No. 23 Gators Run Rule Gamecocks to Complete Sweep

Sunday, March 15

Gainesville, Fla.

12 PM

Florida Gators

18-3, 3-0

South Carolina

12-9, 0-3

South Carolina

Florida

No. 23 Gators Run Rule Gamecocks to Complete Sweep

Sunday, March 15, 2026 | Baseball

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The Florida bats broke out for 13 runs on 11 hits in six offensive frames highlighted by a fourth-inning grand slam by rookie outfielder Cash Strayer.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The bats roared to life for No. 23 Florida en route to a dominant, 13-3 win in seven innings for a series sweep over South Carolina at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday afternoon.

Although the Gators (18-3, 3-0 SEC) failed to shut out the Gamecocks (12-9, 0-3 SEC) for the third-straight game in the series, the UF offense exploded in the finale for 13 runs on 11 hits. Brendan Lawson (2-for-2) and Cash Strayer (1-for-2) left the yard, with Lawson belting his team-high 10th tank of the year and Strayer smoking a fourth-inning grand slam for his third. The big swing lifted Strayer to a career-high five RBI while Lawson plated a pair to reach 28 RBI on the season in addition to a .429 batting average and 26 walks.

Kyle Jones (2-for-3) and Ethan Surowiec (2-for-4) chipped in multi-hit efforts as the former scored twice and the latter drove in a pair. That was plenty of production for the UF pitching duo of starter Cooper Walls and relief hurler Luke McNeillie. Walls picked up the victory to improve to 3-0 and McNeillie chucked 2 2/3 scoreless, no-hit frames to put the game on lock.

Walls began the finale with a strikeout of leadoff man Will Craddock before Tyler Bak reached on a fielding error at first base. Play was then halted with a 1-2 count to KJ Scobey after a foul tip hit home plate umpire Jason Millsap, resulting in a 13-minute delay due to his removal from the contest. Walls settled back in upon resumption by fanning Scobey and inducing a flyout to center.

In the home half of the first, Jones promptly singled to left on the very first pitch. Lawson followed with a walk, then the two engaged in a double steal to move up one base. A free pass to Blake Cyr juiced the bags and Strayer plated the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to deep center. Colton Schwarz then drilled a two-run double down the left-field line to give Florida a 3-0 edge after one frame.

South Carolina broke through for its first runs of the series in the top of the second, snapping a 20 1/3-scoreless innings streak in the three-game set. With two on and one out, Luke Yuhasz lined a three-run homer off the batter's eye in center field to knot the tally at 3-3.

The tie proved to be short-lived, as Florida put up another three-spot in bottom-two to jump ahead at 6-3. Jacob Kendall and Kolt Myers led off with singles while Jones provided the lead with a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track. On an 0-1 offering, Lawson demolished his 10th homer of the season over the right-field wall for two more Gator runs.

Walls rebounded for a clean frame on seven pitches in the third and stranded a one-out double in the fourth while notching his fourth and fifth strikeouts.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Jones barreled his 10th double of the campaign which prompted an intentional walk of Lawson. Surowiec then singled to center to load the bases and Cyr forced home a run by drawing a walk. That brought Strayer to the plate and after fouling off the first pitch, the freshman cranked a grand slam onto the right-field berm for a five-run frame and an 11-3 UF advantage.

Following three singles in the top of the fifth, McNeillie was called on to mop up the mess. The junior reliever induced a foul-out and flyout to strand the bases loaded. He struck out a pair in the sixth en route to stranding two Gamecocks.

McNeillie stayed on the slab for the seventh and used a strikeout and two groundouts to shortstop to retire the side in order. That invoked the run rule after six-and-one-half innings of play with the Gators leading by 10 runs.

McNeillie fired the final 2 2/3 frames for the Orange & Blue and did not give up a hit or walk. He struck out three.

Walls (3-0) qualified for the victory in the shortened contest after pitching 4 1/3 innings in his fifth start of the campaign. The sophomore righty finished with three earned runs allowed on seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts – which tied his career high.

South Carolina reliever Alex Valentin (0-1) suffered his first loss. The junior southpaw was charged with six earned runs on six hits, one walk and two strikeouts across 2 2/3 frames.

Gamecock starter Riley Goodman received a no-decision, surrendering three earned runs on two hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. He struck out one batter.

NOTABLES

The Gators delivered a sweep on SEC Opening Weekend for the first time since the 2021 season (Texas A&M in Gainesville).
Florida swept South Carolina for the second-straight season and for the first time at home since 2015.
- This marks Florida's first back-to-back series sweeps of the Gamecocks since the 1996-97 seasons.
The Gators produced their fourth run-rule victory of the campaign.

Florida has won seven-straight SEC series dating back to last season, which is three series longer than any other team in the conference.
- The Gators have three series sweeps in its seven-SEC-series win streak.
The Gators are 17-4 across their last 21 SEC contests dating back to last season.
Florida blanked South Carolina over the first 20 1/3 innings of the series.
- Florida shut out South Carolina across 29.0-full innings of regular-season, SEC play dating back to last season before they scored in the second inning of Sunday's finale.
Jones led off the game with a base hit (single) for the 10th time in 20 starts this season (.500).
Jones and Lawson stole their sixth and fifth bags on a first-inning double steal, respectively, and Jones latter stole his seventh.
Lawson swatted a two-run shot in the second for his team-leading 10th homer and 28 RBI.
Strayer launched a grand slam in the fourth inning for his third homer of the season, marking Florida's second grand slam of the campaign (Kyle Jones at Stetson, Feb. 17).
Strayer produced a sacrifice fly in all three games of the series.
Walls tied his career high with five strikeouts across 4 1/3 innings of three-run ball.
Strayer drove in a career-high five runs.
Lawson has reached base in all 21 games this season.
The Gators have won 35 of their last 43 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
The Gators are now 60-56 all-time and 35-18 at home against South Carolina.
Florida is 39-24 overall including 22-7 at home vs. the Gamecocks under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
The Gators have won seven-straight games against the Gamecocks.
Sunday's official attendance was 4,784.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On Walls' starting pitching performance…
"I thought he threw the ball good. They just put some good swings on the ball. I thought after we scored three in the bottom of the second, he threw the ball really efficiently and really good. That's what you need on Sundays; you just need strikes. I thought he threw the ball better. With Luke (McNeillie), that's two really good outings from him and I'm really proud of him… It was a good day for us. Our hitting helped our pitching…"

On the importance of the fast start…
"We talked about it. It's amazing how a win can affect your offense. I think that's the biggest thing that I am proud of with this team, other than the way this team pitched this weekend, was we found a way to win in different ways than we did on Friday and Saturday. Today was just a different day, offensively. That' s the key to a good team: being able to manufacture runs in different ways depending on the elements. The big thing that we need to continue to work on is our defense. It's not from our lack of fundamentals or a lack of reps. I don't know if it's the lack of concentration at times. Maybe guys are taking their at-bats on defense or maybe thinking one-pitch ahead. I'm not quite sure what it is, but hopefully we can clean that up moving forward…"

On the team's maturity in the series finale…
"We talked about that the other day. When you get warnings, if anything happens, you're ejected. And it's not just a one-game ejection, it's multiple. All we did was get the team together, talk about it, and the chirpiness just stopped at that point."

UP NEXT
Florida wraps up its 10-game homestand with a Tuesday tilt vs. Stetson at 6:30 p.m. before trekking to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for a three-game series against the Crimson Tide.