No. 12/21 Gators Fall to Dolphins in Penultimate Midweek Matchup

Tuesday, April 21

Gainesville, Fla.

6:30 PM

Florida Gators

28-14

Jacksonville

22-18

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Jacksonville	0	0	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	7	11	2
Florida	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	8	2

UAA Communications photo by Emma Brugna

No. 12/21 Gators Fall to Dolphins in Penultimate Midweek Matchup

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 | Baseball

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Blake Cyr launched his fifth homer in the last four games in the loss.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The bats struck early for No. 12/21 Florida before going quiet throughout the middle innings in a 7-5 loss to Jacksonville at Condron Family Ballpark on Tuesday night.

The Gators (28-14) used a three-run first inning to control the early part of the contest, but the Dolphins (22-18) tied the tally in the third before adding four more runs in the eighth and ninth. Florida has now lost three games in a row for just the second time all season despite Blake Cyr (3-for-5) homering for the fourth-straight matchup.

Florida received a clean top half of the first inning from starter Cooper Walls, who quickly retired the side in order on just eight pitches. The Orange & Blue jumped on JU starter Ben Baker-Livingston in the home half for a trio of runs to open a 3-0 lead, beginning with a leadoff homer to left from Kyle Jones on the very first pitch. Brendan Lawson then reached on a fielding error at second base, advanced to second on a single by Cyr and scored on an RBI knock up the middle from Karson Bowen. After a Cade Kurland walk, Colton Schwarz plated Cyr on a fielder's choice that was misplayed by JU shortstop Sammy Mummau.

Working with a three-run edge, Walls fanned two Dolphins in the second frame en route to another zero. Jacksonville found the scoring column in the third, rallying for three two-out runs to knot the tally at 3-3. Roger Vergara drove home Blake Edmonds on a sacrifice fly to center while Derek Bermudez (double) and Sam Grunberg (single) collected RBI knocks.

Taking over on the mound in the top of the fourth, Caden McDonald pitched a scoreless frame while picking up one strikeout. The redshirt sophomore blanked the Dolphins again in the fifth and sixth, aided by a runner caught stealing from backstop Cole Stanford in the latter inning. Kurland led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to center, but was left stranded on second base.

Jacksonville took its first lead of the night in the top of the seventh, plating a pair of runs for a 5-3 ballgame. With one man down, Mummau hit an RBI double down the left-field line. Following a UF pitching change that brought southpaw Eli Blair into the contest, Mummau stole third base and scored on a sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of Vergara.

The Dolphins tacked on two more in the eighth to extend their lead to 7-3. Logan Baratta plated Grunberg on a sacrifice fly to left field and Edmonds doubled in pinch runner Archer Ogbourne – both coming in as unearned runs due to a pair of Gator miscues.

Chasing four runs, Cyr homered for the fourth-straight game to lead off the home half of the eighth. Bowen followed with a double to left-center field and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right from Schwarz to cut the JU advantage to 7-5. The UF comeback ended there, as the two teams traded zeros in the ninth inning.

Livingston (1-1) earned his first victory of the season behind a quality start, scattering three runs (one earned) across six frames. The senior right-hander was charged with six hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.

JU reliever Payton Waters registered his first save after throwing a scoreless ninth inning with one walk and one strikeout.

McDonald (3-1) suffered his first loss of the campaign. He tossed 3 1/3 innings of relief with two earned runs allowed on five hits and one strikeout. McDonald did not issue a free pass.

Walls did not factor into the decision after surrendering three earned runs on four hits and one walk in three innings. The sophomore righty struck out three.

NOTABLES

Florida is now and 17-11 against unranked teams, as opposed to 11-3 vs. ranked foes.
The Gators are 10-3 in midweek contests and 12-3 against in-state teams this season.
Schwarz started at third base and batted seventh, marking his first appearance in a game since March 28 at Arkansas.
Making his first start since April 7 at No. 5 FSU, Walls pitched three innings of three-run ball on four hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Jones led off the bottom of the first with his fourth homer of the season.
Cyr homered for the fourth-straight game, giving him five homers across the last four contests and nine on the season.
Cyr tallied his fifth three-hit effort and 14th multi-hit game of the campaign, raising his batting average to a team-high .336.
Florida starting pitchers have allowed four home runs in 172 2/3 innings pitched, featuring just two homers surrendered in 93 2/3 SEC frames.
Florida has won 45 of its last 64 regular-season games dating back to last season.
Florida is now 69-38 all-time and 45-19 in Gainesville against JU.
The Gators are 23-10 overall and 17-8 at home vs. the Dolphins under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
Florida has won 14 of the last 19 meetings vs. JU.
Tuesday night's official attendance was 4,652.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On the offense going quiet and the game overall…
"To be honest with you, I thought that we would have better at bats. He was throwing a fastball and a cutter. Pretty reminiscent of Saturday. We scored three in the first and then we don't score again until the eighth… The pitching was good enough for us to win tonight. Obviously, we made a couple more errors. We spent some time on Monday again going over some bunt defense stuff again. When you make those mistakes, they come back to hurt you. It's not from a lack of effort. It's not from a lack of practice. We're working on the things that we know we need to improve on. It's just a matter of executing in key spots in the game and when the game comes calling, you've gotta be able to perform."

On making additional lineup changes…
"Our personnel is our personnel, that's the issue at this level. There's no trades. There's no calling up people from Triple-A. Our players are who we have, and we better, bottom line, make them better and put them in positions to be successful. Obviously, Blake's been seeing the ball really well and Karson got a couple of hits tonight."

ON DECK
The Gators put a bow on an eight-game homestand this upcoming weekend with a three-game series against No. 7 Texas A&M from April 24-26. The series begins on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.