Florida Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced Friday night after the loss to ECU that his team will be turning to true freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan King on the mound in the first elimination game of the Conway Regional.
While many are wondering if it is the right decision to go to King, it is easy to see why he went to his No. 2 pitcher in a win-or-go-home situation.
In 16 appearances (11 starts), he has a 6-2 record with a 2.76 ERA in 65 ⅓ innings pitched. Additionally, he has a 72-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That is about as good as it gets for a debut year on the mound.
Furthermore, if those are not enough to show you how good he is, then go back and look at his final four starts of the regular season. He gave up just two earned runs and struck out 22 in 20 ⅔ innings over his last four outings.
Three of those starts came against top-25 opponents as well. The best of the three came on the road in Texas. Facing the then-ranked No.1 Longhorns, King pitched a career-high seven innings and struck out a career-high nine batters while not allowing a single earned run.
This career day from the freshman earned some praise from his coach after the game.
“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,” O’Sullivan said.
No one is questioning his talent, though. Their thoughts are more centered around the idea that Florida is playing against the No. 4 seed in the Conway Regional and that the Gators should have enough talent to get past them without using the next-best available pitchers.
O’Sullivan going to King is understandable, though.
These are no longer midweek games, which means he will not take any team lightly. However, one would think that a pair of guys like Jackson Barberi, Billy Barlow could get the job done against Fairfield. If he had gone down this path, it would have allowed the Gators to have the option of using King and Pierce Coppola against ECU and potentially Coastal Carolina, should they advance past Fairfield.
Nonetheless, the Gators will have their star freshman on the mound Saturday afternoon in their first elimination game of the regional. This game will begin at 3 p.m. ET and will be aired on SEC Network.
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