GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 9 Florida stormed back from a five-run deficit to claim the series finale over High Point with a 12-11 walk-off victory at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.
 
Trailing by five runs in the sixth and by four in the eighth, the Gators delivered their seventh comeback win of the season including their largest of the campaign to date. Florida did so by barreling a season-high six home runs – the team’s most in nearly two years. Shortstop Brendan Lawson (2-for-4) contributed two long balls for the first multi-homer effort of his career while finishing with a team-high three runs scored.
 
The Panthers (9-7) opened the scoring with four runs on the Gators (14-3) in the top of the first. Christian Smith started the rally with a two-run double to left field, followed by an RBI triple to left-center by Jake McCarter and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Seojun Oh. Two of the four runs were charged as unearned against UF starting pitcher Cooper Walls after a one-out throwing error at shortstop that allowed Lane Allen to reach first base safely.
 
Finding themselves behind early at 4-0, Florida responded quickly and loudly in the home half to reduce the deficit to two runs. Kyle Jones and Lawson led off with back-to-back jacks on full counts to left and right-center, respectively, to cut the High Point lead in half.
 
Walls produced a zero in the second by utilizing a 5-4-3 double play while Cole Stanford hosed Willie Ponce attempting to steal second base on the heels of a two-out knock. That allowed the Orange & Blue to snag the lead in bottom-two at 6-4 thanks to a four-spot. Justin Nadeau lined a one-out, solo shot onto the right-field berm and with two on and two out, Karson Bowen connected for a go-ahead, three-run homer to right field on a 3-1 offering.
 
Leading for the first time since the fifth inning of Friday night, Walls recorded two quick outs via a groundout and strikeout in the third before the next two Panthers reached on a double and walk. Play then halted promptly at 2:04 p.m. due to a nearby lightning strike and did not resume until 4:15 p.m., resulting in a total delay of two hours and 11 minutes. Upon resumption, rookie Eli Blair took over for Walls and fanned Oh on a 3-2 pitch to strand a pair.
 
High Point fought back in top-four to regain the advantage at 10-6. Ponce singled home Jace Kohler for the first run, followed by a two-run double by Allen. Landen Johnson then scored on a UF throwing error from first base to pitcher while Oh added a two-run single to right field.
 
Left-hander Ernesto Lugo-Canchola fired a scoreless fifth inning for the Gators, but the Panthers returned to the scoring column in the top of the sixth. Smith reached on a dropped-third strike and advanced all the way to third on a throwing error at catcher, later scoring on a single to center from McCarter to make it 11-6.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Florida used a sacrifice fly to center by Nadeau to draw within four runs. Southpaw Jackson Hoyt then tossed a scoreless inning in the seventh and combined with Joshua Whritenour for a zero in the eighth to hold the score at 11-7.
 
Launching his first homer of the season, Landon Stripling made it a three-run ballgame with a two-out, solo shot in the eighth. Whritenour struck out two while blanking the Panthers in the ninth to keep the Gators within striking distance.
 
With one out in the final frame, Lawson drilled his second homer of the day to straightaway right field to cut the deficit to 11-9. Ethan Surowiec and Bowen followed with walks while Caden McDonald flared a pinch-hit single to right to load the bases. With a man on every bag, Panthers reliever Dalton Hitt issued three-consecutive walks to Sam Miller, Stanford and lastly to Colton Schwarz – who forced home pinch runner Hayden Yost for the game-winning run and a 12-11 walk-off victory.
 

Having registered the final five outs for the Orange & Blue, Whritenour (1-0) earned his first-collegiate win. The redshirt sophomore threw 1 2/3 shutout innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts.
 
Hitt (0-1) was saddled with his first loss of the year. He failed to record an out in the ninth inning and surrendered one earned run on one hit and three walks.
 
Walls did not qualify for the decision as a result of the weather delay, lasting just 2 2/3 frames before the tarp was installed. The sophomore finished with four runs allowed (two earned) on six hits and one walk while striking out one batter.
 
Panthers starter Aidan Paul did not qualify for the decision either. He was charged with six earned runs on six hits, two walks and one strikeout.

NOTABLES

• Florida delivered its seventh come-from-behind win of the season.

  • Florida’s five-run comeback marked its largest since May 15, 2025 vs. Alabama (five runs).

• The Gators swatted a season-high six home runs after homering just once in the first two games of the series.

  • Florida hit six homers for the first time since swatting seven against Stetson on April 23, 2024.

• Lawson produced his first-career, multi-homer game and now has a team-high eight home runs on the season on top of a .418 batting average.

  • He finished 2-for-4 with two homers, three runs, two RBI and one walk.

• Nadeau made his first start of the season (second base) and went 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI.
• Whritenour recorded his first-career win and has now opened his career 7 1/3 scoreless frames across six appearances.
• Jones led off the home half of the first with his second home run of the season, improving to 9-for-16 leading off games with eight runs scored.
• Lawson made it back-to-back homers to begin the game with his seventh home run of the season.
• The homers by Jones and Lawson marked Florida’s first back-to-back jacks since April 20, 2025 at Mississippi State (eighth inning, Ashton Wilson & Justin Nadeau).

  • The long balls represented Florida’s fist back-to-back homers to begin a game since April 9, 2024 at Florida State (Cade Kurland & Jac Caglianone).

• Nadeau launched his first homer of the season in his second at bat of the campaign in the second inning.
• Bowen gave UF the lead with his first homer as a Gator – a three-run shot in bottom-two.
• Stripling hit his first homer of the season in the eighth inning.
• The Gators have won 31 of their last 39 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
• Florida is 36-7 in regular-season, non-conference play dating back to last season.
• The Gators improved to 1-2 all-time against High Point on the diamond.
• Sunday afternoon’s official attendance was 4,774.
• Play was halted at 2:04 due to lightning and did not resume until 4:15, resulting in a total delay of two hours and 11 minutes.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On his thoughts on the pitching…
“To start, Coop (Walls), we didn’t help him defensively or some of the other guys today, uncharacteristically because we have been playing pretty good defense. The thing with Coop is, he gave up three runs in the first inning against Kennesaw State and gave up four more today, so that’s seven runs in the first inning, so we just have got to get him going. When I talked to him at the end of the game, with pitchers, you can’t get into the mindset of pacing yourself, because you can lose a game in the first inning the same as the rest of the night. They all count the same. Then, I take a mound visit and get on him a little bit and then the next fastball he throws is 95 miles per hour. And, arguably, going into the season, you could say that he is our second-most consistent pitcher, behind Liam Peterson. So, he just hasn’t found his groove yet. But I still have a tremendous amount of trust in him and him pitching on Sundays. He’s going to get there, but he does have to understand that when he comes out of that bullpen, he has to be ready to go, from the first pitch. Eli (Blair) came in and did a nice job, and got a big out in that situation, after the rain delay…”
 
On the state of the offense…
“Offensively, it was just a different day. We had a chance to start Nadeau for the first time and gets the first pitch and hits a home run, so that got everybody excited. I was really pleased with how we responded with two in the bottom of the first and four in the second. Brendan Lawson’s continued to swing the bat great. (Surowiec) is starting to swing the bat better again. Karson had his first home run. It’s good to see Jacob Kendall back in the lineup. We’ve got some things to clean up at the plate. Landon had a big home run and two hits, so we got some production up and down the lineup. It’ll be really interesting to see this week, you could kind of see how valuable Blake Cyr is. We’re hoping for Florida State, but most definitely South Carolina.”
 
On the pitching staff bouncing back from the series and getting back to full strength…
“I still think we have one of the better pitching staffs in the country and we got exposed a little bit. I’m positive or very confident that Aidan will bounce back next week and Coop will bounce back next week, because we’ve all seen it, whether it be preseason or during the season. Our bullpen is starting to come back together, and I don’t want to dismiss the importance of getting Jackson Hoyt out there and giving us another lefty that can help us. I’m really excited about that and once we get those four guys back that have been on the shelf for a little bit, I do think that will help us.”

UP NEXT

The Gators’ lengthy homestand continues through all of next week, beginning with a Tuesday matchup against No. 20 Florida State at 6:30 p.m. Florida then welcomes South Carolina to Condron Family ballpark for a three-game, weekend series to open Southeastern Conference play.