Florida Gators even series with No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A 10-1 win over Kentucky might have been more frustrating than anything for Florida manager Kevin O’Sullivan. The Gators put together their most complete performance, which comes at a critical point of the season but might not have been critical if the team had been able to play like this since February.

The Gators used three home runs and two quality outings from freshman Liam Peterson and redshirt junior Ryan Slater to even the series against the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats.

For the second time in as many days, the Wildcats (36-11, 19-7 SEC) and Gators (26-24, 11-15 SEC) exchanged zeros in the first inning. Peterson stranded a two-out double and struck out two in the opening frame. The freshman blanked Kentucky again in the second while Hayden Yost provided Florida with a 1-0 lead in the bottom half via a two-out, RBI double to left-center to plate Brody Donay.
 
Peterson utilized a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the third, then fanned Emilien Pitre to complete three scoreless innings. The Gators promptly added on, as Kurland launched an opposite-field homer into the right-field bullpen followed by an RBI single through the right side by Colby Shelton.
 
Florida pushed its edge to 4-0 in the fourth. Tyler Shelnut led off with a single through the left side and Thomas cashed in with an RBI double off the left-center field wall.

Players of the Game

Liam Peterson: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K 101 pitches — This start marked the first quality start of Peterson’s career.

Ryan Slater: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Cade Kurland: 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, HR

Notes

• Saturday’s official attendance was 5,571.
• Florida’s scoring streak of 130-consecutive games is the third-longest in program history (May 27, 2022-present).
• Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 36 games and hitting streak to 29 in a row.
  • Caglianone has hit safely in 48 of 50 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
  • Jacob Young (2019-21) holds Florida’s hit streak record at 30 games.
• Kurland and Heyman both hit their 10th home runs of the season, giving the Gators seven players with double-digit homers.
  • Last year’s team had six players with 10 or more home runs featuring five with 17-plus.
• Heyman swatted his 11th homer in the eighth for his second-career multi-homer game and first of the 2024 season.
  • Heyman’s first-career multi-homer game came March 26, 2023 at Ole Miss.
• Peterson pitched six innings with one earned run allowed for his first-career quality start.
  • The freshman threw a career-high 101 pitches and tied his career high with six innings pitched.
• Wilson collected his first hit and RBI as a Gator with a pinch-hit, run-scoring single to left field in the eighth inning.
• Slater nailed down his second save of the year.
• The Gators are 55-19 at home since the start of last season despite an 19-12 record at Condron Family Ballpark in 2024.
• Across the team’s last 79 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 48-31.
  • That includes a 40-28 regular-season mark.
• The Gators are 49-28 in weekend series since the start of last season and 58-29 across their last 30 series.
• Florida is now 149-73-1 all-time vs. Kentucky including a 80-31 mark in Gainesville.
  • The Gators are 28-22 against the Wildcats under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan (13-10 at home).

Quotes

On the win and Peterson’s start…
“I thought Liam was really good. That’s kind of how you draw it up. You got six innings from your starter, managed some innings with runners on. I think that’s where the biggest improvement he’s made over the last month or so, slow the game down when he has to get in the stretch with runners on. Ryan came in and did his thing for three innings… so that’s kind of how you draw it up. It was one of the cleaner games we’ve played in some time.”

On only needing to use two arms…
“Yeah, we needed it. Obviously, we went to the well yesterday with just about everybody. We did tell [Peterson] he has to go deeper in the game. And now we should be fully rested for tomorrow and we got Jac on the mound on senior day. There’s a lot to play for. We have a chance to win the series tomorrow.”

On Peterson’s confidence growing…
“Today, I thought his breaking ball was as good as it looked all year long. He’s always had a slider, but now he’s got the breaking ball going. He threw quite a few right-on-right changeups that most guys can’t do, and the other thing, he has the ability to throw the ball to both sides of the plate. He can locate fastballs in to right handers, which in this day and age, a lot of pitchers have trouble doing that. Today, he was really good.”

What’s next for the Florida Gators

Florida will honor its seniors on Sunday for the final home game of the 2024 season at noon. The Gators are also looking for their first SEC series win since beating Mississippi State from March 29-31.