson. Sandefer was hit by a pitch during the SEC Tournament and had to leave the semifinals against Georgia, but x-rays came back negative, and he is good to go.
The choice to go with the No. 3 pitcher on the staff in the opener isn’t too uncommon, and O’Sullivan did it most recently in 2023 when he opened Regionals with Jac Caglianone as his starting pitcher. The theory is that for Florida to get out of Regionals and move on to host Super Regionals, the higher ceiling play is to try and save Peterson and King, and that if Florida can’t beat Rider with Sandefer, then Florida isn’t going to make a deep run anyway.
The move isn’t without risk, as the UCF transfer has only made it past five innings once in his last seven starts. If Florida went with King against Rider, he could possibly pitch a complete game by himself. That would leave Peterson for the Saturday night game and a potentially fresh bullpen to mix and match through Sunday.
If Sandefer gets tagged early against Rider or simply can’t make it past the 5th inning, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on the bullpen that has options, but isn’t so deep that it can carry the load all weekend.
First pitch against Rider is scheduled for 1 PM, with Miami and Troy set to take the field after.
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