Barco pitched six scoreless, one-hit innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts to earn the victory over Liberty in Friday’s opening-night start.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Fresh off of collecting SEC Pitcher of the Week and Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors on Monday<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_news_2022_2_21_barco-2Dnamed-2Dsec-2Dpitcher-2Dof-2Dthe-2Dweek-2Dcollegiate-2Dbaseball-2Dnational-2Dplayer-2Dof-2Dthe-2Dweek.aspx&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=Q3huF9PaYDqXqsz0WqiMg7fTTCdnS6GxxOLM4uGwZOu1vWwdC8EnrysQKP3SD9zz&s=30rHE9CGfuaZijNDBiSlvvxqA63x16ilaOWtwlf8byA&e= >, left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco added a Dick Howser Trophy National Pitcher of the Week accolade to his resume on Tuesday afternoon.
Presented by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, today’s National Pitcher of the Week honor represents the first of Barco’s three-year Florida career. Barco entered the 2022 season as a consensus preseason All-American, earning first-team status from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA.
Making his first-career Friday night start on opening day against Liberty, Barco took a perfect game into the sixth inning en route to earning the victory for the Orange & Blue. After retiring the first-16 batters of the game in order, the third-year southpaw worked around a pair of sixth-inning baserunners to finish with 6.0 shutout innings pitched on one hit and one walk while striking out a career-high 11 batters.
Barco’s 11 strikeouts were the most by a Florida pitcher on opening day since at least 1999.
A Jacksonville, Fla. native, Barco is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he was named to the Newcomer All-SEC Team and Southeast-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Second Team. Pacing the Gators with 10 wins in a team-high 16 starts, Barco finished the year with a 4.01 ERA, .239 batting average against and 94 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched. The second-year performance came on the heels of a standout freshman season in which Barco went 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 26 strikeouts across 19.1 frames.
Following Friday night’s start, Barco now owns a career 13-3 record with a 3.32 ERA, .218 BAA and 131 strikeouts in 108.1 innings pitched – translating to 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
Barco is currently positioned as the No. 53-ranked prospect for the 2022 MLB Draft by MLB Pipeline.
Florida travels to Stetson for a Tuesday midweek tilt at 6:30 p.m. before returning home on Wednesday, hosting North Florida at 7 p.m. at Florida Ballpark.
