GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 9 Florida fell in game two against High Point by a final tally of 6-2 at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday night.
 
As a result, the Panthers (9-6) clinched the series over the Gators (13-3), who entered the weekend riding a nation-leading, 13-game win streak and an SEC-best, nine-straight series victories dating back to last season. The finale is set for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.
 
Getting the starting nod in game two, Aidan King stranded runners at the corners in the opening frame while striking out three Panthers. The sophomore began top-two with his fourth strikeout and after a one-out single, induced a pair of groundouts to hold High Point in check.
 
The Gators put the first two runners on in bottom-two, but stranded a pair as the matchup remained deadlocked heading into the third. That gave High Point the opportunity to strike first with five two-out runs in the top half of the inning for a 5-0 lead. Jake McCarter singled to shortstop and Willie Ponce scored from second due to a throwing error from shortstop to home. From there, Seojun Oh produced a two-run double to center, Jace Kohler dunked an RBI single into left-center and Jack Clark hit a run-scoring double to left-center.
 
Florida threatened in the home half, but stranded the bases loaded as right-hander Caden McDonald assumed pitching duties in the top of the fourth. The redshirt sophomore then stranded the bases loaded for a scoreless fifth before play was halted for 39 minutes with one out in the bottom of the frame due to lightning. Play resumed with the remaining two Gators going down in order to send a 5-0 matchup into the sixth.
 
As a result of the delay, Schuyler Sandford took over on the mound in the top of the sixth inning. The righty stranded a two-out double on second base by striking out the final Panther of the frame.
 
High Point extended its lead to 6-0 in the seventh on a solo homer to left-center off the bat of McCarter. That brought the UF bats to life, as the Gators broke into the scoring column with two outs in bottom-seven. Sam Miller kept the inning going with a double, then came home on an RBI triple to right field by Jacob Kendall. Kyle Jones tacked on another run on an RBI single to right field to bring the Orange & Blue within four after seven.
 
In the top of the eighth, Luke McNeillie entered out of the bullpen and threw a zero to hold the score. The junior right-handed pitcher stayed on the mound of the ninth, working a one-two-three frame for two shutout innings of relief. Florida went down in order in bottom-nine, cementing the series for the Panthers.
 
High point starting pitcher Ty Brachbill improved to 4-0 behind 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He surrendered two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out four.
 
King (2-1) received his first loss off the season after allowing five unearned runs on seven hits and one walk in three frames. The sophomore fanned five Panthers.

NOTABLES

• The Gators had their SEC-best, nine-series win streak snapped.
• Florida has dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• In the third frame, the Gators allowed at least five runs in an inning for the first time this season.
• King has opened the campaign with 17 1/3-consecutive innings without allowing an earned run across four starts.
• Across his last nine starts dating back to 2025, King is 6-1 with a 0.59 ERA and 46-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 46.0 innings pitched.
• The Gators have won 30 of their last 38 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
• Florida is 35-7 in regular-season, non-conference play dating back to last season.
• The Gators are now 0-2 all-time against High Point on the diamond.
• Saturday’s official attendance was 7,693.
• There was a 39-minute lightning delay with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning of Saturday’s game.

 
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On positive takeaways from the game…
“Positives are, Caden came in and did a nice job. I thought Schuyler threw the ball good. I think that’s the best McNeillie’s looked all year long. Here’s the deal, we just ran into two really good starters. I don’t know what else to tell you other than both guys were outstanding… Is it disappointing? Yeah. Certainly not the end of the world. I still think we have a really, really good club.”
 
On the difficulty of putting away the High Point hitters…
“You could look at it one of two ways. You could look at it as if you locate the ball a little better, maybe the balls are not being fouled off and they’re put in play with soft contact, but obviously this was not one of those starts that Aidan is used to having. No sense of pressing the panic button or anything like that. He’ll respond in a positive way. Like I said, I think our bullpen is starting to come together and you run into ruts like this offensively. We played 16 games and 12 or 13 we’ve swung the bat really well, there’s been three or four we haven’t. We’ll get back at it tomorrow.”
 
On McNeillie’s bounce-back appearance…
“Yeah, that’s the best he’s looked since he’s been back in my opinion. He located his breaking ball down in the zone, probably had one that he would probably want back, the one that was hit to Jacob Kendall there in left who made a great effort on it, but you guys are watching the same thing I’m watching. They’re not making errors, third baseman made some nice plays, shortstop looks like he’s flying all over the field, second baseman always seems to be in the right spot, the center fielder is covering gap to gap. They played well.”

UP NEXT

Florida and High Point match up in the series finale on Sunday, scheduled for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. Sophomore right-hander Cooper Walls (2-0, 3.97 ERA) gets the ball for the Orange & Blue against Panthers righty Aidan Paul (1-1, 3.45 ERA).