Blazers Take Down 13th Ranked Florida to Open 2026 Season

Friday, February 13

Gainesville, FL

5:30 p.m.

UAB

1-0

Florida

0-1

UAB

Florida

Riley Miller tossed three scoreless innings in his collegiate debut.

Blazers Take Down 13th Ranked Florida to Open 2026 Season

2/13/2026 10:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats

GAINESVILLE, FL – UAB Baseball scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to prevail over the 13th ranked Florida Gators on Friday night at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, 9-7. Despite being outhit 10-6, the Green and Gold capitalized on three Florida miscues on the night.

The Blazers jumped out in front early by getting the first two hitters of the night on base. After a double steal, Landon Beaver drove home Kevin Hall Jr. on a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Brady Waugh reached on a botched infield pop up to put the Blazers up, 2-0.

Florida would answer back with two of its own in the bottom half of the first inning. After a leadoff double by Kyle Jones, Brendan Lawson would score Jones on an infield single and a Blazer throwing error. Two batters later, Karson Bowen singled to left to bring home Lawson to tie the game.

UAB would put up another crooked number in the top of the third inning. With one out, four straight Blazers reached safely resulting in two runs capped off by an Alex Cheeseman two RBI single to put the Green and Gold up, 4-2. Brady Waugh would drive home the fifth run of the night on an RBI groundout.

The Gators responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning when Bowen drove home Lawson on a sacrifice fly to center.

Mason Steele earned his first Division I start on Friday night. The junior college transfer from Shelton State tossed five innings, struck out five, and allowed two earned runs on the night.

Florida finally broke open a big inning in the bottom of the seventh. After a groundout to start the inning, six straight Gators reached base safely resulting in four runs to put the Gators up, 7-5.

Kevin Hall Jr. came up clutch in the top half of the eighth inning as he drove the first pitch he saw through the right side to bring home Brady Waugh and Wesley Helms to tie the game at seven apiece.

Each side would be scoreless in the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings.

In the top half of the 10th inning, Wesley Helms walked and was pinch run for at first base by Andrew Hunt. Austin Pierzynski followed up the walk by reaching on an error. With two on and one out, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. A swinging bunt by Hall and an athletic slide by Hunt put the Blazers in front by one run. UAB continued to play team baseball as Alex Dupuy grounded out to score Pierzynski.

Riley Miller pitched the final 3.0 innings in his first career appearance. Miller struck out one and faced 12 batters on the night to pick up his first career win.

GAME NOTES

The win is the Blazers' first ranked win since April 1, 2025 when UAB defeated 16th ranked Auburn.
Kevin Hall Jr. led the team with three RBI and two hits.
Riley Miller tossed three scoreless innings in his first collegiate appearance.
The win marked UAB's first season opening win since 2022.
The Blazers stole five bases on the night which is the most in a game since May 16, 2025 in a win over Florida Atlantic.
Friday night's win is UAB's highest over a ranked team since April 30, 2022 over 4th-ranked Southern Miss.

The Blazers and Gators square off in a doubleheader on Saturday due to the potential of severe weather on Sunday. Game one of the twinbill will begin at 1 p.m. CT and game two will be 50 minutes after the conclusion of game one. Both games will be streamed live on SEC Network +.

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