Florida used seven shutout innings from Aidan King to win its first series against the nation’s No. 1 team since 2016.
AUSTIN, Texas – Florida jumped out to an early lead in the second inning and never looked back to secure the series over No. 1 Texas with a 4-1 win at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Sunday afternoon.
In taking down the Longhorns (40-10, 20-7 SEC), the Gators (35-18, 13-14 SEC) defeated the nation’s No. 1 team for the first time since 2016 at No. 1 Texas A&M. Florida has now won five-straight SEC series, 15 of its last 19 games overall and 12 of 15 in SEC action.
The Orange & Blue tallied lone runs in the second, third, sixth and seventh – but that was plenty of run support for freshman phenom Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> in his 10th-career start. The Jacksonville, Fla. native was utterly untouchable over seven shutout, two-hit innings. King not only set a career high in innings pitched, but also fanned a personal-best nine batters across 110 pitches.
The two teams traded zeros in the first inning, as King stranded two runners in scoring position while striking out one. Blake Cyr<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-cyr/17347> and Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/17324> then led off the second with walks and advanced into scoring position on a textbook sacrifice bunt from Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/17337>. Ashton Wilson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ashton-wilson/17336> drove in the finale’s first run with an RBI groundout to Texas pitcher Jason Flores.
Holding a 1-0 lead, the Gators received a one-two-three frame from King in the home half of the second to maintain momentum. Florida proceeded to add on in the third, beginning with a leadoff hit-by-pitch of Bobby Boser<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/bobby-boser/17349> – his second in as many trips to the plate. Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> singled to left with one man down to advance Boser to third and Cyr cashed in with an RBI infield single to shortstop to extend the Florida advantage to 2-0.
King navigated around a two-out walk to Rylan Galvan in the third before stranding two more Longhorns in the fourth to complete four shutout innings. In the fifth, the Florida freshman retired the side in order while fanning two to reach six strikeouts.
The Gators pushed their lead to 3-0 in the top of the sixth, as Donay flicked an 0-2 offering over the right-field wall for a solo shot the opposite way. King held the three-run edge by chucking a clean bottom of the sixth while racking up his seventh punchout.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Boser hammered a double to straightaway center field. Heyman came through in the clutch, singling to center for his second hit of the day as well as a 4-0 Gators lead.
Reaching a career-high in innings pitched, King fanned Casey Borba for the first out of bottom-seven. He registered his career-high ninth strikeout for the second out before inducing an inning-ending groundout to shortstop.
King’s outing was done after seven frames, as closer Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/17322> entered the contest in the bottom of the eighth. A two-out, bases-loaded walk to Adrian Rodriguez forced home Ethan Mendoza for Texas’ first run, but Clemente fanned Borba to strand the bases loaded and send a 4-1 matchup into the ninth.
Clemente issued a pair of walks in the ninth, but struck out Mendoza and induced a groundout of Galvan to third base to cement the series upset.
King (5-2) logged the most important win of his career to date. The rookie dominated across seven shutout, two-hit innings with a career-high nine strikeouts against three walks.
Flores (4-2) suffered the series-deciding loss, as he was charged with two earned runs on two hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out two batters.
NOTABLES
* Florida delivered its first series victory against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team since sweeping No. 1 Texas A&M from April 1-3, 2016.
* The last win of that series on April 3, 2016 also marked the Gators’ last victory over the No. 1 team in the country prior to Friday night’s win over No. 1 Texas.
* Florida has taken down the nation’s No. 1 team 10 times since 2012 alone.
* The Gators have won 15 of their last 19 games overall including 12 of 15 in SEC play.
* Florida has won five-straight SEC series.
* The Gators’ RPI is now up to No. 14.
* Making his 10th-career start, King recorded a career-high 7.0 shutout innings pitched and nine strikeouts.
* King lowered his ERA to a team-low 2.90 and improved to 5-2.
* Donay connected for his 14th home run to tie Boser for the team lead.
* Florida is now 4-3 all-time against Texas while improving to 2-1 in Austin.
* The Gators are 4-1 overall and 2-1 on the road in the series under O’Sullivan.
* Florida claimed the first-ever, regular-season meeting against Texas.
* Sunday’s official attendance was 7,021.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On King’s masterful performance…
“Yeah, I don’t remember a freshman pitching on the road like this and pitching as well as he did, and if it has happened, it hasn’t happened in a long time. We talked about it before the game, what Aidan is able to bring to the table is his ability to throw the fastball on both sides of the plate. That was just a totally different look for them and their hitters to see today. After a little bit of a shaky start, he walked the first two guys, he just collected himself and was nothing short of outstanding today.”
On the strong start in the game and the impact of the wind…
“Yeah, it was and the wind was blowing too. It was really blowing hard from left to right, so anything hit in the air to left field was probably going to be an out. But the other big at bat, too, was Luke Heyman’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/17327> at bat. They had a shift on him and he hit a ball back up the middle, and that was a huge at bat and, you know, tacked on another run with two outs.”
UP NEXT
Florida concludes the regular season at home with a three-game series against Alabama next weekend, which runs from Thursday through Saturday.
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