GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Powered by a dominant starting outing by ace hurler Liam Peterson, No. 12 Florida led from start to finish in a 9-3, series-opening win against Kennesaw State at Condron Family Ballpark on Friday night.
 
Pitching the Gators (5-1) to a fifth-straight victory, Peterson was masterful across 5 1/3 shutout innings, finishing one strikeout shy of his career with 12. The right-hander limited the Owls (3-1) to one hit and two walks to register his first win of the campaign.
 
Transfer slugger Ethan Surowiec (2-for-3) mashed his first two home runs in Orange & Blue en route to a team-high four RBI and two runs scored. He was joined by Kyle Jones (3-for-5) and Cash Strayer (2-for-4) as Gators with multi-hit performances, with Jones notching his fifth multi-hit effort in six games this season.
 
Looking for a rebound outing, Peterson struck out two on his way to a clean top half of the first inning. Jones wasted no time getting Florida going in the home half, singling to left on the very first pitch of the frame. Unlike his previous leadoff knocks, Jones failed to score as he was erased on a double play ball the very next batter.
 

Peterson fanned two more Owls in the second while retiring the side in order. The Gators again put the leadoff man on in bottom-two, as Strayer reached second base on a fielding error by left fielder Cooper Williams. This time the Orange & Blue cashed in, with Surowiec pounding a two-run shot the other way onto the right-field berm for his first as a Gator.
 
Pitching with a 2-0 lead, Peterson struck out the first two batters of the third en route to a third-straight perfect frame. The UF offense again took advantage, plating a pair of two-out runs on RBI singles to right field by Strayer and Blake Cyr to extend the advantage to 4-0 through three.
 
The Gators ace produced another zero in the fourth, working around a one-out walk by striking out his seventh and eighth Owls of the night. Peterson fanned the leadoff man in the fifth, then surrendered his first hit of the night on a one-out bloop single to left by Wesley Alig. The right-hander bounced back to strike out the next two batters to reach 11 strikeouts.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Florida tacked on two more runs to move further ahead at 6-0. Cyr reached on a fielder’s choice to second base as Karson Bowen slid safely past the tag while Jacob Kendall drove in Strayer with a sacrifice fly to left field.
 
Peterson fanned the leadoff man in the sixth and following a one-out walk, was lifted in favor of reliever Caden McDonald. The redshirt sophomore righty retired the next two Owls in order to strand a runner on second base.
 
McDonald worked a one-two-three top of the seventh, aided by a great fielding play by shortstop Brendan Lawson in the five-six hole. Florida then extended its lead to 8-0 in bottom-seven, as Surowiec demolished his second homer of the night off the batter’s eye in center field for a two-run shot.
 
Kennesaw State eventually broke into the scoring column in the eighth for three runs to cut the UF edge to 8-3. Shamaar McDuffie doubled home Jackson Chirello for the first run, followed by an RBI groundout by Trenton Lyons and a sacrifice fly to right from Grayson McCollum.
 
Leading off the bottom of the eighth, Sam Miller quickly got the run back by barreling his first homer in Orange & Blue into the left-field bullpen on a 1-0 count. That gave the Gators a six-run lead at 9-3 heading into the ninth, as UF called on right-hander Christian Rodriguez to close it out.
 
Making his first appearance of the season, Rodriguez worked around a two-out infield single in the ninth to cement the game one win.
 
Peterson (1-0) was credited with the victory, shutting out the Owls over 5 1/3 frames with one hit allowed, two walks and 12 strikeouts.
 
Kennesaw State starter Cooper McMullen dropped to 0-1 after giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out one.

NOTABLES

• Florida is now outscoring teams, 27-4, in the first two innings of games after a two-run second inning on Friday night.
• The Gators have walked six total batters in the last five games.
• Florida has walked three or fewer batters in five of six games.
• Peterson struck out 12 batters across 5 1/3 shutout innings, allowing just one hits and two walks to record his first win of the season.

  • Peterson’s 12 strikeouts were the most by a Gator since he fanned 13 over six-plus frames against Arkansas on April 25, 2025.
  • Peterson recorded 12 of 16 outs via the strikeout (19 batters faced).

• Peterson allowed his first baserunner in the fourth (one-out walk) and first hit in the fifth (one-out single).
• Jones led off the game with a hit for Florida for the fifth time in six games.
• Jones produced his fifth multi-hit contest and second three-hit game in six games this season.
• Surowiec connected for his first homer as a Gator in the second inning and later his second home run in the seventh inning for his first-career, multi-homer game.
• Strayed logged his fourth multi-hit contest in five games played this season.
• Miller swatted his first homer in Orange & Blue in the eighth inning.
• Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth in his season debut.
• Florida has won six-straight games since its Opening Night loss.
• The Gators have won 22 of their last 28 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
• Florida won its first-ever game against Kennesaw State on the diamond, rising to 1-0 in the all-time series.
• Friday night’s official attendance was 7,195.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Peterson’s bounce-back start…
“I think the first inning, you know he had to hold his composure a little bit. I think he got to three, three ball counts and battled and got back from the count. Obviously, gave up one hit over five and a third. Got in 91 pitches, only walked two and struck out twelve. So he really set the tone for us, obviously, for this one.”
 
On the message after last Friday…
“I mean, he’s gonna have 15 or 16 starts this year, it’s like what are you gonna do? Obviously, he’s our Friday night starter. With him going on his third year, obviously no one is more upset with that outing than he was. There is not a whole lot to say. You bounce back and I am really pleased that he did.”

On Surowiec’s two-homer game and contributions up and down the lineup…

“Yeah, I mean he really had some bad luck, honestly, he’s thrown some balls and hit em’ hard. Kyle Jones continued to swing the bat good and had three hits. Done a really nice job to get us going especially early in the game, his first at bat. You know we are getting some production from a lot of different guys in the lineup, which was good to see. I thought the at bats were really good tonight. We extended some counts and battled with two strikes. We were tough outs against some good arms, some sinkers and cutters. The score does not indicate… and I will say this again about Kennesaw State. They’re good, really good and they just ran into Liam Peterson tonight who had his A-game going.”

UP NEXT

Game two between Florida and Kennesaw State is scheduled for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Star sophomore righty Aidan King (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will toe the slab against the Owls’ Ty Bayer (0-0, 22.50).