Brendan Lawson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Florida a wild 8-7 victory over Rider on Friday at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, in the opening game of the Gainesville Regional.

The Gators powered their way to the win with five home runs in a contest that went back and forth in the later innings. Lawson, who went 2-for-4, provided the final heroics. Kyle Jones hit a leadoff homer in the first and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Caden McDonald, Landon Stripling and Cade Kurland also went deep for Florida. Starting pitcher Russell Sandefer was sharp for the Gators, tossing 5⅔ scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five before the game descended into a late-inning slugfest.

The Gators built a 4-0 lead through six innings before the Broncs staged a stunning comeback in the top of the eighth, erasing the deficit with a six-run outburst. Anthony Paskell hit a grand slam to tie the game, and Nick Shuhet followed with a two-run homer to give Rider a 6-4 lead.

Florida reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer from McDonald and a go-ahead two-run shot from Kurland to make it 7-6, but then Matt Leahy tied the game again with a solo home run in the top of the ninth. Shuhet, Leahy and Charley Magoulick each finished with two hits for Rider.

Leahy's homer in the ninth set the stage for Lawson's game-winning blast.

Up next: Regional play in the NCAA baseball tournament continues Saturday, with Rider playing at 1 p.m. ET and Florida playing at 6.

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