UF BSB: Shutdown Start at No. 1 Texas Earns King Third SEC Weekly Honor

The rookie righty shut out the nation’s top team over seven, two-hit innings on Sunday.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Earning a Southeastern Conference weekly award for the third time this season, Florida rookie right-hander Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday afternoon.

King’s third SEC weekly accolade represents his second Freshman of the Week nod (April 14), as he also claimed sole SEC Pitcher of the Week honors back on March 3. Monday’s announcement marks Florida’s seventh SEC weekly award as a team this season.

In Sunday’s rubber match at No. 1 Texas, King earned the decisive victory behind seven shutout, two-hit innings. The Jacksonville, Fla. native was utterly dominant from start to finish, striking out a career-high nine batters against just three walks. He also set personal bests in innings and pitches (110).

Handing the Longhorns their first home series loss of the campaign, King now boasts a 5-2 record, 2.90 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 64-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 59.0 frames. The UF true freshman has allowed one earned run in 14 1/3 innings over his last three starts for a 0.63 ERA

King’s dominant outing gave Florida its first series victory against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team since sweeping No. 1 Texas A&M from April 1-3, 2016.

Back in the top-25 rankings at No. 23, Florida concludes the regular season at home with a three-game series against No. 18 Alabama. The set opens on Thursday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday, May 17.