Florida baseball moves up in polls after series win vs. Kentucky

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators baseball team made a jump in the top 25 rankings following their series win against Kentucky. Baseball America now has the team in the top 10, moving UF from No. 13 up four spots to No. 9.

Florida (34-18, 15-12 SEC) jumped to No. 19 in the D1Baseball rankings, rising two sports. The Gators went 3-1 last week, winning their final midweek game against North Florida before taking the series vs. Kentucky.

UF won the series opener on Friday with a 7-6 comeback win. UF rallied from a 6-1 deficit with a five-spot in the eighth inning, including a bases-clearing double by Brendan Lawson, and then walked it off on Kyle Jones’ RBI single.

RELATED: Florida Gators gut it out at the plate, on the mound in comeback win

After UK won behind Jaxon Jelkin’s complete game, the Gators clinched the series on Sunday with a 9-6 victory. Caden McDonald pitched 4.1 scoreless, no-hit innings of relief while bashing a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fourth. 

RELATED: Florida Gators clinch series vs. Kentucky with 9-6 rubber match win

“Man, I can’t say enough about his performance,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of McDonald. “I mean, guy goes four and a third, doesn’t give up a hit and settles things down. Hits a home run, a key home run, him and Yosty hit key home runs there. I think everybody in the lineup got a hit (Sunday).

“… We had two double plays there, you know, early part of the game. But great effort, almost feels like a regional-type weekend. It was an important series for us obviously … just a really good finish to the weekend, for sure.”

The Gators have won 11 of their last 15 SEC series dating back to last season, going 29-16 across 45 SEC games in that span. Florida wraps up its regular season schedule with a three-game series at LSU this week. The series opener is on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.

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