GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 12 Florida received hits from seven starters in a 9-3 win over Stetson at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday night.
 
With the victory, the Gators (4-1) completed a midweek sweep of the Hatters (0-5) with one matchup remaining in the season-long series on March 17 in Gainesville. Left-hander Ernesto Lugo-Canchola was instrumental in the win, dominating Stetson across three perfect innings of relief while striking out five. Across his first two outings in Orange & Blue, the Division II transfer has retired his first 17 batters in order. Lugo-Canchola’s outing cemented a victory for right-hander Luke McNeillie, who threw two scoreless frames in a controlled start.
 
Brendan Lawson (2-for-3) once again led the offensive charge with a two-hit, two-RBI night on top of one double, one run and two walks. The Gators slugged three big flies in the contest, with Cash Strayer (2-for-3) leaving the yard while also tripling and scoring two runs. Blake Cyr (2-for-5) and Cole Stanford (1-for-4) drilled home runs as well – the latter connecting for his first in Orange & Blue.
 
Making his season debut, McNeillie worked around a pair of two-out baserunners to produce a scoreless top half of the first inning. The junior right-hander fanned two Hatters in the second to complete two shutout frames.
 
Florida opened the scoring in the home half of the third as Cyr and Jacob Kendall set the table with leadoff singles. Stanford then grounded the ball back to the pitcher, but a throwing error to second base and subsequent throwing error by Stetson second baseman Juan De la Cruz to first base allowed all three runners to reach safely as Cyr came racing home for the game’s first run.
 
With the bases loaded and one out, Kyle Jones hit a ground ball back to Hatters reliever Dallis Moran, but he also delivered an errant throw – this one to home – as Kendall scored to make it 2-0 and Jones reached on a fielder’s choice. Lawson tacked on two more runs with a double down the left-field line, followed by a wild pitch to score Jones and an RBI single to left by Ethan Surowiec to make it 6-0 after two innings.
 
Rookie southpaw Jackson Hoyt assumed pitching duties at the onset of the third for his collegiate debut. He retired the first batter he faced but then ran into some trouble, issuing a walk and then a two-run homer to right off the bat of Renzo Gonzalez.
 
Florida promptly responded in bottom-three with a two-out, 434-foot homer to right field by Strayer. The true freshman’s second long ball of the season was followed by a one-out, bases-loaded jam for the Gators in the next half inning, but Ricky Reeth entered and needed just two pitches to induce an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
 
Leading 7-2 through four innings, Stetson cut the UF lead to four in the top of the fifth. Landon Russell doubled to left and scored on an RBI single to center by Foster Apple, but Lugo-Canchola entered and stranded two Hatters in scoring position to limit the damage.
 
Lugo-Canchola struck out two en route to a clean sixth inning on the mound to make it five up and five down. Cyr and Stanford then bashed solo shots in bottom-six, extending the UF lead to 9-3.
 
After another one-two-three frame in the seventh, Lugo-Canchola retired the leadoff man in the eighth prior to being lifted in favor of righty Joshua Whritenour. Lugo-Canchola finished with three perfect innings of work and has now retired 17-straight batters to begin his UF career.
 
Whritenour recorded one out via the strikeout before exiting with two outs and the bases loaded. Fellow right-hander Jackson Barberi assumed pitching duties and fanned De la Cruz to strand the bases loaded and hold the six-run advantage.
 
Barberi remained on the hill for the ninth to close it out. He notched a strikeout and after a one-out single, induced a game-ending, 5-4-3 twin killing of Apple.
 
McNeillie (1-0) earned the win in a controlled start, pitching two shutout innings. The righty gave up two hits, zero walks and struck out two.
 
Hatters starting pitcher Brendan Walker (0-1) received the loss after surrendering four unearned runs on two hits, one walk and one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings.

NOTABLES

• Florida failed to score in the first inning for the first time this season.
• The Gators have walked four batters in the last four games
• Florida has walked three or fewer batters in four of five games.
• Seven Gators logged a hit, six scored a run and five recorded an RBI.
• Making his season debut in a controlled start, McNeillie pitched two shutout innings on two hits and two strikeouts.
• Jones failed to lead off the game with a hit for the Gators for the first time this season.
• Hoyt made his collegiate pitching debut in the third.
• Strayer launched his second home run of the season in the third.
• Strayer later tripled in the fifth for the first of his career and Florida’s first three-bagger of the season.
• Reeth entered with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the fourth and used two pitches to work Florida out of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play.
• Lugo-Canchola has retired the first 17 batters he has faced across two appearances in a Florida uniform.

  • Lugo Canchola has fanned seven across 5 2/3 perfect innings.

• Cyr hit his team-leading third homer of the season in the sixth.
• Stanford swatted his first home run in Orange & Blue in the sixth.
• The Gators have won 21 of their last 27 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
• Florida has won five-straight games against Stetson.
• Florida is now 90-36 all-time and 51-11 at home against Stetson.
• The Gators are 15-2 including 9-0 in Gainesville in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
• Wednesday night’s official attendance was 5,957.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On McNeillie’s season debut and his overall impressions on the game…
“Yeah, I thought it was good. Obviously, excited to get him back out there, especially with Russ [Sandefer] being out for maybe a week or so. He’s going to start throwing tomorrow. But I thought everybody did a good job. I know Jackson [Hoyt] is probably not overly excited about his line, but he threw strikes and a guy ran into one ball. I thought Ricky came in and got a huge double play. Ernie was outstanding for three innings again. Jackson Barberi continues to throw the ball extremely well. Josh struggled a little bit tonight, but we’ll get him going. Offensively, I think seven of our nine starters got hits. We played errorless baseball. We had the big six-run second and kind of got some help there, but I’ve been around long enough to have a letdown; especially coming back from Deland last night and getting home kind of overlooking or not taking these games as serious, or even not taking as much focus as these games need to have because of the weekend that is coming up. But I thought they had good focus and I’m excited about the way we’re playing, but obviously, we’ve got a long way to go.”
 
On Lugo-Canchola’s veteran presence and his importance to the ballclub…
“I think it’s a great story. Here’s a guy that’s been coming all the way across the country, pitched Division II last year. Just goes to show you when he’s got good stuff, there’s no question about it. He is extremely competitive, has the heart of a lion. We got some other guys that are younger that don’t have quite the experience that he has, and you can see how valuable the portal can end up being. The last couple of years, we’ve been really young on the mound. You’ve seen Luke McNeillie grow, you’ve seen Ricky Reeth come in and impress in situations, like he pitched really well with runners on tonight. Obviously, Ernie’s got some experience, and you can see the growth of Jackson [Barberi] from last year to this year. Overall, pleased so far. I think the roles are starting to come together, but obviously we’re still going to need some more help.”

On Strayer’s hot start at the plate…

“I mean, we’ve played five games, but I get asked that question quite a bit early in the year every year about certain players or pitchers. Last year, it was Aidan King. You never know what to expect when the lights go on, but he certainly has earned the right to play. I wish we could hit more than nine guys, to be quite honest with you, because there are some other guys I want to give opportunities to, and we will. But he certainly has swung the bat as good as anybody in our lineup, quite honestly.”

UP NEXT

Florida is back at home this weekend for a three-game series against Kennesaw State (Feb. 20-22). All three games air on SEC Network+ with the series opener set for Friday night at 6:30 p.m.