No. 12 Florida baseball survived a ninth-inning scare to hold on for a 12–9 victory over Kennesaw State, completing the series sweep and improving to 7–1 on the 2026 season.
It was a sloppy game for both teams as they battled wind gusts of up to 25 mph throughout the contest. The Owls issued eight walks and committed one error, while Florida’s pitching staff walked seven and the Gators added three errors of their own.
The Owls came out of the gate swinging, plating three runs in the top of the first inning on four hits. Sunday starter Cooper Walls then settled in, tossing three consecutive scoreless frames.
“I thought he pitched really well after that,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame. “His stuff looked a little down today from what it has been in the preseason, and that’s typical. Usually that second start they kind of back up a little bit. But I thought he settled in and pitched really well. Just pitched behind in the count in the first and they took advantage of him.”
The fifth inning was a struggle. Walls was lifted after issuing a leadoff walk. Ernesto-Lugo Canchola retired the next two hitters but allowed a strikeout to reach on a wild pitch. He was then pulled after back-to-back walks, and Ricky Reeth followed by walking in the second run of the inning before being removed.
Right-hander Jackson Barberi entered with the Gators trailing 5–4 and struck out Charlie Jones to strand the bases loaded, avoiding disaster.
“The 5th inning was a bit ugly. They loaded the bases with no hits,” O’Sullivan said. “I wasn’t planning on bringing Jackson [Barberi] in that early in the game but I felt like that was probably the tipping point of the game.”
Barberi went on to pitch 2.1 scoreless innings while the Gator bats tacked on more runs.
“He was a big reason we ended up winning today. And he’s been sick this week too, you could tell he was running out of gas there a little bit,” O’Sullivan added.
The Owls rallied late on a flurry of hits, two walks, and an error, but Florida held on to secure the win.
Florida was held scoreless in the first inning but responded with runs in each of its next seven trips to the plate. Sophomore infielder Ethan Surowiec continued his monster weekend at the plate, going 2-5 at the dish with four RBI and a double.
The Gators managed just three hits through five innings but capitalized on free passes with clutch situational hitting. Florida recorded two sac flies and consistently put the ball in play with runners on third. The Orange and Blue totaled 10 hits, including seven in the final three innings, fueling a seven-run surge.
Not every baseball game is going to be perfect, and the weather was certainly not ideal, but the Gators pulled out a win to complete the sweep against a team that could very well end up in the NCAA Tournament.
Florida will host FIU for a two-game midweek series before heading to Miami for a three-game showdown against the Hurricanes.