Gators Baseball Replace – Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 2026 Florida Gators baseball workforce has arrived on UF campus and can formally start the autumn apply season on Monday, Oct. 6 at Condron Family Ballpark with the gates open to all followers.

Highlighting the Gators’ 2025 fall slate are two exhibition video games, starting with a Halloween night time matchup towards Jacksonville University at Vystar Ballpark in Jacksonville, Fla. Thereafter, Florida will host Georgia Southern at Condron Family Ballpark on Sunday, Nov. 9. Start instances for each video games in addition to ticketing info for Florida-JU will likely be introduced at a later date.

All of Florida’s practices and intrasquad scrimmages will as soon as once more be open to the general public all through the autumn. Each week, an up to date weekly schedule will likely be posted to FloridaGators.com and @GatorsBB social channels, together with approximate apply and scrimmage begin instances.

Additionally, Athletics Director Scott Stricklin introduced a three-game suspension to open the season for Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan because of his actions stemming from the 2025 NCAA Conway Regional.

“The suspension announced today reinforces Florida Athletics’ commitment to our standards, with Coach O’Sullivan accepting full responsibility for his behavior,” Stricklin mentioned. “Sully has vowed to learn from the experience and serve as a better leader moving forward.”

Coach O’Sullivan’s suspension throughout Opening Weekend is scheduled for Feb. 13-15, 2026 towards UAB.

Important Fall Dates
Monday, Oct. 6	First Day of Fall Practice (Time TBD)
Friday, Oct. 31	Florida vs. Jacksonville (Vystar Ballpark in Jacksonville)
Sunday, Nov. 9	Florida vs. Georgia Southern (Gainesville, Fla.)

 
Florida returns 22 whole gamers from final 12 months’s NCAA Regional squad, that includes 5 positional starters in first baseman Brendan Lawson, second baseman Cade Kurland, left fielder Blake Cyr, heart fielder Justin Nadeau and proper fielder Hayden Yost. Regular contributors Ashton Wilson and Landon Stripling are additionally again as is rising junior outfielder Kyle Jones, who missed nearly all of final season resulting from damage.
 

The Gators used the switch portal to fortify that group, bringing in Second Team All-Big 12 catcher Karson Bowen (TCU), 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year Sam Miller (Columbia), 2025 Northwoods League MVP Ethan Surowiec (Ole Miss) and outfielder Jaden Bastian (Jacksonville). Catchers Cole Stanford (Lenoir-Rhyne) and AJ Malzone (Wabash Valley College) additionally convey their abilities to the Orange & Blue.
 
However, the important thing energy of the 2026 Florida roster would be the one-two punch atop the beginning rotation in presumed workers ace Liam Peterson and 2025 Freshman All-American Aidan King. Those two will head one of many nation’s most-feared beginning staffs, adopted by key returners in right-handers Jackson Barberi, Billy Barlow, Matthew Jenkins, Caden McDonald, Luke McNeillie, Christian Rodriguez and Blaine Rowland along with southpaw McCall Biemiller. Rising redshirt freshmen Schuyler Sandford and Joshua Whritenour are additionally again within the fold after lacking the 2025 marketing campaign to accidents.
 
Further deepening the pitching corps is a singular assortment of blue-chip transfers: Division II First Team All-American left-hander Ernesto Lugo-Canchola (Northwest Nazarene), 2025 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year Cooper Walls (Hawaii), right-hander Russell Sandefer (UCF) and righty Ricky Reeth (Notre Dame).
 
Nine true freshmen full Florida’s contingent of 19 newcomers – which could be discovered beneath.
 
The 2026 marketing campaign will mark O’Sullivan’s nineteenth on the helm of the Gators, throughout which Florida has posted a 756-371 total document (.671) whereas going 305-204 (.599) in SEC play.
 

2025-26 Florida Baseball Newcomers
#	Player	Pos.	B/T	Class	Hometown / High School / Previous School
0	Jaden Bastian	OF	R/R	JR	Winter Garden, Fla. / The First Academy / Jacksonville
34	Eli Blair	LHP	L/L	FR	Panama City Beach, Fla. / J.R. Arnold
14	Karson Bowen	C	R/R	SR	Anaheim Hills, Calif. / Orange Lutheran / TCU
35	Jackson Hoyt	LHP	L/L	FR	Brooksville, Fla. / Nature Coast Technical
43	Jacob Kendall	OF	L/R	FR	St. Augustine, Fla. / A3 Academy
32	Rivers Kurland	LHP	R/L	FR	Tampa, Fla. / Berkeley Prep
44	Ernesto Lugo-Canchola	LHP	L/L	GR	Pleasant Grove, Utah / Pleasant Grove / Utah / Northwest Nazarene
28	AJ Malzone	C	L/R	JR	Manteno, Ill. / St. Rita of Cascia / Wabash Valley College
2	Sam Miller	INF	R/R	SR	McMurray, Pa. / Peters Township / Columbia
18	Cooper Moss	RHP	R/R	FR	Panama City Beach, Fla. / J.R. Arnold
6	Nic Partridge	INF	L/R	FR	Lakeland, Fla. / Mulberry Senior
31	Ricky Reeth	RHP	L/R	RS SR	Windermere, Fla. / West Orange / Notre Dame
17	Russell Sandefer	RHP	R/R	JR	Tampa, Fla. / Robinson / Saint Leo / UCF
49	Colton Schwarz	INF	R/R	FR	Jupiter, Fla. / Jupiter
45	Minjae Seo	RHP	R/R	FR	Carrollton, Tex. / Hebron
29	Cole Stanford	C	R/R	GR	Ellerslie, Ga. / Harris County / Lenoir-Rhyne
26	Cash Strayer	OF	L/R	FR	Tampa, Fla. / Plant
10	Ethan Surowiec	INF	R/R	SO	Gulfport, Miss. / Gulfport / Ole Miss
38	Cooper Walls	RHP	R/R	SO	Carlsbad, Calif. / La Costa Canyon HS / Hawaii

Follow the Gators
#GoGators
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook