Florida baseball defeated the top ranked Texas Longhorns 4-1 in Sunday’s rubber match, marking the Gators’ first series win over a No.1 ranked team since April of 2016. After starting 1-11 in SEC play, the Gators have won five consecutive SEC series, improving to 35-18 (13-14 SEC) on the 2025 season. Game three’s victory has likely earned Florida an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, an achievement that looked nearly impossible a month ago.
The Gators got an outstanding start from freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan King, who tossed seven scoreless innings on the road in Austin, Texas. It was a shaky start for King, who walked the first two batters he faced. After stranding both runners, King settled down and shifted into cruise control, walking one batter in his final six innings while allowing just two hits in seven innings. King set career highs in innings pitched (7), strikeouts (9), and total pitches (110). King retired the final 10 batters he faced before Florida turned it over to Jake Clemente in the 8th inning.
“I don’t remember a freshman pitching on the road like this, and pitch as well as he did, and if it has happened it hasn’t happened in a long time,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said postgame. “What Aidan is able to bring to the table is his ability to throw the fastball on both sides of the plate, and that was just a totally different look for 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.”
The Jacksonville, Florida native is advanced beyond his years, displaying incredible emotional and physical maturity for a true freshman in the hardest conference in college baseball. King holds a 2.90 ERA across 59 innings pitched this season, which is the lowest among freshmen starters in the country.
“I was really proud of the way he collected himself. Most times freshmen when the game speeds up on them they kind of a lose it a little bit, but he certainly turned things around,” O’Sullivan said on King.
With Florida leading 4-0 in the 8th, the Gators turned the ball over to their closer Jake Clemente, who had allowed just one run since April 6th across eight appearances and 17.2 innings. Clemente only gave up one run in a six out save, but he really struggled to throw strikes which created a very stressful final two innings. After three straight walks to bring home Texas’ first run of the game, Clemente left the bases loaded in the 8th with a strikeout of Casey Borba. After a one out single and walk in the 9th, Clemente started to gain a feel for his slider, which was almost nonexistent in the inning prior. With two runners on, Clemente picked up his 4th strikeout followed by a ground out to end the game.
“I don’t know what happened. The best word I can use is it was unnecessary. Jake’s stuff is too good to put himself in that position. He had to make some pitches at the end with the top of the order coming up,” O’Sullivan said on Clemente. “He threw some really good breaking balls at the end to finish it…most importantly he made pitches when he needed to.”
The Gators were only able to score four runs in the game, but they jumped out to an early 2-0 after three innings which put some pressure on a Texas team that hasn’t swung the bat very well over the last month. The Longhorns have one of the best pitching staffs in the country, so runs were going to be tough to come by. Florida was able to take advantage of free passes early in the game, scoring their first run in the 2nd inning without a hit after elite small ball execution. The Gators found a trio of two out RBI hits from Blake Cyr, Luke Heyman, and Brody Donay throughout the game.
Florida will take on No.23 Alabama next weekend inside Condron Ballpark to close out the regular season.