Gators Sweep Air Force in Opening Series
The first series of the 2025 baseball season is over, and the Gators have resoundingly swept the Air Force Falcons. After three games where the Gators showed sparks of brilliance, the Falcons will be going home to Colorado. The Friday-Saturday-Sunday series which turned into a Friday-Saturday-Saturday was never really close, with Air Force being outscored 28-5 across 23 innings of play. Air Force played well for a team of their level, but the Gators played at Omaha spec from the first at-bat.
Opening night was a spectacle that won’t soon be forgotten. Started by a Brody Donay Home Run, the Gators got in their groove and never stopped, beating the Falcons 7-0. You can read more in depth about it on our post about the game. It was a great night for Gators baseball, with great all-around pitching and batting performances.
On the Saturday doubleheader, it had a bit of a nervy start for the Gators. Despite going out to an early lead in the first game, Air Force came back to lead 3-2 going into the fourth. The Gators needed somebody to step up and put something on the board, and a Colby Shelton home run with a man on base did just that. Brody Donay would proceed to also launch a 2 RBI shot yard, giving the Gators a comfortable lead which they never quite gave up. Jake Clemente gave up 2 earned runs in six innings of work, which is perfectly fine when the Gators have such savages in the box.
The second game of the doubleheader was smooth sailing for the Gators. Most notable was Brody Donay launching a third home run of the series. Donay launched the first home run of spring training, the first home run of the regular season, and is now 3/3 in games with a homer. After Donay’s blast opened the floodgates in the 4th, the Gators proceeded to put up 7 runs in the fifth before the game was ended by mercy rule, since the Gators led by 10 runs during the 7th inning.
It was a great series for the 3-0 Gators. A few procedural errors here and there, but at the end of the day three good wins are three good wins. The baseball program probably won’t have a real test until Miami come up to Gainesville on Friday, February 28th, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still be out there blasting balls over the fence. The Gators go to Jacksonville University on Tuesday for a single away game before hosting Florida A&M on Wednesday. Next weekend will see the University of Dayton Flyers in Condron Ballpark for a three game series. The Gators seem well-poised for some early-season blowouts.
