Florida baseball passed its first significant test of the 2025 season Friday night, beating rival Miami 6-2 before 7,118 fans at Condron Family Ballpark.

Third baseman Bobby Boser went 3 for 4 with a homer and 2 RBIs to spark the offense as the No. 7 Florida Gators (10-0) extended their season-opening win streak to 10 games. Freshman first baseman Brendan Lawson also had another big day at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a homer and 2 RBIs.

Down 2-1, Florida went ahead to stay in the bottom of the third. Boser led off the inning with a solo homer, lacing a 1-0 pitch 387-feet over the left field wall to tie the score at 2. Then, with two outs in the third, Lawson lofted a 415-foot shot off the batters eye above the center field wall for his second homer of the season, giving UF a 3-2 lead. After that, UF tacked on solo runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Sophomore righty Liam Peterson (3-0) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings to earn the win for UF, walking one while striking out seven. Frankie Menendez, Luke McNeillie and Alex Philpott each tossed scoreless frames to finish off the game.

With the win, Florida improved to 42-18 over Miami since Kevin O'Sullivan took over as UF's coach in 2008.

Nick Robert (2-1) took the loss for Miami (8-2). The Hurrcianes took a 1-0 lead when shortstop Jake Ogden belted an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first and went ahead 2-1 in the top of the third when center fielder Michael Torres led off the inning with a single and scored on a wild pitch.

Florida baseball pitcher Liam Peterson settles in after shaky early stretch

Peterson threw 30 pitches in the first inning and uncorked a wild pitch that led to a run in the third before settling in to deliver a solid third start of the season. He retired the final eight batters he faced in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning with a fastball, curveball and slider mix. Of Peterson's 95 pitches, 62 were for strikes.

"Maybe last year he wouldn't be able to keep it together for six innings," O'Sullivan said. "He was outstanding. He set the tone for our weekend."

Peterson said he worked hard on his mental approach during the offseason.

"Last year I kind of let the innings roll over a lot," Peterson said. "That was a big focus. I think today I didn't really harp on it. Sitting in the dugout I wasn't thinking about that. I was more thinking about what I have to do the next inning, who I have to face, attacking hitters."

Florida baseball third baseman Bobby Boser stars at plate, in field

Boser's solo homer in the third, his fourth of the season, came off the bat at 111 miles per hour.

"Off the bat I kind of knew I hit it really hard," Boser said. "I just wanted to make sure that angle got up there."

Boser added an RBI single with two outs in the eighth, extending UF's lead to 6-2. He also came up with a big play in the field, lunging to catch a foul pop up along the netting down the third base line in the top of the eighth.

"There was one previously in the game, I missed it because it drifted back on me, kind of rode the net going backwards," Boser said. " So I made sure to get a little bit more behind that one, kind of rise up to the net again and it ended up being the same exact ball. Glad I had one try before that but had to make sure I got that one."

Florida baseball manufactures runs in the late innings

O'Sullivan had UF left fielder Blake Cyr lay down a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second and none out in the sixth inning, which moved two runners into scoring position. With one out and the bases loaded, Hayden Yost lofted a sacrifice fly with one out, extending UF's lead to 5-2.

Boser led off the seventh inning with a single, moved to second and third on two outs, then scored on a Lawson RBI single, giving UF a 5-2 lead. In the eighth, Yost stole second to get into scoring position before scoring on Boser's RBI single.

"That was a goal coming into the season, being able to manufacture runs and score runs in different ways," O'Sullivan said. "We had a couple of home runs tonight and we played some small ball, so that's been a main focus for us offensively going into the season."

Up next

Florida faces Miami on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Condron Family Ballpark. Junior lefty Pierce Coppola (2-0, 1.80 ERA) will start for UF against Miami right-hander Griffin Hugus (2-0, 1.50 ERA).