HOOVER, Ala. — The Florida Gators dropped 13 runs on 16 hits, ran the Alabama Crimson Tide out of the SEC Baseball Tournament with a five-run fifth inning and a four-run seventh, and triggered the 10-run rule with a two-run McDonald double in the bottom of the eighth to win 13-3 (FINAL/8) on Thursday evening at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The No. 5 seed Gators advance to Saturday’s semifinal at 1 p.m. ET against the No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs — a rematch of season-shaping proportions for both programs.
Florida improved to 39-18 overall and 18-12 in SEC play. Alabama’s season at Hoover ends at 37-19 (17-13 SEC). The Crimson Tide — ranked No. 15 in the D1Baseball Top 25 — were the No. 4 seed for the first time since 2009 and now await Monday’s NCAA Tournament selection show.
For Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, the win is the kind of program-defining tournament moment that defines mid-tier-seed runs. The No. 18-ranked Gators came into Hoover as the No. 5 seed — Florida’s highest seed of the year — and have now won 9 of their last 10 games. O’Sullivan, in his 18th SEC Tournament appearance, owns the league’s most active tournament history among non-Hall-of-Fame coaches: 32-25 all-time, two titles (2011, 2015).
“Just a great game by us today,” O’Sullivan said in the postgame press conference. “Obviously, we’re swinging the bats as well as we have all year long.”
For Rob Vaughn, in his second season at Alabama and the head coach who has the Crimson Tide ranked in the D1Baseball Top 25, the loss closes Alabama’s deepest SEC Tournament run since 2010 — the program’s last semifinal appearance. The Crimson Tide started the year 25-8 and earned a No. 4 seed; their NCAA Tournament resume is strong, but the Hoover elimination was unambiguous.
SEMIFINALS BOUND 🐊➡️@WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/1iTh0i3bsW
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 21, 2026
The 5th inning broke it open
The game was 2-0 Florida going into the bottom of the fifth. The early lead had come on solo home runs from Brendan Lawson (his 16th of the season, leading the team) and Ethan Surowiec in the top of the fourth. Both came off Alabama starter Tyler Fay — the right-hander who was named to the 2026 All-SEC Second Team and entered with a 9-3 record.
What happened in the fifth was a different game.
Karson Bowen led off with a single up the middle. Lucas Stripling flied out. Cade Kurland grounded out, but Bowen advanced to second. With two outs and Bowen on second, Hayden Yost doubled to right field to score Bowen and make it 3-0. Kyle Jones followed with an RBI single to right field to bring Yost home and make it 4-0. Brendan Lawson was hit by a pitch. Then Blake Cyr — the sophomore who hit a 4-for-5 game Wednesday against Vanderbilt — tripled to right field, scoring Lawson and Jones to make it 6-0. Surowiec followed with a hit to the shortstop that was misplayed, scoring Cyr (unearned) to make it 7-0.
By the time the inning ended, Florida had sent eight batters to the plate, collected four hits, and put up five runs.
The Alabama lead-extension threat in the bottom of the fifth (a Lebron double, a Steele single, a Neal sac fly) cut it back to 7-1 — but the damage was done.
The at-bat that set the tone
We are JONESIN' 😤
🎥 SECN pic.twitter.com/RHtzEXShQc
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) May 21, 2026
The decisive offensive moment, in O’Sullivan’s view, didn’t come on a home run. It came in the top of the second inning — when Florida finally got its first hit off Fay.
“We knew going into the game that Tyler was going to be difficult to deal with. Obviously he no-hit us a few months ago,” O’Sullivan said. “But we tried to be a little bit more aggressive early in the count, because I felt like the last time we played him, he was 0-1 the entire night. And we just never could get anything going, obviously. But dugout kind of got excited, I think, in the second when we got our first hit.”
That first hit was Ethan Surowiec’s. The Florida third baseman took a long at-bat against Fay — eight or nine pitches, foul balls, takes — and finally lined a single to left center. From there, Florida’s offense was unlocked.
“I kind of had a long AB with him, couple of foul balls and had some pretty good takes in there,” Surowiec said. “But I think it certainly kind of got the team going, showing that it is possible, we can get a hit off this guy. But yeah, I think me having a big long at-bat just kind of got our team going in the right direction.”
O’Sullivan said that single at-bat was the moment that changed the game.
“I truly believe that his at-bat set the tone. I don’t know how many pitches it was, it was probably an eight- or nine-pitch at-bat,” O’Sullivan said. “But I think that kind of got our confidence going a little bit, and obviously it resulted in a hit, but he certainly had a great day.”
Surowiec was the offensive star
Ethan Surowiec — the Florida third baseman — finished 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored. His night was the kind of complete offensive performance a head coach builds an inning around.
Surowiec’s stat line: HR in the 4th, single in the 2nd, error-aided run-scoring sequence in the 5th, two-run double down the right-field line in the 7th, ground-rule double down the left-field line in the 8th to set up the run-rule trigger. He scored on the McDonald double that ended the game.
The fourth-inning home run came on a 3-0 pitch — a count that, even with the green light, surprised Surowiec.
“Big part of my game plan, just to be on time as much as possible and put good swings on balls,” Surowiec said. “But the home run, it was a 3-0 count. Actually I was a little surprised when I got the green light. But just saw the ball in the middle of the plate, something I could handle. Just kind of shrinking my zone just even more. And it’s certainly a pitch I could handle. So I put a good swing on it.”
For Surowiec — a player O’Sullivan has been working into Florida’s middle-of-the-order rotation as Yost and Cyr have emerged — Thursday was the kind of stat-line afternoon that signals he’s ready to keep producing in the NCAA Tournament.
Caden McDonald: two-way
For Caden McDonald — the Florida DH who entered the game as the team’s hottest bat and exited as both a hitter and a relief pitcher — the night was the kind of two-way performance that gets attention.
McDonald’s hitting line: 2-for-5, including a triple down the left-field line in the 7th inning that drove in Surowiec to make it 10-1, and a 2-run double down the left-field line in the 8th that scored Cyr and Surowiec to make it 13-3 — the run-rule trigger.
McDonald’s pitching line: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R (both earned, on a Neal home run), 1 BB, 4 K, 43 pitches. McDonald entered in relief of Liam Peterson in the sixth inning, struck out the side, then yielded the Brady Neal home run in the seventh to allow Alabama’s two runs.
O’Sullivan, asked about McDonald’s quality at-bats, gave credit to the surrounding lineup.
“I mean, he’s hitting in the middle of the order for a reason. We’ve got some other guys. [Lucas] Stripling is starting to really swing the bat really well. He’s had some big at-bats for us. Cade Kurland’s starting to come around,” O’Sullivan said. “Hayden Yost, who is hitting 9-hole, obviously that’s been well-documented. Brendan Lawson, I mean fouls the ball off his knee. I know it hurt. Next pitch, he hits a double into the gap. I just start shaking my head.”
McDonald’s two-way appearance Thursday is the kind of versatility piece that gives O’Sullivan options moving into the NCAA Tournament.
Liam Peterson — the 8-K start
For Florida, the foundation of the win was a starter who held up. Junior right-hander Liam Peterson — the player O’Sullivan had said Wednesday “Liam’s last two starts is like what we’ve been waiting for” — delivered his best outing of the tournament.
Peterson’s line: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 94 pitches. He gave up Alabama’s only earned run (a Neal sac fly in the fifth) and otherwise kept the Crimson Tide off the board through five innings.
Peterson said his fastball command was the key — and that his curveball played up.
“I think my fastball command was pretty good today. I thought if I missed my spot, it was in a good place. So it wasn’t too much middle,” Peterson said. “Then I thought my curveball was really well as well. A little bit harder today. So maybe it played a little better, but I think those two pitches really helped a lot.”
Peterson also credited his catcher, Karson Bowen, for navigating his rough pitches in the dirt.
“He’s been great back there. And there’s a bunch of balls I spiked probably 40 feet and he was blocking it. So I kind of beat him up today,” Peterson said. “Like you said, he’s a wall back there. And it’s always great throwing with him.”
By the time Peterson exited after five innings, Florida had built a 7-1 lead and the bullpen was lined up. McDonald in the sixth and seventh; Reese Reeth to close the eighth.
