Gators shortstop Brendan Lawson is greeted at home after his walk-off home run on Friday afternoon at Condron Ballpark. (Photo: Madilyn Gemme/UAA Communications)
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL: Gators 8, Rider 7
Friday, May 29, 2026 | Baseball, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If you like late-inning drama with your Gators postseason baseball, you must have loved what went down on Friday afternoon at Condron Ballpark.
The Gators pulled off a whiplash 8-7 win to defeat Rider in the first game of the Gainesville Regional. Shortstop Brendan Lawson played hero, leading off the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off home run.
The No. 1-seed Gators appeared on the way to a ho-hum victory until Rider scored six runs in the top of eight inning to take a 6-4 lead. The big swing was a game-tying grand slam from Anthony Paskell off UF reliever Jackson Barberi.
The Broncs were not done. Two batters later, catcher Nick Shuhet clubbed a two-run homer off Joshua Whritenour to make it 6-4 in favor of the No. 4-seed Broncs.
The Gators got back up quickly, with Caden McDonald leading off the bottom of the eighth with a home run, and after a triple by Karson Bowen put the tying run at third, the Gators were back in business against Rider reliever Christian Aiello. With one out, Cade Kurland drilled a two-run, go-ahead homer to right-center to put the Gators back in the lead, 7-6.
But, but, but ... Rider refused to wilt in the Florida sun. The Broncs tied the game in the top of the ninth on a solo homer by No. 9 hitter Matt Leahy, his first home run of the season.
That set the stage for Florida's ninth-inning magic, as Lawson's homer gave the Gators (40-19) their 40th victory of the season, surpassing their total from the 2025 season.
And one of the most memorable.
"It was a little nerve-wracking,'' UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "At this point in the season, a win is a win. We need to pitch better at the end of the game to reach our ultimate goal."
Second baseman Cade Kurland is pumped after his go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. (Photo: Madilyn Gemme/UAA Communications)
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lawson is a big-league prospect who came through in the cluth Friday, which the Gators are used to. Meanwhile, Rider's Paskell stepped into the batter's box against hard-throwing Barberi with his team trailing 4-0 and two outs. Paskell's grand slam set in motion what happened afterward, and it was only his seventh home run of the season. It was his only hit, but it was huge, and he and Lawson both get the nod here.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Sandefer passed his physical on Friday on a hot and humid day. Six days after he was drilled by a 105-mph line drive on the right arm at the SEC Tournament – prompting O'Sullivan to remove him from the game in the second inning for precautionary reasons – Sandefer was sharp from the start against Rider. He struck out the side in the first inning and didn't let up in his first career NCAA Tournament start. A transfer from UCF, Sandefer tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings. He struck out five and walked one. At one point in his 87-pitch outing, Sandefer retired 12 consecutive batters.
KEY MOMENT
There were several in the last two innings alone, as six home runs flew out of Condron Ballpark to turn a 4-0 Florida lead into a back-and-forth slugfest. But none stood bigger than Lawson's swing to win the game. He connected for his team-leading 17th home run of the season and Florida's fifth of the game.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"I'm going to get on and we're going to end the game." — Brendan Lawson to teammate Blake Cyr as he prepared to lead off the bottom of the ninth
UP NEXT
The Gators face the winner of Friday night's Miami-Troy game on Saturday at 6 p.m. The loser of the Miami-Troy game plays Rider at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
NOTABLES
Florida surpassed the 40-win threshold for the 29th-time in program history including the 12th season under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
The Gators last won 40 games during the 2023 campaign, when they won a program-record 54 games.
Florida is playing in its nation-leading, 18th-straight NCAA Tournament for a total of 41 NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Gators 11 top-eight national seeds rank first in the country since 2008.
Florida has won four-straight games as an NCAA Regional host dating back to 2023.
The Gators have won 11 of their last 13 games while outscoring opponents, 125-65.
Florida improved to 24-12 against unranked teams on top of being a nation-best 15-7 against ranked opponents while repping 16 Quad I wins.
The Gators delivered their 15th come-from-behind win of the campaign.
Lawson (2-for-4) hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth for his team-high 17th big fly.
Lawson's swing gave Florida its fourth walk-off win of the season.
Making his first-career NCAA Tournament appearance, Sandefer fired 5 2/3 scoreless, two-hit innings with five strikeouts to one walk.
Sandefer struck out the side in order on 14 pitches in the top of the first.
Sandefer retired 12-straight batters from one out in the second until allowing a one-out single in the sixth.
Jones opened the scoring with a leadoff homer on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning for his sixth long ball of the campaign.
Jones was the last Gator to hit a leadoff home run, doing so on April 21, 2026 against Jacksonville on an 0-0 count.
With a double and homer, McDonald now has 16 extra-base hits in 17 games since being inserted into the starting lineup on April 24 vs. Texas A&M.
Stripling produced Florida's SEC-leading 34th sacrifice fly of the season in the fourth.
Stripling later extended the UF lead to 4-0 in the sixth with his sixth home run of the campaign.
McDonald launched his seventh home run of the season in the eighth – all of which have come in the last 17 games.
Kurland put Florida back on top ninth a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth – his sixth homer of the season.
Eight UF starters collected hits including four players with multiple.
The Gators finished one home run shy of their single-game NCAA Tournament record with five long balls.
Florida is 139-90 across 41 NCAA Tournament appearances including a 92-54 mark at Regionals.
Florida has claimed 16 Regional titles.
The Gators are now 2-0 all-time against Rider and 1-0 under O'Sullivan
This was the first meeting since May 21, 1992 (W, 6-1).
Both meetings have taken place in Gainesville.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN On Sandefer's start…
"I thought he was really good. It was really good. Obviously, it was hot and it was probably as humid a day as we've had. So, I thought he was really good. I thought he ran out of gas, that's why we went to Caden, then I thought he ran out of gas. And then, hoping to stretch the lead out a little bit more from four runs, we wouldn't have to use some of the guys we did. I think the bases loaded there in the third with one out, we had two pop-ups there, but credit to Rider, they played really good and the hung in there to the end. Their pitcher did just an incredible job coming off of his weekend last week. So, I commend him and his competitive spirit for sure."
On the walk-off win…
"A lot of times it comes down to where you're at in the lineup, too. There's a little luck involved there. We led off the inning with Brendan and we were fortunate there, because obviously he's been seeing the ball good. Sometimes you're in that situation, you're down at the bottom of the order, 7-8-9 and it doesn't look quite as good. So, we battled back. Obviously, a bit frustrating the way our pen was, but I think we had five home runs today. One play that gets lost, led off the inning with Cade going back up through the middle, made an unbelievable, backhand play. But yeah, I just got done talking to Ernie and Jackson and Josh, just for a brief five minutes. I told them they have to put it behind them. I know they're all disappointed in their performance today, but they're all available tomorrow and they've all had success…"
On showing resiliency at home…
"I think a lot of it has to do with how we're playing at the end of the year. I know people were disappointed with the outcome of the game last Saturday against Georgia, but once again, that's when I was talking to Josh, you're getting the ball again. You know, you three guys are our guys at the end of the game and regardless of how the outcome was today, you've got to be able to put it behind you. And if you hang your head, to me that's not being a very good teammate because of all the good things that did happen throughout the game. Because if we don't swing the bat like we did, the score could have been flipped very easily. We played some solid defense, like I said, and we had the right batter up at the right time."
