Troy Slugs Past Florida to Force Winner-Take-All Regional Final

Sunday, May 31

Gainesville, Fla.

4 p.m.

Troy University

35-30

Florida

41-20

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Florida	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	4	2	11	10	0
Troy	2	0	4	0	1	9	0	0	X	16	17	1

Troy Slugs Past Florida to Force Winner-Take-All Regional Final

5/31/2026 9:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes

By: Troy Athletics Communications

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - No. 3 seed Troy smashed five home runs in a 16-11 win over No. 8 national seed Florida to force a winner-take-all game seven in the Gainesville Regional.

The Trojans out-hit the Gators 17-10 and scored nine runs on ten hits against Florida right-hander and MLB.com's No. 14-ranked 2026 draft prospect Liam Peterson. Four of Troy's big flies came against the powerful righty, the most that Peterson has issued in his career.

Sun Belt Player of the Year Jimmy Janicki started the slugfest for the Trojans with a 440-foot, two-run blast in the bottom of the first. Houston Markham, who homered in Troy's win over Miami earlier on Sunday, launched a solo shot to right in the third before Janicki went opposite field for a three-run blast later in the frame. Blake Cavill kept the homer parade coming in the fifth with a 447-foot moonshot to right, the furthest homer by a Trojan this season.

On the mound for the Trojans, Cooper Ellingworth battled for six innings and struck out five hitters without a walk while the Gators scored five runs on seven hits. Florida singled four times to score two runs in the top of the second, before a two-run Brendan Lawson homer in the fifth and a Caden McDonald solo shot in the sixth.

Ellingworth competed all night long, striking out Florida's three and four-hole hitters, Blake Cyr and Ethan Surowiec, looking after Lawson's homer. He responded to McDonald's homer with a pair of popups and a backward punchout to right fielder Hayden Yost.

Troy broke things open with a nine-run sixth, forcing the Gators to use four pitchers in the frame.

Sean Darnell led off with a walk, and three straight singles led to an RBI base knock for Aaron Piasecki, one of four hits on the day for the Trojan leadoff man. Troy continued to move station to station with a Cavill walk, a Janicki hit-by-pitch, a Steven Meier single and a Darnell walk before Jabe Boroff crushed a Billy Barlow breaking ball out of the park for a grand slam.

The Gators added six late runs against the Trojan bullpen, but Troy's 16-5 lead was too much to overcome.

Dylan Alonso pitched a scoreless seventh, but exited after a pair of walks in the eighth. Cade Kurland hit a grand slam off of Matt Dill before an error to open the ninth led to McDonald's second homer, but Dill responded with a groundout, a lineout and an infield popup to end the ballgame.

Notables

Troy advanced to a Regional Final for the first time in program history.
Troy scored 16 runs, the most the Trojans have scored against an SEC opponent. Its previous high against an SEC opponent was 14 runs against Auburn in both 1984 and 2011.
Troy's 16 runs also tie its single-game high in a Division-I NCAA Tournament. The Trojans also did so in a 16-7 win over Wright State in the 1995 NCAA Play-In. It was Troy's most in an NCAA Regional game, topping the 15 the Trojans scored against Rider on Saturday.
Troy's five home runs matched its season high. The Trojans also homered five times in the regular season finale at ULM.
Troy's 16 runs and 17 hits were both its second-most this season. Troy scored 19 runs at Mercer (Feb. 14) and had 19 hits at Texas State (Apr. 11).
Troy's nine-run sixth inning was its fourth nine-run inning this season. Troy also did it against Mercer (Feb. 14), Alabama State (Mar. 31) and Rider on Saturday.
Jimmy Janicki hit his second multi-homer game of the season. His 19 homers on the year lead the Sun Belt and are tied with Dave Banks (1984) and Joel Smith (1990) for the seventh-most in a single season by a Trojan.
Janicki's two-run homer in the first inning traveled 440 feet, the furthest homer of his career, with an exit velocity of 114 MPH.
Janicki's three-run blast in the third traveled 376 feet with an exit velocity of 99 MPH.
Janicki's sixth RBI of the day came on a bases-loaded HBP in the sixth inning. His six RBIs matched his career high. He also did so against New Orleans on April 14.
Janicki now has 83 RBIs on the season, which are the second-most in Troy history. He trails Brooks Bryan, who had 85 in 2024.
Houston Markham's solo homer in the third was his third of the season, all of which have come in the postseason. He hit his first against Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Tournament (May 22) and his second against Miami earlier in the day on Sunday.
Markham's four hits were a season high. It was his first four-hit game since 2025 opening day against Bellarmine.
Jabe Boroff's grand slam in the sixth inning was his eighth homer of the season and his first grand slam of the season. It had an exit velocity of 110 MPH, though the distance did not register on Trackman.
Boroff hit two home runs earlier on Sunday against Miami, while Markham hit one. They are the Trojans with a homer in both games of a doubleheader since Drew Frederic against App State on April 25, 2021.
Boroff's three hits and four RBIs were season highs.
Blake Cavill's solo homer in the fifth was his 13th of the season. It traveled 447 feet, which was both the furthest of his career and the furthest by a Trojan this season, and had an exit velocity of 107 MPH.
Aaron Piasecki collected four hits. It was his third four-plus hit game this season.
Piasecki now leads the Sun Belt with 90 hits, while Janicki's 89 hits rank second.
Cooper Ellingworth's 6.0 innings were a new career high. His previous career-high was a 5.1-inning relief appearance against High Point in the 2025 Big South Tournament while pitching for USC Upstate.