Florida showed spring training sloppiness, yet still beat their little brother

Despite sloppy play, an error-filled game, and only five hits, the Florida Gators won the Sunshine State battle, baseball-edition, shutting out in-state rival, No. 10 FSU, 5-0 at VyStar Ballpark in a neutral site game in Jacksonville. It doesn’t matter when this game takes place; it’s always a must-win for the Gators.

Russell Sandefer, Luke McNeillie each threw three shutout innings, giving up just a total of four hits, walked three, and struck out 16.

Florida takes down FSU 5-0

Offensively, the Gators' top four in the lineup combined to go 0-12, combining for four walks. Brendan Lawson walked three times and scored a run. Cade Kurland walked and scored a run. But all-in-all, the top of the lineup didn’t have much going and failed to contribute outside of Lawson’s three walks, reaching in three of his five at-bats.

But it was the five, six, and seven hitters that had the biggest impact on Tuesday. Ethan Surowiec was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and Blake Cyr was 2-for-4 with two RBIS.

Cash Strayer also contributed to go 1-for-3 with an RBI.

After scoring just one run the entire game the Gators came through with four runs in the seventh to take a 5-0 lead they never looked back on as the Gators defeated the Seminoles in Jacksonville.

Florida survived despite some notable gaffes in the field. Florida was only charged with one error, but also let multiple balls hit the ground that should have been caught.

But after this weekend's meltdown against Alabama, Kevin O'Sullivan was pleased for the most part with how Florida responded:

"I'll be honest with you, the plane ride home on Sunday night was not an easy one. Yesterday, was not easy. I took a bunch of notes. And quite honestly, 12:45 before we took off, we had a heart-to-heart as a group. And those guys who didn't pitch well on Sunday, I challenged them. And they all three were outstanding. All three of them were outstanding tonight. And that's all a coach can do."

With their win on Saturday night, the Gators secured the 2026 Sunshine State Series over the Seminoles winning their matchup on March 10 and Tuesday night’s matchup on March 24. They have also now won 26 of 34 meetings between the two teams, including four of the last five meetings.

The Gators now lead all teams nationally in shutouts as well, getting their sixth shutout win of the season.

Florida and Florida State will conclude their 2026 series on April 7 in Tallahassee.

Between now and then, the Gators will head to Arkansas for another three-game SEC slate against the Arkansas Razorbacks beginning Friday, March 27. First pitch for that game is at 7PM in Fayettville.