GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida dropped a 7-1 matchup to USF in its final midweek contest of the season at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.
 
With the loss to the Bulls (25-21), the Gators (33-17) conclude 2025 midweek play with an 11-3 record, including an 8-1 mark at home.
 

Receiving the starting nod for the Orange & Blue, right-hander Matthew Jenkins struck out two en route to a scoreless top half of the first. The sophomore hurler did one better by fanning the side in order in the second to notch five strikeouts in just two frames.
 
Jenkins struck out the first two batters of the third to extend his strikeout streak to five-straight batters. After a two-out walk, he was lifted in favor of righty Caden McDonald, who recorded the final out of the inning.
 
With the game scoreless through three frames, the Bulls broke through for a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Marcus Brodil singled up the middle to plate Rafael Betancourt with one man down.
 
The UF offense answered back, beginning with a leadoff double into the right-center gap from Brendan Lawson. The rookie then got great jump on a steal of third base and came all the way home to tie the game at 1-1 as USF third baseman Stewart Puckett failed to handle the throw, resulting in a fielding error.
 
In a brand-new ballgame, UF right-handers Christian Rodriguez and Alex Philpott teamed up to produce a zero in the fifth. South Florida then returned to the scoring column in the sixth for four runs to retake the advantage at 5-1, beginning with an RBI double to right by Brodil. Matt Rose then delivered a pinch-hit, RBI single to deep left field while Carlos Jacome followed with an RBI single to left of his own. Sebastian Greico capped off the outburst with a run-scoring knock to right.
 
Chasing four runs, the Gators stranded a two-out Luke Heyman double in the sixth and went down in order in the seventh. That gave USF the opportunity to add a pair of runs to its lead in the eighth on a two-run single to right-center off the bat of Ryan Pruitt. That brought the score to its final tally of 7-1, as the Orange & Blue was unable to push a run across in the final two innings despite two shutout innings from reliever Blaine Rowland.
 
Philpott (3-4) was handed the loss, allowing three earned runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
 
Bulls relief pitcher Brandon Keyster (1-0) earned the win behind 1 2/3 scoreless frames of relief. He concluded with one hit allowed, zero walks and two strikeouts.
 
Jenkins did not factor into the decision despite throwing 2 2/3 shutout, no-hit innings in his start. He struck out a career-high seven batters against two walks.
 
USF starter Landen York also received a no-decision, pitching four-plus innings with one unearned run allowed on two hits and three walks. He struck out two.
 
NOTABLES

• The Gators finish with an 8-1 record in home midweek contests, going 11-3 across 14 midweek games overall.
• Florida concluded regular-season, non-conference play with a 22-4 record.
• In 16 games against in-state competition this year, the Gators are 12-4.
• Making his first pitching appearance in 48 days, Jenkins struck out a career-high seven batters across 2 2/3 scoreless, no-hit innings.

  • Jenkins struck out five-straight Bulls in the contest.

• Rowland tossed two shutout innings of relief on two hits and two strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.25.
• Florida is now 65-29 all-time against USF including 44-13 in Gainesville.

  • The Gators are 25-6 overall and 21-5 at home in the series under O’Sullivan.
  • Florida has won eight of the last 11 in Gainesville vs. USF.

• Tuesday night’s official attendance was 5,298.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Jenkins’ performance in his return…
“That’s one of the bright moments of the game, to get him back out there and the goal was to get him to 45 pitches, and I think he got right to that mark. Yeah, he was good tonight.”
 
On the pitching…
“I knew going into it that we were going to have to be creative with the bullpen and not overextend anybody, because we’re coming off Sunday playing 13 innings and of course, we got Texas coming up. Obviously, with Pierce starting one of those games, he’s still building up his pitch count, so it’s almost like an opener, and our rotation kind of got flipped around a little bit because of the weather. So, we’ll look at it tonight and tomorrow and come up with a gameplan on how we’ll use our pitchers this weekend. I thought we hit the ball hard the first couple of innings quite a bit. I think through three innings we probably had six or seven hard-hit balls and didn’t have much to show for it, but that’s baseball…”
 
On the upcoming series against Texas…
“We haven’t really looked into them. Obviously, we’ve got them on paper and looked at their lineup and I think it’s seven right-handed hitters, one switch, but I think he’s only hitting left-handed now, and then another left hander, so it’s obviously heavy right-handed. They don’t walk people, they throw a ton of strikes, play really good defense, especially at home with the turf. What I’ve seen this year from Texas is they’re playing a really clean brand of baseball; they don’t beat themselves. They pitch, they hit, they play defense and they haven’t really hit that spot other than last weekend at Arkansas where they struggled a little bit. But if you’re going to run through our league and be 19-2 at some point, you’re doing something right…”

UP NEXT

Florida travels to Austin, Tex. for a showdown against No. 1 Texas from Friday, May 9 to Sunday, May 11. Friday night’s series opener airs on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m. ET.