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UCF transfer pitcher commits to Florida Gators

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr06/06/25On3Keith
Florida Gators baseball

The Florida Gators baseball program has picked up another pledge via the transfer portal. Per Jacob Rudner of Baseball America, UCF right-handed pitcher Russell Sandefer has committed to Florida.

Sandefer went 2-3 and recorded a 3.38 ERA with 49 strikeouts in 50.2 innings last season as a sophomore for the Knights. He had the third lowest ERA on the team.

Rudner noted, “Ran his fastball up to 96 mph (92.4 avg). Low-80s gyro slider drew a 47% whiff rate. Throws a changeup to lefties only that drew a lot of swing and miss, too.”

Sandefer’s commitment comes one day after Florida landed two players — Notre Dame transfer pitcher Ricky Reeth and catcher/DH AJ Malzone of Wabash Valley College.

Last season Reeth posted a 4-2 record, 4.31 ERA and 43 strikeouts against 12 walks in 22 appearances. He allowed 23 earned runs and 44 hits in 48 innings.

In 2025, Malzone batted .347 and had 10 homers, 58 RBI and a .602 slugging percentage over 58 games according to Pro Baseball Radar. He was named All Conference, All Region and earned a Region 24 Gold Glove.

Here are some notes about Sandefer from the 2025 season courtesy of UCF’s official website:

—Made 18 appearances with six starts on the mound for UCF.
—One of the team’s top starting pitchers down the stretch of the season.
—Allowed just 19 runs on 46 hits.
—Had nine scoreless outings on the season.
—Picked up his first win in a UCF uniform after tossing 2.0 scoreless innings against Bryant on Feb. 21.
—Logged his first save as a Knight after giving up just one hit and no runs against Stetson March 18.
—Tossed 5.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts in his first start at the DI level on April 12 at Kansas State.
—Gave up just one run and struck out a career-best eight batters over 5.2 innings in a win against TCU on April 18.
—Registered 11 assists and two putouts.

Sandefer, a native of Tampa, Fla., spent his freshman season at Saint Leo University. He was 5-2 with a 3.35 ERA and one save in his lone season with that program.

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