Lawson’s Six-RBI Night Carries No. 10 Florida to Midweek Sweep of FIU

Wednesday, February 25

Gainesville, Fla.

6 PM

Florida Gators

9-1

FIU

6-4

FIU

Florida

Brendan Lawson (right) celebrates his three-run homer with Kyle Jones (left) and Kolt Myers (middle) during Wednesday night's 11-4 win over FIU. / UAA Communications photo by Avery Duffy

Lawson’s Six-RBI Night Carries No. 10 Florida to Midweek Sweep of FIU

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 | Baseball

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Brendan Lawson homered and drove in a career-high six runs as the Gators won their ninth-straight ballgame.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eight UF starters combined for 13 hits as No. 10 Florida polished off a two-game sweep of FIU with an 11-4 victory at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday night.

Connecting for Florida's first homer in 26 1/3 innings spanning four games, Brendan Lawson (3-for-5) crushed a three-run shot in the fourth while finishing with three hits and a career-high six RBI. He drove in 10 total runs across the two-game midweek set and is hitting .469 on the campaign. To no surprise, Kyle Jones (2-for-3) notched his seventh multi-hit effort in 10 games this season while scoring a team-high three runs, driving in two and walking twice. He is the only Gator batting at a higher clip (.487) than Lawson.

On the pitching end, left-hander Ernesto Lugo-Canchola provided stability in the middle frames with 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief. He teamed up with righty Joshua Whritenour, who fired 2.0 perfect frames at the back-end to secure Florida's ninth-straight win.

The Gators (9-1) nearly escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, but the Panthers (6-4) managed to scratch across a lone run on a fielder's choice to second base. Cooper Rasmussen raced home on a potential double play ball off the bat of Aidan Cohall to open a 1-0 FIU edge.

As has become customary for the Orange & Blue, Jones led off with a single up the middle on a 1-1 count. He later advanced all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt and came home on a balk by FIU starter Julian Mlodzinski to knot the game at one run apiece.

UF starting hurler Billy Barlow bounced back for a zero in the second, stranding two Panthers with a strikeout of Samuel Fischer. Cole Stanford and Landon Stripling then led off the home half with back-to-back singles and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Kolt Myers. Jones then plated Stanford on an RBI groundout to short to give Florida its first lead. Lawson chipped in a two-out, RBI single to center to make it 3-1 in favor of the Gators through two.

FIU responded in the form of two runs in the top of the third, as Andrew Ildefonso homered to left on the first pitch of the inning. Hector Candelas added a two-out, RBI single to left-center to retie the contest at 3-3.

The matchup remained knotted until bottom-four, when Stripling roped a one-out single to right and scored on an RBI double down the left-field line off the bat of Myers. After a Jones walk, Lawson unloaded on the first pitch he saw for a three-run homer to right-center field, pushing Florida further in front at 7-3.

Following a line-drive double play to Stripling at first base in top-five, Mario Trivella swatted a two-out solo shot down the left-field line to cut the UF advantage to 7-4. Lugo-Canchola entered with two outs and fanned Vincente Feliciano to strand two Panthers.

In the bottom of the fifth, Cash Strayer and Blake Cyr led off with line-drive singles. Strayer then moved to third on a flyout to center and crossed home on a sacrifice fly to deep right from Stripling for an 8-4 ballgame.

Lugo-Canchola worked a zero in the sixth, then ran into a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh. The left-hander dug deep, striking out consecutive Panthers to strand the bags juiced.

Capping off his career night, Lawson singled through the right side with one out to drive in two more runs in the home half of the seventh. Jones later scampered home from third on a passed ball to extend the UF lead to 11-4.

Calling to the bullpen, the Gators brought in Whritenour to throw the eighth. The redshirt freshman fanned one en route to a clean eighth inning.

Remaining on the bump for the final frame, Whritenour again retired the side in order to close it out. He finished with two perfect frames and three strikeouts.

UF reliever Schuyler Sandford (1-0) earned his first-collegiate victory, tossing 2 2/3 frames of one-run ball on two hits, two walks and two strikeouts.

FIU relief pitcher Tracen Cameron dropped to 0-3. The righty was charged with three earned runs on three hits, one walk and two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

Barlow did not factor into the decision as he threw 2.0 innings with two earned runs allowed on four hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out three.

Mlodzinski was handed a no-decision as well. The senior lasted 1 2/3 innings with three earned runs surrendered on five hits.

NOTABLES

The Gators' 26 1/3-inning homerless drought spanning four games ended with a three-run homer from Lawson in the fourth inning on Wednesday.
- Over that span, Florida scored 43 runs on 48 hits, including 15 extra-base knocks.
Florida has won nine-straight games since its Opening Night loss.
Florida is now 16-2 in midweek play including 11-1 at home dating back to last season.
The Gators are 16-4 across 20 games vs. in-state foes since 2025.
Eight UF starters logged hits on Wednesday night.
Florida delivered its fourth come-from-behind win of the campaign.
In six midweek starts as a Gator, Barlow has allowed four earned runs in 21 1/3 innings pitched for a 2-0 record, 1.69 ERA and 23-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Florida has won eight of Barlow's nine starts in Orange & Blue.
Jones led off the game with a hit (single) for the seventh time this season (7-for-10).
- He has scored six runs in 10 games via his leadoff at bat.
Jones registered his seventh multi-hit game in 10 contests this season.
Myers gave the Gators the lead in the fourth with his first-career RBI (double).
Lawson drilled a three-run shot in the fourth for his third homer of the season.
Lawson later hit a two-run single to finish with three hits and a career-high six RBI.
- Lawson produced his fifth multi-hit effort and second three-hit game of the season.
Lugo-Canchola pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with four hits allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.
Sandford earned his first collegiate victory on the mound.
Whritenour closed it out with 2.0 perfect innings and three strikeouts.
The Gators have won 26 of their last 32 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
Florida is 31-5 in regular-season, non-conference play dating back to last season.
Florida improved to 4-1 all-time against FIU including 3-0 at home.
Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan is now 2-0 against the Panthers.
Wednesday night's official attendance was 5,925.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On tonight's pitching…
"We'll start with Billy. He gave up the leadoff single that turned into a double. I thought it was probably a single, but he made some big pitches when he needed to in the first. Obviously, probably should have turned that double play to end the inning, but I thought Schuyler came in and really slowed things down. I thought his stuff looked really good. Ernie came in and did his job, probably threw a few more pitches than we wanted to, but he'll be ready to go this weekend. I think the bright spot is Josh Whritenour. We've been waiting to see that, that's what he looked like the whole preseason, at least in the fall. Boy, his stuff was electric. He was around the zone. For me, that's the biggest bright spot of the day from a pitching standpoint, and Schuyler Sandford and Ernie, for sure."

On his takeaways from the game…
"I was really pleased with the fact that we played with a sense of urgency tonight, and we were not looking past FIU. They posed a lot of different difficulties with their lineup because they're so left-handed dominant, but I think the three-run homer by Brendan was huge at that point in the game. Kyle Jones had another multi-hit game again. I thought Cole Stanford caught really well. Blake Cyr barreled up quite a few balls. Kolt Myers laid down a drag and moved two runners up. We put a hit and run on a 1-0 count and he put a good swing on a ball down the left-field line and I thought he played very well as well."

On the value of midweek games…
"They're interesting because you're juggling this thing and trying to manage your pitching staff, the bullpen to prepare yourself for the weekend. This is a tough part of the season because we play two midweeks and next week will be the last week that we play two midweeks. To answer your question, I think every game is important, honestly. I don't devalue any midweek game at all. I would never ever be okay with losing any game we play, regardless if it's a midweek game or a weekend game. Certainly, this weekend when we play Miami there'll be a little extra juice. Obviously, it's Florida-Miami, it's a great rivalry. They're off to a really good start. They've got an older lineup. They've got a Friday night starter that's comfortable in that role. It'll be a difficult challenge for us because we've only been on the road one time, at Stetson, so going on the road against a top-25 team and they're playing well. It'll be a great challenge for us."

UP NEXT
The Gators travel to Coral Gables, Fla. for a three-games series at No. 17 Miami this weekend. The series begins on Friday night at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.