Focused Peterson strikes out 11 as Gators run-rule Harvard, 12-0

Liam Peterson struck out the first five batters he faced Friday night (UAA Photo)

It took an offseason for Liam Peterson to figure out what was going wrong. From a physical standpoint he really wasn’t concerned. There was nothing wrong with his arm or his mechanics. It was all in his head.

“I think especially after Omaha, my last two outings – both of them in Omaha – were, you know, obviously not great,” Peterson said Friday night after striking out 11 Harvard batters in five innings. “So I think just kind of being able to look back that season and kind of reflecting, especially on those two outings, about how I was doing the opposite of not slowing the game down. I think it was kind of like a revelation over the summer that this was something I really needed to work on and to really be able to take that next step in becoming a good pitcher … I’d definitely say a lot of it was mental. I had a big problem with, like overthinking, especially in Omaha.”

With a summer to contemplate and fall baseball practice to reorganize his approach, Peterson started thinking less and simply focused on throwing strikes. When he did that the game slowed down and Liam Peterson took the next steps toward becoming the kind of pitcher he knows he’s capable of being.

Friday night, the new and improved Peterson was on full display. In addition to the 11 strikeouts, Peterson gave up just four hits, only one that left the infield, while leading 7th-ranked Florida (13-2) to a 12-0 win over the Harvard Crimson.

"I think you see that with a lot of freshmen, regardless of how talented they are,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “That maturation process is difficult at times but he certainly has made a huge jump in that part of his game, and I think that's the one thing that makes Aidan King, knock on wood, that's what makes him so special. He's just different as a freshman. But Liam certainly is on the right track."

Peterson and King are the new 1-2 for the Gators. Pierce Coppola’s injury opened the door for King, who, like Peterson doesn’t overthink and just focuses in on what he has to do. King will be the starter today when the Gators and Harvard play a doubleheader starting at noon. Both games will be seven innings.

Peterson struck out the first five batters he faced as he raised his record to 4-0. In 26 innings, he has given up only 16 hits and walked only eight while striking out 45 hitters. He gave up an infield hit, a couple of bunts that were legged out for hits, and a single to right center that was maybe six inches higher that the glove of leaping shortstop Colby Shelton.

With Peterson completely on his game, it didn’t take much offense for the Gators to win this one, but they wore down the Harvard pitching staff, turning this into a seven inning run-rule win. With a 2-0 lead through the first three, the Gators flexed their offensive muscles in the fourth (4 runs) and sixth (6 more) to make this an early night.

This wasn’t a homer-fest. Florida hitters simply took the put the bat on the ball approach. For Shelton, it meant going with the pitch wherever it is thrown instead of trying to yank everything out of the yard. He singled to right center in the first to drive in Florida’s first run of the game, went opposite field in the fourth when he sliced a double opposite field down the left field line to drive in three runs.

Shelton’s new approach at the plate is paying off. Through 14 games he is hitting .429. Only one of his team-leading 24 hits has left the yard, but he’s finding gaps and driving the ball into the alleys for 10 doubles. So far, Shelton has driven in 18 runs.  

“I would say it’s all approach-related,” Shelton said. “Not trying to do too much when I go up there. Just trusting my eyes, seeing the ball as deep as possible, seeing it as long as possible … Kind of really helping me just swinging at pitches in the zone, not trying to chase pitches out of the zone.”

Opponents are still trying to take away Shelton’s power with a shift that leaves only one fielder on the left side of the infield. A year ago Shelton consistently tried to pull the ball and overpower the shift. This year he’s hitting the ball all over the field, which is defeating the purpose of the shift.

It is a no chase approach and it is allowing Shelton to cut way down on strikeouts. The power is still there, but now he’s making more consistent contact. In 65 at bats Shelton has struck out only seven times.

In the offseason, this was a major point of emphasis for O’Sullivan. So far this year walks are up, strikeouts are down and the team batting average (.326) is 56 points higher than a year ago.

“A single gets the job done when there’s runners on base,” Shelton said. “You don’t have to hit a 3-run homer.

Brody Donay, whose seven homers lead the team, narrowly missed an eighth in the sixth inning. This was a deep drive that caromed off the top of the fence to the right of the green monster in center field. Donay legged out a run-scoring triple by simply going with the pitch. In the third, Donay had one of those it looks like a line drive in the scorebook doubles. This was a towering pop up that Harvard’s first and second baseman surrounded with help from the right fielder. Three gloves, no catch and Donay was only 10 feet from second by the time someone picked the ball up.

Donay is currently hitting .417. A year ago he hit .246, striking out nearly half the time. With this make contact approach at the plate, Donay has whiffed just 11 times in 48 official at-bats.

There is power up and down the lineup but the Gators don’t feel the need to go into the gorilla ball mode. They’re hitting the ball, moving runners along and understanding that good things happen when you put the ball in play. Although the Gators didn’t Friday night the Gators only struck out five times.

There is similarity in the way pitchers like Peterson are slowing the game down and focusing on throwing strikes and the way hitters like Shelton and Donay are going to the plate with a put the ball in play and use the entire field mentality. The game is slowing down for pitchers and hitters alike. They are taking it one pitch at a time, one swing of the bat at a time.

So far the new way of thinking – or in the case of Peterson not over-thinking – is working quite well for the Gators. Team ERA is barely half of what it was last year (3.14 in 2025; 6.05 in 2024) and the batting average is 56 points higher with more contact and fewer strikeouts.

As of Friday night, 25 percent of the regular season is gone and we’re barely into March. A week from now the Gators will be in Knoxville taking on Tennessee, which won the national championship a year ago. The season is still young and the Gators rely on so many young guys to get the job done but they seem to be in a better place now that they are about to embark on the Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule.

UF SOFTBALL: GATORS FALL TO AGGIES IN SEC OPENER

It took a seventh inning throwing error for 4th-ranked Texas A&M to spoil the SEC debut of freshman Katelynn Oxley. Oxley went the distance in 3rd-ranked Florida’s first Southeastern Conference game of the season, allowing only five hits, but the two-out miscue gave the Aggies a 3-2 win in College Station.

The Gators managed only four hits off Emiley Kennedy and two of them left the yard. Freshman Taylor Shumaker hit her 13th homer of the year in the fifth and Kenleigh Cahalan hit her eighth in the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2.

It wasn’t that Kennedy was overpowering – she only struck out two Gators – but UF simply couldn’t get hits with runners on base. Florida had at least one baserunner in every inning but only scored when Shumaker and Cahalan homered.

Oxley benefitted from great defense, particularly in the fifth when the Aggies took a 2-1 lead. After loading the bases with nobody out, Mya Perez drove what looked to be her second home run of the game only to have Kendra Falby make the leaping grab at the center field wall to rob a grand slam. The Aggies did score on the play but Koko Wooley tried to score from second base only to be nailed at home, Falby to Rylee Holtorf to Jocelyn Erickson for an inning-ending double play.

The Gators and Aggies go at it again today at 5 p.m.