UF pitcher Hunter Barco has been named the SEC Pitcher of the Week, one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week and the Dick Howser Trophy National Pitcher of the Week.
The third-year sophomore lefty from Jacksonville started the opener against Liberty and turned in arguably the best outing of his career. In six innings, he gave up just one hit and no runs and struck out a career-high 11 batters. He struck out the first five batters of the game and seven of the first nine. He carried a perfect game into the sixth inning to pick up the win.
Those 11 strikeouts were the most by a Gator in a season opener since at least 1999.
This is the first SEC Pitcher of the Week honor of Barco’s career.
The No. 15 Gators will try to bounce back from the series loss to Liberty when they travel to Stetson on Tuesday night. Barco’s next start will be on Friday night against Georgia State.