GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Baseball. Is. Back.
 
In just two days, the gates of Condron Family Ballpark will open for the 112th season of Florida Baseball as the No. 13 Gators and UAB Blazers face off for the first time since a March 23, 1987 meeting in Gainesville (W, 9-7). The series runs from Friday, Feb. 13 through Sunday, Feb. 15 with all three games airing on SEC Network+.
 
Opening Night is set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m. while game two begins on Saturday at 6 p.m. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Having claimed victories in 11 of the last 12 season openers since 2014, Florida has gone 16-2 (.889) in the first game of the year and 44-8 (.846) in season-opening series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan. Across the history of the program, Florida is 70-42-1 all-time in openers, featuring a 50-22-1 mark at home. The Gators swept Air Force in dominant fashion during Opening Weekend one year ago (10-4, 11-1, 10-4).
 
Coming off the program’s 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O’Sullivan enters his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O’Sullivan’s 2008 arrival, Florida leads the sport with 305 SEC wins, 41 MLB debuts, 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 15 College World Series overall – by far the most in the sport.
 

Florida comes into 2026 having won 17 of their last 22 regular-season games dating back to last season, including a stellar 14-4 record in the final 18 SEC contests of the campaign. The Orange & Blue look to continue that streak against UAB throughout Opening Weekend, having won each of the first two prior meetings against the Blazers in Birmingham (1984: W, 17-7) and Gainesville (1987).

Pitching Matchups

	Friday | 6:30 ET (SECN+)	Saturday | 6 ET (SECN+)	Sunday | 1 ET (SECN+)
UAB	RHP Mason Steele (6-1, 2.66 ERA – JuCo)	RHP Braxton Shelton (3-4, 7.97 ERA)	RHP Chase Ingram (2-5, 5.37 ERA)
Florida	RHP Liam Peterson (8-4, 4.28 ERA)	RHP Aidan King (7-2, 2.58 ERA)	RHP Cooper Walls (3-3, 3.73 ERA)
Links	WATCH | LISTEN	WATCH | LISTEN	WATCH | LISTEN

CHECKING OUR POLLS
The Gators enter Opening Weekend as D1Baseball’s preseason No. 13 team in the country, but are ranked as highly as No. 12 nationally according to Perfect Game. The USA Today Coaches Poll and NCBWA placed Florida at No. 16 while Baseball America slotted UF at No. 22.
 
OPENING WEEKEND PROMOS
On Opening Night, fans will have the first opportunity to get their hands on 2026 team posters. Team schedule koozies and coasters will be available on Saturday and throughout the remainder of the series.
 
FOOD TRUCKS
There will be two food trucks located in the Dizney Grove area beyond the outfield wall on each day of the weekend series.

Friday: Donut NV, Brazilian Barbeskew

Saturday: Mexicocina, Smoked Biscuit

Sunday: DonutNV, Rollin’ Sliders

 

BLAZERS BACKGROUND CHECK

Picked to finish 10th in the AAC Preseason Poll, the UAB Blazers ended with a 24-30 record (8-19 AAC) in the 2025 season. In the batter’s box, the Blazers slashed a line of .257/.368/.393 with 45 home runs. The Hatters also stole 75 bases in 93 attempts. On the mound, UAB pitchers totaled a combined 5.69 ERA with 398 strikeouts over 463 2/3 innings pitched. The Blazers ended the 2025 season with a .975 fielding percentage on 49 errors.

 

2026 SCHEDULE OUTLOOK

Opening with 19 of the first 23 games at home, Florida’s 56-game schedule features 35 total home games as well as 34 contests against teams that qualified for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Eight of the Gators’ 10 SEC series are against reigning postseason squads, featuring four of five at home. Florida also plays 17 games against in-state foes.

2026 ROSTER OUTLOOK

Florida welcomes back 22 players including 19 letterwinners from last year’s roster, featuring six returning positional starters and two weekend starting pitchers in right-handers Liam Peterson and Aidan King. While 12 pitchers departed from the team, nine new hurlers were brought in during the offseason. Nineteen fresh faces joined the Orange & Blue for 2026, composed of 10 transfers and nine freshmen.

THE TALE OF 2025

Starting conference play with a 1-11 record before rallying to finish 15-15 and securing a No. 2 Regional seed, Florida became the first-ever SEC team to reach the NCAA Tournament after starting league play 2-10 or worse since 1992 expansion. The Gators won 14 of their final 18 SEC tilts while claiming six-straight series victories – twice as long as the next-closest team in the conference entering the postseason.

TURNAROUND TIDBITS

In their 1-11 start to SEC action, the Gators pitched to a 9.63 ERA, .311 batting average against and 110-to-75 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 100 innings. They batted just .244/.333/.384 with 14 homers and 10 steals. In the final 18 SEC games, Florida pitchers more than cut their ERA in half at an SEC-best 3.76 while producing a .228 BAA and 197-to-71 K-to-BB ratio over 153 frames. The offense exploded in that time, slashing .296/.406/.500 with 26 homers and 32 stolen bases. The turnaround shifted the Gators from the NCAA Tournament bubble into the NCAA Regional host conversation, ultimately resulting in UF earning one of the top No. 2 seeds in the field.

 

BUILT DIFFERENT

Over the course of the 2025 regular season’s 14 weekend series, Florida used 12 different starting pitching rotations. As for the offense, 14 Gators made multiple starts while also registering double-digit at bats. Of that contingent, 11 players came through with the game-winning RBI for Florida. That was due to the fact that the Gators saw 10 key players go down with an injury during the season. Despite this, Florida delivered a .639 winning percentage highlighted by a .704 mark in the last 27 games (19-8). The Gators simply refused to quit, boasting 15 come-from-behind victories, nine of which occurred in the last 27 games.

 

STAFF AFFECTION

Florida wields a surplus of quality arms for the 2026 season, returning an astounding 366 2/3 innings pitched – 72.2% – from last year’s staff. To put into context, the Gators brought back 198 2/3 innings in 2025 and 273.0 frames in 2024. That means the 2026 Gators return 84.6% more innings compared to the 2025 team. As arguably the nation’s top one-two punch out of the starting rotation, Peterson (69 1/3 IP) and King (73 1/3 IP) logged the most frames for UF in 2025 and will revert to their weekend roles in 2026 after combining for a 15-6 record, 3.41 ERA and 11.0 strikeouts per nine one year ago. 

 

SOPHOMORE LAW STUDENT

Holding status as Baseball America’s top-ranked college player for the 2027 MLB Draft, Canadian sophomore infielder Brendan Lawson is fresh off Freshman All-America honors after starting 60 of 61 games and slashing .317/.417/.522 for a .939 OPS. Slugging 10 homers and 14 doubles, Lawson ranked second on the team in RBI (61), multi-RBI games (15) and multi-hit games (23) while seeing action at first, second and third base.

 

THE CAREER ACE

Coming into Opening Weekend as Baseball America’s top-ranked pitcher (college or prep) for the 2026 MLB Draft in July, Peterson finished his sophomore 2025 campaign ranked 20th nationally and fifth in the SEC with 12.5 strikeouts per nine – the third-highest, single-season rate in UF history. Deployed as a weekend starter for the second time in as many seasons, Peterson served as staff ace from start to finish and led the Gators in victories (eight), games started (15) and strikeouts (96) while chucking 69 1/3 innings. He also tossed a career-high four quality starts, fanned 11 or more batters in three separate outings and lowered his ERA by 2.15 points compared to his rookie year. To date, every appearance of his career has occurred in weekend series play, with all but one outing being of the starting variety.

 

KING’S ENCORE

Setting a program record with four SEC weekly honors during his 2025 Freshman All-American campaign, King paced all qualifying SEC pitchers with a 2.58 ERA on top of a .213 batting average against (eighth), 73 1/3 innings pitched (16th) and five quality starts. King posted the lowest ERA by a Gator across a full season since Brady Singer in 2018 (2.55) while delivering a 7-2 record, 1.11 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 and 3.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Across his last five starts one year ago, he was utterly dominant with a 3-1 record, 0.94 ERA, .192 BAA and 29-to-10 K-to-BB ratio over 28 2/3 innings pitched.

 

PLEASE, SURO, CAN I HAVE SOME MORE?

Not much was known about Ole Miss transfer infielder Ethan Surowiec when he committed to the Gators in June, but that was before he claimed Northwoods League MVP honors by hitting .387/.475/.779 with a league-best 17 home runs as well as 23 doubles, 15 stolen bases and a 41-to-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Although he received just 16 at bats for Ole Miss in 2025, Surowiec blasted two homers, slashed .375/.524/.750 and drove in eight runs. As a draft-eligible sophomore, Surowiec’s torrid output continued into the fall and preseason, highlighted by an opposite-field homer against Jacksonville on Oct. 31.

 

LISAN AL GAIB

Projected to be UF’s primary shortstop this spring, Columbia transfer Sam Miller was named the Ivy League Player of the Year last season after hitting .338/.407/.606 with 16 homers, 10 doubles, 57 RBI and 50 runs. Spending three seasons with the Lions including two as a full-time starter, Miller racked up 116 games played (100 starts) and finished as a .340/.402/.619 career hitter with 31 homers, 25 doubles, 117 RBI, 101 runs and six steals. In every season of his Columbia tenure, Miller increased his total number of hits, homers, doubles, runs, RBI and walks compared to the prior campaign.

 

ROSTER RECONSTRUCTION

Florida returns 54.2% of its at bats (1,084 of 2,001) from the 2025 season, but just 49.4% of run production (212 of 429) and 36.2% of home run output (34 of 94). To combat the departing offense, the Gators brought in several potential starters via the transfer portal in Surowiec (first/third base), Miller (shortstop), catcher Karson Bowen (TCU) and outfielder Jaden Bastian (Jacksonville). Last season alone, those four players combined to hit .325 across 603 at bats with 144 runs, 126 RBI, 33 homers, eight triples, 31 doubles and 40 stolen bases. Factoring in UF’s talented true freshmen contingent, Florida has adequately retooled for the upcoming campaign.

 

THUNDER ONE THROUGH NINE

Thanks to the aforementioned portal additions, Florida boasts 11 players that finished with an OPS above .750 last season. Of that group, eight posted an OPS of at least .830 while six were above .935.

2025 OPS Leaders

Surowiec – 1.274

Kurland – 1.095

Miller – 1.013

Bastian – .985
Bowen – .941

Lawson – .939

Brookins – .864

Nadeau – .830

Cyr – .787
Yost – .772

Stripling – .765

Jones – .728
Wilson – .718
 
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Although a single pitch has yet to be thrown, Peterson embarks on his junior year as a First Team Preseason All-American (Baseball America, Perfect Game) in addition to being on Baseball America’s Preseason College Pitcher of the Year Watch List. Baseball America also included Lawson on its Preseason College Player of the Year Watch List while King (D1Baseball) and Luke McNeillie (Baseball America) garnered Second Team All-America honors. Northwest Nazarene transfer and 2025 D2 Baseball Pitcher of the Year Ernesto Lugo-Canchola rounds out the group, having collected Fourth Team All-America status from the NCBWA.

THEIR SPIKES ARE GOLDEN

In addition to the aforementioned honors, Peterson and King were also among 55 players named to the 2026 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List. Florida was one of 13 programs to place multiple players on the preseason list. This is the first-career appearance on the Golden Spikes Preseason Watch List for both Peterson and King, although the former was featured on the 2025 midseason list.

 

FRESH BULLETS

Lugo-Canchola represents just one new component in a reconstructed UF pitching staff that also entails transfers Cooper Walls (Hawaii), Russell Sandefer (UCF) and Ricky Reeth (Notre Dame). Collectively, that four-man unit pitched 253 2/3 innings last season across 71 appearances (35 starts). They combined for a 3.12 ERA, 8.5 strikeouts per nine, 3.2 walks per nine and a 2.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

 

TICKET INFORMATION

Season tickets and SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans are currently on sale now in addition to single-game tickets. Tickets can be purchased online or by contacting the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683.

MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP

As a reminder, mobile ticketing is required. There will be two ways to access your tickets:

1) through the Florida Gators app from your mobile device or

2) through FloridaGators.com/myaccount. Fans will also be able to transfer or donate their tickets easily within the app or online.

PARKING/SHUTTLES

Fans are encouraged to park at the Fifield and IFAS lots during the weekend. An increased number of shuttles will be available for transportation to the ballpark each day.

Click HERE for a Parking map.

• General Parking is available in the west Condron Family Ballpark baseball lot and the Fifield parking lot located directly across Hull Road.
• Disabled parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Condron Family Ballpark west lot with a valid Disabled Placard.
• Fans can follow this link to an interactive parking map.
• RV Parking is available in the Fifield Flat lot.  Reserved RV parking is not available for Florida baseball games. All motor home parking is on a first come, first-served basis.

  • On-board generators are permitted, however exterior or pull-along generators are prohibited at all times. For safety reasons, all motor homes/RVs are required to utilize exhaust extensions or “smoke stacks” to channel exhaust fumes to the top of the motor home/RV.
  • Overnight stays are only allowed on weekend series in the Fifield Flat lot. 

• Do Not Park Illegally

  • Park in designated parking spots (Do not park on grass or in No Parking Zones).
  • Vehicles are subject to towing if they block streets, sidewalks, service drives, or fire lanes, or if illegally parked in a disabled space.

 
TRAFFIC PATTERNS ON GAME DAY
Those visiting Condron Family Ballpark on game day should be aware of updated traffic patterns surrounding the ballpark. Fans are advised to utilize Ballpark Way, which will serve as a connecting route to the ballpark from Archer Road. For departures, a postgame traffic flow pattern guide can be found here.

BALLPARK PURCHASES

Condron Family Ballpark food and beverage sales are fully cashless. For convenience and to improve speed of service, all concession stands will only accept credit cards, debit cards, or touchless payment with smartphones. Fans with cash can stop at the first base Concession Stand to exchange cash for a Gift Card. Gift Cards can be used at any concession stand within Condron Family Ballpark.

ON DECK

Florida’s first midweek slate of 2026 entails a home-and-home with Stetson. The Gators travel to DeLand, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 for a 6:30 p.m. tilt before hosting the Hatters at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.

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