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Florida baseball opens 2025 season with Air Force

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Florida baseball opens 2025 season with Air Force


Baseball season has returned, and the Florida Gators open the 2025 campaign with a three-game series against the Air Force Falcons at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, starting Friday.

Kevin O’Sullivan is looking to lead his program to a third-straight College World Series appearance, but the team looks much different than it did last June. Jac Caglianone is in the minor leagues, only five members of the starting lineup are returners and there’s a new crop of freshmen to fill out the bullpen.

As always, hopes are high in Gainesville, but last year proved that it doesn’t take a strong regular season record for a team to be competitive down the stretch. The SEC schedule could get rough, but opening the year against Air Force should allow the Gators to find their footing.

Projected Starting Lineup: Florida Gators

Pos. Player Name AVG OBP SLG AB R H HR RBI
C Luke Heyman .246 .342 .481 264 46 65 16 52
1B Brendan Lawson
2B Cade Kurland .245 .346 .457 245 51 60 14 44
3B Bobby Boser .299 .351 .667 117 28 35 12 32
SS Colby Shelton .254 .374 .551 256 60 65 20 56
LF Blake Cyr .847 .397 .537 95 22 27 7 21
CF Kyle Jones .355 .459 .476 248 53 88 5 32
RF Ty Evans .316 .406 .580 193 44 61 13 43
DH Brody Donay .250 .329 .520 152 28 38 12 27

Notes: All stats are from last year.

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Probable Starters: Friday (6:30 p.m. ET)

Team Pitcher Record ERA
FLORIDA RHP Liam Peterson 3-6 6.43
AIR FORCE RHP Dylan Rogers 5-5 7.49

NOTES: 

Liam Peterson is back in the Friday night role for Florida after moving around the weekend rotation as a freshman. Although his numbers leave something to be desired, there’s optimism that he’ll be a true ace this year for the Gators. Peterson’s fastball can run into the high-90s and his breaking stuff (curve/slider) is devastating. Peterson also works in a changeup. He’s looking to simplify his delivery this year in hopes of better results. Avoiding the “big inning” is key.

Dylan Rogers was a part of the weekend rotation a year ago at Air Force but saw limited success, similar to Peterson. Now he’s the team ace and is looking to complete the puzzle. His slider has been a work in progress and is leading to more strikeouts and fewer walks. He’s also improved his flyball percentage, but that could work against him with a power-heavy lineup like Florida.

Probable Starters: Saturday (4 p.m. EDT)

Team Pitcher Record ERA
FLORIDA RHP Jake Clemente 2-0 5.34
AIR FORCE RHP Gaines Estridge 1-0 8.10

NOTES: Redshirt sophomore Jake Clemente moves into the Saturday spot this year for Florida after a breakout summer in the Cape Cod League. Another player Gators Wire is familiar with from the high school circuit, Clemente has the mental makeup and stuff to thrive in the starting rotation.

“91-93 fastball, topped 94,” said Clemente’s high school pitching coach Michael Cimilluca. “Slider sits 79-82 and is a sweeping wipeout pitch that draws lots of swings and misses. 82-84 changeup with good run.”

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That fastball might be able to touch the mid-90s at this point, but it’s the secondary stuff that’s going to lead to success as a starter.

Gaines Estridge made 23 appearances out of the bullpen for Air Force last year. His 8.10 ERA as a freshman is a bit high for a starter, but that’s the roster the Falcons have to work with. He has decent command of his fastball and secondary, but a 10.9% strikeout rate says there’s not a ton of swing-and-miss there.

Probable Starters: Sunday (1 p.m. EDT)

Team Pitcher Record ERA
FLORIDA LHP Pierce Coppola 1-4 8.75
AIR FORCE RHP John Mitchell DNP DNP

NOTES: Pierce Coppola has been a draft darling for some time, but he hasn’t played a full season of baseball in years. injuries plagued all three of his collegiate seasons with Florida, but now he’s healthy to start the season. Coppola posted a ridiculous 31.3% strikeout rate last season over 23 2/3 innings. For a 6-foot-7 guy, a fastball in the low-90s may seem slow, but he paired it with a mid-to-high-70s slider that draws a 40-50% whiff rate.

Air Force will throw freshman John Mitchell on Sunday. On the travel circuit, Mitchell threw a high-80s fastball that reached 92 at times, an 87-mph curve and an 84-mph slider.

Other Players to Watch

Air Force’s roster went through a lot of churn this offseason, and the expectation is a rebuilding season for the Falcons. Still, there are some returning names worth knowing, including right fielder Zach Peters, who batted .290 and had a .830 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, and designated hitter Tripp Garrish (.289/.881).

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Dawson Thrush is a freshman to keep an eye. Gators Wire got a first-hand look at him last year with Dwyer High School during its state championship run. Thrush was a key member of the Dwyer lineup and rotation.

Series History

OVERALL 0-0
AT HOME 0-0
AWAY 0-0
NEUTRAL 0-0

NOTES: Florida has never played Air Force on the baseball diamond before.

Follow the Action

FRIDAY (6:30 p.m. EDT)

SATURDAY (4 p.m. EDT)

SUNDAY (12 p.m. EDT)

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Watch links go directly to game feed

Predictions

GAME 1: Florida, 9-2

GAME 2: Florida, 13-3

GAME 3: Florida, 10-0

The pitching matchups in this series favor Florida as the weekend carries on. Because there are so many new faces in the lineup, I expect the offense to click at the same rate, putting the run rule victories into play. It’s a new season, so expectations are high and there’s not much negative to go off of.

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Series prediction: Florida sweeps the series convincingly, 3-0.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.





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Florida man allegedly dumped mother-of-four’s cremated remains alongside 500 pounds of trash on roadside

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Florida man allegedly dumped mother-of-four’s cremated remains alongside 500 pounds of trash on roadside


A Florida man allegedly dumped a mother-of-four’s cremated remains and 500 pounds of trash on the side of a road late last month, according to reports.

Daniel Rolando, 26, was arrested and charged with one felony count for littering over 500 pounds of commercial or hazardous waste after Charlotte County Sheriff deputies discovered a massive pile of trash in Punta Gorda on Oct. 30, ABC7 reported.

Daniel Rolando, 26, allegedly dumped a woman’s cremated remains alongside 500 pounds of trash. Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Among the heap of waste was a labeled bag with human ashes, according to the outlet.

The cremated remains belong to 39-year-old Nina Monica Brown, who died of sickle cell disease in 2024, Gulf Coast News Now reported.

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“It was a straight box and plastic bag from the funeral home, like you would pick her up. It wasn’t even an urn, nothing,” resident Heather Lemcool told the outlet.

“Her name, day to day, date of birth, and date of death, and the funeral home was all on this, ID card attached to the ashes,” she said.

The cremated remains belonged to 39-year-old Nina Monica Brown, who died in 2024. Gulf Coast News

After sifting through the 120 cubic foot pile of trash, police found mail belonging to a woman in Sarasota and contacted her, the outlet said.

She positively identified 80% of the discarded items as hers and told deputies that she had recently had two of her units at a local storage facility auctioned off after defaulting on her contract, the outlet reported.

But the woman was dumbfounded as to how her mail and trash ended up on the side of the road and had no clue how the cremated remains wound up in the pile, according to the publication.

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Employees at the storage unit then confirmed to police that Rolando had purchased the two units at the auction.

He was arrested after returning to the trash pile to clean up with a friend, the outlet reported.

Brown was a mother-of-four who defied her life expectancy while battling sickle cell disease. Gulf Coast News

Rolando later confessed to purchasing the goods and dumping the ones he didn’t want, according to the report.

Precious Tunstall, a friend of Brown, described the woman whose ashes were carelessly dumped as a “walking miracle” who battled sickle cell disease far longer than doctors predicted.

“As growing up, they didn’t expect her to live past the age of 21. She wasn’t supposed to,” Tunstall told Wink News.

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“They told her that she would never bear children. She had four beautiful children, two girls, two boys, and she did everything that she had to do to provide for those babies,” she said.

She is currently working with the police to retrieve Brown’s remains and return them to her children.

“It was very inconsiderate of him to just dump her on the side of the road,” Tunstall said.

“I would like to have her ashes back, her remains back, so her children can have her remains.”

Rolando was released from jail on Thursday on $2,500 bond, the Venice Gondolier reported.

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The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.



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Kentucky owns Florida and Kroger Field again

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Kentucky owns Florida and Kroger Field again


The home crowd of Kentucky Football fans had forgotten what it felt like to celebrate in Lexington. As we all know too well, Kroger Field had become a place where visitors took over and Big Blue Nation left rivalry games before the final whistle.

But all of that finally changed on Saturday night when the Wildcats buried Florida, 38-7, snapping the 11-game home losing streak against conference opponents and Louisville. For the first time in more than two years, Lexington belonged to Kentucky again in a meaningful game.

Nov 8, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Cutter Boley (8) looks for a receiver during the first quarter against the Florida Gators at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

A fun fact, it had been 2,247 days since Florida last won in Lexington, and Kentucky didn’t just protect that streak on Saturday night, it extended it to three straight wins over the Gators at home. And the third in a row was complete domination in the 2025 SEC home finale. Cutter Boley again played like the quarterback of Kentucky’s future, completing 18 of 23 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, while the defense suffocated Florida’s offense from the opening drive, with four takeaways. It could’ve been a shutout if not for the muffed punt early in the game, which set up Florida’s only red zone appearance.

This wasn’t the same Kentucky team that kept falling short in its own stadium game after game for the last two-plus seasons. The Wildcats played with confidence and had their way with Florida, running for 233 yards and outgaining the Gators 401-247 in total. It was the kind of night that hits the reset button on a struggling program, as Mark Stoops has strung together consecutive league wins with his back against the wall.

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Unlike the last time Kentucky was at home, fans stayed and celebrated as the clock wound down for this one, then the fun continued into the parking lot and on into the night. It was great to see BBN happy again at home, especially against a logo team like Florida that had UK’s number for so many years.

4 out of 5 over the Gators

Stoops’ dominance over Florida isn’t just at home. He, of course, first snapped the decades-long streak in Gainesville in 2018, then won in the Swamp again in 2022. Overall, Kentucky has now won four of the last five meetings in a series that once felt impossible to flip. There’s a new streak in town.

Enjoy this one, BBN.



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‘Living and working in Florida is like being in a toxic relationship,’ but the Northeast shows jarring differences, real estate founder says | Fortune

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‘Living and working in Florida is like being in a toxic relationship,’ but the Northeast shows jarring differences, real estate founder says | Fortune


In a candid interview, top real estate agent and founder of SYKES Properties, Erin Sykes, got real about the state of the Florida real estate market. “Living and working in Florida is like being in a toxic relationship,” she said at the ResiDay conference in an interview with ResiClub editor Meghan Malas.

Now, Skykes, whose firm showcases multimillion-dollar deals in both Florida and the Northeast, said she’s watching two Americas diverge in real time. In the Northeast, she’s seeing bidding wars have returned in commuter suburbs like Monmouth County, N.J., and mid-Long Island, where buyers still fight for an acre and an elite school district. In Florida, by contrast, she described a market in withdrawal, nursing a hangover after a flurry of activity. “Just a couple years ago, we were being love-bombed and told how great we were,” she said, citing Florida’s burgeoning status as “Wall Street South,” a new finance hub. Now, things are “flat” or even heading downward.

Home prices in Florida have fallen 5.4% year-over-year, dragged down by a glut of aging condos facing six-figure special assessments and post-Surfside safety mandates. Single-family homes, meanwhile, remain relatively resilient, she noted. She characterized the Sunshine State’s housing scene as a cycle of boom, bust, and burnout. She’s always fueled by the belief that somehow, the next round will be different.

“Now we’re being told, ‘Oh, you’re too expensive,’ and kind of being discarded,” Sykes said. “You know, the conversation changes by the day, really.”

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Noting that Florida has always been a boom-or-bust state, she said she sees signs of moderation rather than collapse. “Rather than being the boom up here and the bust way down here like we saw in 2008 and 2009, the waves are becoming flatter,” she said. While there may be a pullback in prices, “really, a 5% pullback is nothing when your house has appreciated 25%.”

For Florida, Sykes argued, even a flat market signals stability after years of breakneck appreciation—especially in Palm Beach, where home values have jumped as much as 200% in the past few years.

The challenge of dual market personalities

Sykes described jarring regional differences. In Florida as an agent, you’re “just trying to really push and pull and drag deals together, you’re getting discounts of 5%, 10%, 20% off list price,” but then in the Northeast you find yourself going into a bidding war. “It’s like having a multiple personality disorder.”

That volatility, she noted, reflects a broader split between regions that overheated during the pandemic and those returning to normal. The migration wave that sent high earners south may have turbocharged Florida’s boom but also exposed its fragility. Now, Sykes said, agents and homeowners alike are navigating two competing realities: the Northeast’s cautious recovery and the Southeast’s cooling after years of mania.

She also outlined a bifurcation within the Florida housing market: while single-family homes remain robust thanks to demand for space among incoming families, condos face mounting challenges. That’s difficult because they are “really what has been driving down the Florida market,” and they are facing new challenges from special assessments, strengthened structural regulations, and fallout from incidents like the Surfside collapse. Pre-selling of new-construction condos continues apace, she said, with West Palm Beach alone seeing many significant developments underway.​

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Sykes described a bifurcation between single-family homes and condos in Florida, since its exploding population is full of people who left Manhattan or Chicago and “wanted their own space.” She said single-family homes are doing well, and then “We’re seeing condos bifurcated, and then within that bifurcation of condos, a secondary bifurcation.”

“Florida,” she concluded, “you have to always take with a grain of salt.”



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