The Florida Gators stayed alive in the Conway Regional with a dominant 17-2 victory over Fairfield on Saturday afternoon. Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad has now won seven consecutive Regional elimination games dating back to 2023. Florida will take on the loser of Coastal Carolina vs East Carolina on Sunday at noon for another elimination game.
After a frustrating opening game loss to East Carolina where the Gators had to use seven different pitchers, Florida desperately needed a strong start from freshman right handed pitcher Aidan King. They got exactly that, and much more. King tossed eight innings of one run ball, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out seven batters.
“I’m not really surprised at this point,” O’Sullivan said on King’s outing.
If you’ve paid attention to Florida baseball during the second half of the season, you shouldn’t be that surprised. Throughout the 2025 season, King racked up a program record four weekly SEC Honors and was recently named to the 2025 Freshman All-SEC team. What King accomplished today was special, becoming the first Florida pitcher to even pitch into the 8th inning since Hurston Waldrep did so on June 10th, 2023 vs South Carolina. In today’s power pitching age of baseball, you just don’t see starting pitchers work deep into games anymore. King campaigned for the 9th inning, which he would have likely won in a higher stakes game, but with the score 17-1, it didn’t make much sense to run King out for another inning at 94 pitches.
“I don’t even think he had his best stuff today, but he finds ways to get outs,” O’Sullivan said postgame. “Regardless of the score, he never loses focused. He stayed locked in the entire time.”
King continues to impress on the big stage, displaying poise throughout just about any situation. After eight innings of one run ball, King’s ERA dropped to 2.58 across 73.1 innings. King now holds a 7-2 record in 12 starts.
Florida also played great defense behind him, turning two double plays early in the game which helped keep King’s pitch count down. The Gators didn’t record an error defensively after four in their last two games combined.
Offensively, the Gators struggled through the first three innings as left hander Bowen Baker was controlling his off-speed pitches to both sides of the plate against lefties and righties. Florida struck out five times through three innings and tallied just three hits.
Junior outfielder Blake Cyr launched his second home run of the Conway Regional in the 4th, which sparked a flurry of runs over the next two innings. Off the back of a Bobby Boser and Brody Donay home run, the Gators jumped out to a 7-1 lead after six innings.
Florida proceeded to put the game out of reach with eight runs in the 8th inning as Fairfield’s pitching staff really struggled to throw strikes, walking five batters and hitting another in the frame. In total, the Gators recorded 16 hits and three home runs.
Freshman infielder Brendan Lawson became just the 3rd player in Florida program history to record five hits in an NCAA Tournament game. This feat was last accomplished by Wyatt Langford in the 2023 CWS Finals vs LSU. Lawson also drove in three runs and scored three.
“I don’t think I have,” teammate Blake Cry said on if he’s seen a freshman as good as Lawson. “He’s an unbelievable player.”
The Gators did everything they needed to do vs Fairfield. First and most importantly, they won the game. But as we’ve seen this season, it’s not just about winning, but how you win. Due to a clean defensive game, Aidan King’s outing, and an offensive explosion, Florida only had to use one bullpen arm in the contest, setting themselves up nicely for another elimination game.