Florida walks off Kentucky 7-6 on Jones single, extends win streak to four

No. 13/21 Florida completed one of its biggest comebacks of the season Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark, rallying from a five-run deficit to beat Kentucky 7-6 on a walk-off single by Kyle Jones in the bottom of the ninth. <cite index=“1-3”>Florida erased the five-run hole in the eighth inning, with a bases-clearing double by Brendan Lawson providing the key blow, before Jones delivered a walk-off single to finish the comeback</cite> — a result that <cite index=“1-1”>kept the Gators’ four-game win streak alive.</cite> The game was delayed three hours by weather before <cite index=“1-18”>getting underway at 9:30 p.m.</cite>

<cite index=“15-30,15-31,15-32”>Kentucky struck first with a three-run third inning built on back-to-back RBI doubles, as Owen Jenkins scored on a Scott Campbell Jr. double and then Luke Lawrence cleared two more with another double to left center.</cite> <cite index=“1-4”>The Wildcats extended that lead to 6-1 entering the bottom of the eighth.</cite> The Gators had stranded runners repeatedly through the middle innings before the dam finally broke. <cite index=“7-24,7-25,7-26”>Caden McDonald started the eighth-inning rally with a leadoff double and scored on Karson Bowen’s RBI groundout; after Cade Kurland reached, Hayden Yost singled and Jones drew a walk to load the bases, at which point Lawson smacked a double to bring home all three runners, and then scored himself on a wild pitch to tie the game.</cite>

<cite index=“11-14”>Lawson went 1-for-4 with a two-out, three-run double in the eighth, then scored the tying run on a wild pitch, while Jones went 1-for-5 and found a hole through the left side with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth for his first career walk-off hit.</cite> <cite index=“11-16”>Cade Kurland went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and his third homer of the season, which opened Florida’s scoring in the third inning.</cite> On the mound, <cite index=“11-17”>SEC Pitcher of the Year frontrunner Aidan King was charged with a season-high five earned runs but still completed at least six frames for his sixth consecutive start, finishing with 6 1/3 innings pitched and six strikeouts to one walk.</cite>

<cite index=“1-4”>The win moved Florida to 33-17 overall and 14-11 in SEC play, while Kentucky dropped to 29-17 and 11-14 in the conference.</cite> <cite index=“1-8”>It was Florida’s 13th come-from-behind victory and third walk-off win of the season.</cite> <cite index=“1-9”>During the four-game win streak, the Gators have outscored opponents by a 41-14 margin.</cite> <cite index=“11-9”>Florida now stands as a nation-best 14-6 against ranked opponents and leads the country with 15 Quad 1 wins.</cite> Games two and three of the series with Kentucky remain Saturday and Sunday at Condron Family Ballpark before Florida closes the regular season with a road trip to <cite index=“17-5”>LSU for a three-game series from May 14-16.</cite>