No. 7 Florida Baseball 2025 College Top 25 Preview

Image credit: Liam Peterson (Photo Courtest of Florida Athletics)

Last season: 36-30 (13-17 SEC); reached College World Series
Final 2024 ranking: No. 6
Coach (record at school): Kevin O’Sullivan (717-349, 18th season)

You can find our complete 2025 preseason Top 25 ranking here.

The Good News

A year after it won just 28 regular season games and was one of the last teams to make the NCAA Tournament, Florida is confident that its roster is built such that its performance will more closely mirror its own high standards. The Gators returned starting catcher Luke Heyman, shortstop Colby Shelton, right fielder Ty Evans and starting pitcher Pierce Coppola, all of whom were draft eligible in 2024 but quickly decided against a move to the pros in favor of one more college campaign. Sophomore staff ace Liam Peterson and junior second baseman Cade Kurland are also back in the fold, joined by Miami transfer Blake Cyr, Stetson transfer Kyle Jones, South Florida transfer Bobby Boser and freshman Brendan Lawson, who are expected to open the season in starting roles. Florida’s pitching staff, which was hurt by its youth and inexperience in 2024, returned the majority of its production in 2025 and is largely counting on its increased maturity.

The Bad News

There’s no overstating the impact former Florida star and No. 6 overall 2024 draft selection Jac Caglianone had in Gainesville, especially in 2024 when he accounted for 16.7 percent of the Gators’ RBIs and scored 18.1 percent of their total runs. He also blasted a quarter of Florida’s home runs and was one of six pitchers who threw at least 40 innings (only one, Peterson, is still with the program). As O’Sullivan put it, “There’s just no replacing a guy like him.” That reality looms quite large for Florida, as it will now need to find ways to sustain its offensive success without arguably the best player in program history. Shelton, Kurland and Florida’s trio of offensive transfers who project to start will be critical in that effort.

Player To Know

Sophomore righty Liam Peterson is expected to be the frontman for Florida’s rotation coming off a season that saw him earn SEC all-freshman team status. Though his final numbers from his first campaign might look discouraging (6.43 ERA, 1.71 WHIP and 44 walks in 63 innings), Peterson put together a five-start stretch at the end of the year in which he pitched to a 2.55 ERA in 24.2 innings and went on to make mechanical changes over the summer, which have seemingly helped him throw more strikes thanks to reduced east-west movement. The Gators will need the hard-throwing righty to take a significant step forward and avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.

Path To Omaha

Few teams in the history of college baseball have realized success like the Gators under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who has guided his team to 10 College World Series in 16 opportunities. Whether or not they can do it again will depend largely on if their pitching can outperform an abysmal showing in 2024 when they finished last in the SEC in team ERA. Even without Caglianone, Florida’s offense should be able to produce enough to give its pitching time to settle into a rhythm.

Projected 2025 Lineup

Pos	Player	Year	AVG	OBP	SLG	AB	HR	RBI	Note
C	Luke Heyman	Jr.	.246	.342	.481	264	16	52
1B	Brendan Lawson	Fr.							P27 Academy – Lexington, S.C.
2B	Cade Kurland	Jr.	.245	.346	.457	245	14	44
3B	Bobby Boser*	Sr.	.299	.351	.667	117	12	32	South Florida
SS	Colby Shelton	Jr.	.254	.374	.551	256	20	56
OF	Blake Cyr*	Jr.	.284	.397	.537	95	7	21	Miami
OF	Kyle Jones*	So.	.355	.460	.476	248	5	32	Stetson
OF	Ty Evans	Sr.	.316	.406	.580	193	13	43
DH	Brody Donay	Jr.	.246	.323	.527	167	14	32
Pos	Player	Year	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	SO	BB	Note
SP	Liam Peterson	So.	16	63.0	6.43	1.71	77	44
SP	Jake Clemente	R-So.	2	28.2	5.34	1.61	39	20
SP	Pierce Coppola	R-Jr.	8	23.2	8.75	1.65	35	12
RP	Alex Philpott	So.	3	30.0	6.90	1.57	28	16
RP	Matthew Jenkins*	So.	2	57.0	4.74	1.93	60	57	Santa Fe College