No. 7/20 Florida Hosts No. 6/13 Auburn in Pivotal SEC Series

Thursday, April 16

Gainesville, Fla.

7 PM

Florida Gators

Auburn

Ethan Surowiec (right) celebrates a home run with Blake Cyr (center) and Karson Bowen (left) during the Gators' game against Ole Miss on Thursday, April 2, 2026 at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla. / UAA Communications photo by Haley Deatherage

No. 7/20 Florida Hosts No. 6/13 Auburn in Pivotal SEC Series

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 | Baseball

Game Notes Baseball Game Day Guide

The series between Florida and Auburn dates back to 1913 in Gainesville. The Gators have won 31 of the last 45 meetings.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 7/20 Florida Gators are set to host No. 6/13 Auburn in a Thursday-Saturday series from April 16-18 for the first time since the 2023 campaign, when the two teams met for a three-game set at Condron Family Ballpark.

All three matchups will air on linear television, beginning with Thursday night's series opener at 7 p.m. on SEC Network. Game two follows on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on SEC Network while Saturday's finale airs on ESPN at 12 p.m. Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Gregg Olsen (color) are on the call for the entire series.

Despite dropping the opener of the 2023 series against Auburn (25-11, 8-7 SEC), 10-1, Florida (27-11, 9-6 SEC) rebounded for back-to-back wins to claim the series (W 17-8, W 12-5). The Gators have taken 31 of the last 45 meetings including seven of the last 10 against the Tigers, and have won four-straight series at home in the-head-to-head rivalry (featuring a 2018 Super Regional victory).

Although Florida is 21-12 overall and 12-6 at home vs. Auburn under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan, UF trails the all-time series at 121-135-2 but wields a winning 68-51 record in Gainesville.

Florida (No. 2) and Auburn (No. 1) embark on the series having played the two-toughest schedules in the country up to this point.

Pitching Matchups

	Thursday \| 7 ET (SECN)	Friday \| 5:30 ET (SECN)	Saturday \| 12 ET (ESPN2)
Auburn	RHP Andreas Alvarez (6-1, 1.24)	LHP Jake Marciano (3-2, 1.88)	RHP Alex Petrovic (6-1, 2.66)
Florida	RHP Aidan King (5-2, 1.74 ERA)	RHP Liam Peterson (1-2, 3.60 ERA)	RHP Russell Sandefer (2-1, 4.56 ERA)
Links	WATCH \| LISTEN	WATCH \| LISTEN	WATCH \| LISTEN

CHECKING OUR POLLS
Thanks to a 3-1 week in four games against top-five opponents, Florida vaulted from No. 21 to No. 7 in the Baseball America Top 25. Perfect Game moved the Gators up 11 spots to No. 11, while the USA Today Coaches Poll pushed UF up six positions to No. 18. Florida also returned to the D1Baseball Top 25 at No. 20 after a one-week absence.

SERIES PROMOTIONS & GIVEAWAYS
The Thursday-Saturday series against Auburn opens with one of the top giveaways of the season in game one. On Thursday night, the first 1,000 fans will be gifted with Florida script Dri-FIT bucket hats. For game two on Friday, the first 1,000 UF students will receive free hot dogs, courtesy of UF Student Government. Friday's contest also features a Prize-a-Palooza for UF students, who can enter to win various prizes while in attendance, in addition to fireworks and a live DJ. Games two and three will both have a live national anthem, with a balloon artist on hand for Saturday's series finale.

FOOD TRUCKS
Thursday: Reina's Ice
Friday: Mexicocina, Honey Nitro
Saturday: B'z Gelati

FED THE TREES
The Gators dominated a fourth-ranked Georgia squad in Athens this past weekend, taking their second-consecutive road series against the Bulldogs. Florida's pitching staff held UGA, the nation's leader in home runs, without a long ball in the series while the UF bats swatted six big flies. Florida limited Georgia to just 14 runs in three games – the Bulldogs' lowest series total of the season. The Gators are the only team to hold Georgia to seven runs or less in all three games of a series and have now won nine of the last 12 series against the Bulldogs.

EARLY CASE FOR A TOP-EIGHT
By toppling No. 5 FSU on the road last Tuesday and taking two of three at No. 4 Georgia, the Gators now boast the nation's best record against ranked opponents at 10-1 on top of the most Quad 1 wins in the country (11). Backed by a No. 5 RPI and No. 2 strength of schedule, Florida has gone a dominant 7-1 vs. top-10 foes featuring a 6-1 mark against the top five. Interestingly, all seven of UF's top-10 victories have come away from home. Florida sits fourth in the SEC at 9-6 (2.0 GB) on top of an 18-5 non-conference record.

HOLD ON SEC
Thanks to road series wins over two top-five opponents in No. 4 Arkansas (sweep) and No. 4 Georgia, the Gators have won nine of their last 11 SEC series dating back to last season. In that span, Florida has gone 23-10 across 33 SEC contests.

TAKING A LOOK AT THE TIGERS
Auburn enters the matchup with an overall record of 25-11 and 3-4 in away contests. The Tigers currently have a record of 8-7 in the SEC. At the plate, Auburn has posted a season batting average of .301, OPS of .856, and a slugging percentage of .450. Auburn Tiger runners have stolen 53 bases out of 61 attempts. On the mound, Auburn pitchers have delivered a 3.21 ERA and a 383-to-86 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 308.0 innings pitched. The Tigers have committed 33 errors in 1,222 chances, carrying a .973 fielding percentage into Thursday's game.

STACKING GEMS
In the first two games of UF's series at UGA, right-hander Aidan King took a perfect game into the seventh and finished with 7 2/3 stellar frames with two runs allowed in the opener before righty Liam Peterson chucked a career-high 7.0 innings of one-run ball in game two. Those two outings gave Florida four-straight weekend quality starts of 7.0-plus innings dating back to the Ole Miss series. As a result, the Gators had starting pitchers go 7.0-plus innings in back-to-back starts in consecutive weekends (King and Peterson at Georgia, King and Russell Sandefer vs. Ole Miss) after going nearly three years without accomplishing the feat prior to the 2026 Ole Miss series (2023 NCAA Gainesville Regional, Hurston Waldrep & Cade Fisher).

LIMITING THE LONG BALL
Highlighted by zero home runs allowed as a staff in the three-game series at Georgia, UF starters have made a habit out of avoiding the long ball this season. Across 154.0 innings in 38 games, Florida starting pitchers have allowed just three homers for 0.18 HR/9 on the season, and an even more impressively, just one homer surrendered in 78.0 SEC frames. Peterson has faced a team-high 192 batters without allowing a home run this season, followed by Sandefer (110). King has surrendered just one long ball over 188 batters faced, which means Florida's weekend rotation has allowed just one home run across 490 batters faced - a rate of 0.2%.

SHUTTY BUDDIES/NCAA RANKINGS
Florida enters the series repping a nation-high seven shutouts thrown – four shy of the program record of 11 set in 2011. The Gators have produced a shutout in 18.9% their games (37) for 25.9% of their victories (27). In addition to pacing the country in shutouts, Florida ranks seventh nationally with an SEC-leading 24 sacrifice flies, eighth in strikeouts per nine (11.3), 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.11), 21st in WHIP (1.27), 22nd in win percentage (.711), 24th in ERA (4.01), 30th in hits allowed per nine (7.83), 32nd in walks allowed per nine (3.63) and 51st in home runs (48).

KING HOLDING COURT
Taking a perfect game into the seventh, King won his first-career Friday night start on the road while holding No. 4 Georgia to four baserunners. Pitching 7 2/3 innings to earn the win, King has tossed 14 2/3 frames across his last two starts with a 2-0 record, two runs allowed, .120 batting average against and 14-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Lowering his ERA to 1.82, the reigning SEC ERA leader from last season has thrown five of UF's eight quality starts after leading the team with five as a true freshman. King ranks third in the SEC (behind Auburn counterpart Andreas Alvarez) and 15th nationally in ERA while sitting first in the SEC in games started (nine), fifth in WHIP (0.94), eighth in wins (five) and walks per nine (2.12), and 12th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.27). He has been lights out across his last 14 starts dating back to 2025, going 9-3 with a 1.27 ERA and 76-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 85 1/3 innings.

STRAIGHT JONESIN'
Redshirt sophomore center fielder Kyle Jones started all four games in center field for the Gators last week, going 8-for-14 with a .571/.700/.857 slash line while leading Florida in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, runs (six) and total bases (12) on top of one home run, one double, two RBI, three walks and three hit-by-pitches. In total, Jones reached base 14 times in four games, saving his biggest performance for the rubber match at No. 4 Georgia in his hometown of Athens. Jones went a perfect 5-for-5 with a career-high five hits, one homer, three runs and two RBI while reaching base in all six of his plate appearances. On the season, he leads Florida in multi-hit efforts (15), runs (42), hits (47) and stolen bases (16) while collecting 14 leadoff hits to open games. Jones has an impressive .417 on-base percentage across 72 plate appearances leading off any inning of the game (30 of 72).

WIEC IS LIT
Ever since going 0-for-4 in Florida's SEC opener against South Carolina on March 13, corner infielder Ethan Surowiec has been on fire in the 19 games since. In that span, the sophomore slugger paces the team in batting average (.347), slugging percentage (.587), hits (26), total bases (44), RBI (19) and runs (17) while getting on base a .437 clip and drilling four homers. As the lone Gator to start all 37 games, Surowiec has raised his season battling line to .317/.424/.538 backed by seven home runs, nine doubles, a team-high 38 RBI, 30 runs, 26 walks and two stolen bases. Surowiec ranks second on the roster with 46 hits and 13 multi-hit efforts while sitting third with eight multi-RBI performances.

THE MOOSE IS LOOSE
As one of 45 players on the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, shortstop Brendan Lawson leads the Gators in every slash category (.347/.553/.772), OPS (1.325) and homers (11) while totaling 37 runs, 34 RBI, 38 walks and nine stolen bases in 33 games played. Lawson leads the entire SEC in on-base percentage and walks, coming in at sixth and eighth in the county, respectively. The Canadian sophomore also sits third in the SEC in slugging (20th nationally), 10th in runs per game (1.12) and 15th in homers while drawing significantly more free passes than strikeouts (27). Lawson has reached safely in 30 of his 33 starts.

YOSTY MAKES THE MOSTY
Making two starts for Florida last week against FSU and in the finale at Georgia, outfielder Hayden Yost went 4-for-7 and mashed his first three home runs of the season. Yost finished with a .571/.700/1.857 batting line on the week - good for a 2.557 OPS - and chipped in five runs scored and four RBI. His two-homer game in the series finale at Georgia marked the first of his career.

MURDERERS' ROW
Although the Gators are viewed widely as a pitching-first team in 2026, they enter the weekend with six-projected starters carrying an OPS above .875 and four at .900 or higher. Leading the way at a gaudy 1.325, Lawson is followed by Surowiec (.962), Yost (.953), Jones (.907), outfielder Blake Cyr (.894) and catcher/designated hitter Cole Stanford (.879). That six-man contingent is responsible for 70.8% of Florida's home runs (34 of 48) and 60.9% of run production (148 of 243 RBI).

MR. 200
Florida starting catcher Karson Bowen joined rare air with his 200th-career hit in the series opener at Georgia on April 10 - an RBI single to right field in the seventh inning. Bowen now boasts 202 hits in 678 at bats over 184 games (179 starts), owning a .298/.384/.448 career slash. Here is a breakdown of Bowen's hit totals by season: 76 (2023), 43 (2024), 53 (2025), 30 (2026).

WHRITEN-HOUR
Making his first appearance since blowing his first-career save in the series finale against Ole Miss, redshirt freshman closer Joshua Whritenour was called on with two runners on base and one out in the eighth inning of a 4-3 ballgame at No. 5 FSU last Tuesday. With the Seminoles threatening, Whritenour fanned back-to-back batters before striking out two more in a scoreless ninth to complete a 1 2/3-inning save. After closing out the series-clinching win at Georgia, the flamethrower now has six saves in seven chances to go along with a 3.92 ERA, .176 batting average against, 14.8 strikeouts per nine and 34-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 15 appearances spanning 20 2/3 frames.

RELENTLESS REPTILES
Florida boasts nine come-from-behind victories through 38 games. In particular, the Gators' five-run comeback on March 8 vs. High Point marked their largest since May 15 of last season against Alabama (five runs).

DESTINATION OMAHA
Coming off the program's 17th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, O'Sullivan is in his 19th campaign at the helm of the Gators. Since O'Sullivan's 2008 arrival, Florida leads the nation with 314 SEC wins, 41 MLB debuts, 10 top-eight seeds, nine College World Series trips, nine Super Regionals hosted and six SEC titles. The Gators have advanced to nine of the last 15 College World Series overall – by far the most in the country.

TICKET INFORMATION
Season tickets and SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans are currently on sale now in addition to single-game tickets. Tickets can be purchased online or by contacting the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683.

MOBILE TICKETING & FLORIDA GATORS APP
As a reminder, mobile ticketing is required. There will be two ways to access your tickets:
1) through the Florida Gators app from your mobile device or
2) through FloridaGators.com/myaccount. Fans will also be able to transfer or donate their tickets easily within the app or online.

PARKING/SHUTTLES
Fans are encouraged to park at the Fifield and IFAS lots during the weekend. An increased number of shuttles will be available for transportation to the ballpark each day.

Click HERE for a Parking map.

General Parking is available in the west Condron Family Ballpark baseball lot and the Fifield parking lot located directly across Hull Road.
Disabled parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis in the Condron Family Ballpark west lot with a valid Disabled Placard.
Fans can follow this link to an interactive parking map.
RV Parking is available in the Fifield Flat lot. Reserved RV parking is not available for Florida baseball games. All motor home parking is on a first come, first-served basis.
- On-board generators are permitted, however exterior or pull-along generators are prohibited at all times. For safety reasons, all motor homes/RVs are required to utilize exhaust extensions or "smoke stacks" to channel exhaust fumes to the top of the motor home/RV.
- Overnight stays are only allowed on weekend series in the Fifield Flat lot.
Do Not Park Illegally
- Park in designated parking spots (Do not park on grass or in No Parking Zones).
- Vehicles are subject to towing if they block streets, sidewalks, service drives, or fire lanes, or if illegally parked in a disabled space.

TRAFFIC PATTERNS ON GAME DAY
Those visiting Condron Family Ballpark on game day should be aware of updated traffic patterns surrounding the ballpark. Fans are advised to utilize Ballpark Way, which will serve as a connecting route to the ballpark from Archer Road. For departures, a postgame traffic flow pattern guide can be found here.

BALLPARK PURCHASES
Condron Family Ballpark food and beverage sales are fully cashless. For convenience and to improve speed of service, all concession stands will only accept credit cards, debit cards, or touchless payment with smartphones. Fans with cash can stop at the first base Concession Stand to exchange cash for a Gift Card. Gift Cards can be used at any concession stand within Condron Family Ballpark.

ON DECK
The Gators have four games left in their eight-game homestand, playing Jacksonville University for a Tuesday matchup at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Florida then hosts Texas A&M at Condron Family Ballpark for a three-game series from April 24-26.

Follow the Gators
#GoGators
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook