GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 23 Florida rode a dominant starting pitching performance from ace Liam Peterson to deliver a one-hit shutout of South Carolina in the SEC opener, walking it off in the 10th inning for 1-0 victory at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
 
Erasing the Gamecocks’ (12-7, 0-1 SEC) attempt at a no-hit bid on a Sam Miller (1-for-2) single with two outs in the ninth, the Gators (16-3, 1-0 SEC) broke the lengthy deadlock on a walk-off sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the 10th inning by rookie Cash Strayer. Center fielder Kyle Jones (1-for-4) scored the winning run from third base after sneaking a leadoff double inside the third-base line.
 
Led by Peterson, the UF pitching staff logged its fourth shutout of the campaign while finishing with five walks and 15 strikeouts. Peterson fired 6.0 scoreless innings with just one hit allowed and 10 strikeouts to log his first quality start. Closer Joshua Whritenour (2-0) was credited with the victory, shutting South Carolina down across the final 2 1/3 frames without allowing a hit and striking out three.
 
In what would prove to be a pitchers’ duel, Peterson chucked a clean top half of the first for the Gators while striking out Will Craddock for the third out. Brendan Lawson drew a one-out walk and stole second base in the home half, but was left stranded in scoring position.
 
Peterson allowed a one-out one baserunner in the second on a dropped-third strike and throwing error, but punched out the next two Gamecocks to finish with three strikeouts in the inning. The junior right-hander sandwiched a line-out to first between a pair of strikeouts in the third to register another one-two-three frame.
 
Leading off the top of the fourth, Talmadge LeCroy found a hole through the right side of the infield for the game’s first hit by either team. Peterson quickly erased the threat, inducing a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Craddock before a lineout to shortstop concluded the inning. He retired the side in order for the third time in the fifth inning, picking up his seventh strikeout in the process.
 
Still searching for their first hit against Gamecock starter Josh Gunther in bottom-five, the Gators got an 11-pitch at bat from Landon Stripling with two outs but the UF first baseman went down looking. Through five innings, Peterson (70 pitches) and Gunther (68 pitches) allowed just two baserunners each.
 
Working into the sixth, Peterson fanned the first two batters but surrendered a pair of two-out walks. He stranded two Gamecocks by striking out Craddock for the second time, reaching 10 strikeouts on the night through 98 pitches.
 
Deadlocked through six innings, Peterson was replaced by reliever Jackson Barberi to begin the seventh. The leadoff man reached via a throwing error from third base, but the right-hander retired the next-three hitters in a row while striking out one to hold the score at 0-0.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Gators posed their first major offensive threat of the contest by loading the bases on walks to Blake Cyr and pinch hitters Caden McDonald and Colton Schwarz. A groundout to third base by Jones ended the frame, sending the matchup into the eighth with both teams searching for their first run.
 
The relief trio of Barberi, southpaw Ernesto Lugo-Canchola and Whritenour combined to blank South Carolina in top-eight, as Whritenour fanned LeCroy for the third out of the inning. With the Gators held hitless through eight innings offensively, Whritenour stranded the bases loaded in the ninth thanks to a slick play at second base from Schwarz.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Miller singled through the left side to give Florida its first hit of the night. Kolt Myers entered as a pinch runner and swiped second, but was left stranded in scoring position as the game went into extras.
 
Whritenour struck out the South Carolina leadoff man in the 10th before issuing a one-out walk. The redshirt sophomore bounced back for a strikeout of LeCroy then induced a lineout to center field to send the contest into bottom-ten.
 
Knotted up at one run and one hit apiece, the Gators busted out the heroics in the home half of the tenth. Jones led off with a double down the left-field line, which prompted an intentional walk of Lawson. Following a textbook sacrifice bunt by Ethan Surowiec, Karson Bowen was intentionally walked to juice the bags. After fouling off seven pitches, Strayer skied a fly ball to center field on the ninth pitch of his at bat – bringing in Jones for a sacrifice fly as the UF center fielder slid safely across home plate for the game’s first and final run.
 
Whritenour improved to 2-0 behind 2 1/3 scoreless frames. The righty walked three and struck out three.
 
Gamecock reliever Brandon Stone (2-1) suffered his first loss. The junior was charged with one earned run on two hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
 
Peterson received a no-decision despite dazzling with six shutout, one-hit innings. The UF ace surrendered two walks and struck out 10 Gamecocks, marking his second-straight start with double-digit strikeouts.
 
Gunther did not factor into the decision either after tossing 6 1/3 no-hit innings with three walks and five strikeouts.

NOTABLES

• Florida pitched its first one-hit shutout since March 16, 2023 – when Brandon Sproat threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout in the SEC Opener against Alabama (W, 3-0).
• South Carolina took a no-hitter into the ninth with two outs before Miller singled through the left side.
• Florida delivered its second walk-off win of the season – both in the last three games.
• There was one combined hit by both teams through the first eight innings of play.
• The Gators are 15-4 across their last 19 SEC contests dating back to last season.
• Peterson struck out 10 across six shutout, one-hit frames to log his fourth-straight game with eight-plus strikeouts and his second-consecutive game in the double digits.
• Peterson has not allowed a run or hit in the first-two innings of his last-three starts.

  • He has not allowed more than one hit through five innings in any of his last three starts.

• Across his last four starts, Peterson has struck out 41 batters against nine walks while allowing just four runs in 22.0 innings pitched.
• Whritenour has begun his career with 11 1/3 scoreless innings highlighted by 18 strikeouts, four hits allowed and six walks.
• Lawson stole his third base of the season in the first inning.
• Lawson was intentionally walked in the 10th inning for the third time this season.
• Lawson has reached base in all 19 games this season after walking three times on Friday.
• The Gators have won 33 of their last 41 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
• The Gators are now 58-56 all-time and 33-18 at home against South Carolina.
• Florida is 37-24 overall including 20-7 at home vs. the Seminoles under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
• The Gators have won five-straight games against the Gamecocks.
• Friday night’s official attendance was 5,255.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the team’s pitching performance…
“That is as sharp as he [Liam Peterson] has looked for me in his career here. He only gave up the one hit and his line looks great, obviously. This stuff is crisp from the first pitch to the end. I thought all of our guys did good. I thought Jackson Barberi did outstanding again. Ernie comes in and gets his out. And the thing with Josh, obviously he struggled with his command tonight. But for him to get through that and not give in speaks volumes of where he is at mentally. He has been so good for us and sometimes when you don’t have it a certain night, certainly in a game like this… he should feel good about himself. Obviously, he is going to feel better when his command [improves], but he got through it.”
 
On the freshmen earning playing time in key games…
“In order to play as a freshman at this level, number one, you have to be talented enough. But your baseball IQ has got to be high. You have to be very mature, and most of the young men that have success as freshman are very even keeled. They do not get too high; they do not get too low. Like I said, they have instincts.”
 
On the team’s improvement stealing bases and baserunning overall…
“Yeah, we are trying to steal, not just bags, but if the ball is in the dirt, we are being more active and trying to steal third, too. Blake Cyr is one of the best ones on our team to do that. Brendan Lawson is running better. We put him in motion quite a bit. We are trying to do things.”

UP NEXT

Florida and South Carolina meet again in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.