UF pitcher Brandon Neely has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week. This is the first time that the righty from Seville, Florida, has received an SEC weekly award.
Neely made his seventh consecutive weekend start on Friday night against South Carolina. He struck out a career-high 10 batters in a career-high-tying seven scoreless innings. He didn’t issue a walk, and he gave up just three hits. He retired the final 13 batters that he faced to pick up the win.
Since joining the rotation against Arkansas on April 9, he is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA, a .173 batting average against and 44 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings. In his third career start, he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against No. 1 Tennessee.
Overall, Neely is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA this season. He also picked up a save against Seton Hall earlier in the year.
Neely hopes to make his SEC Tournament debut this week. Brandon Sproat is expected to start the Gators’ opener against South Carolina on Tuesday. If UF wins, they’ll move into the double-elimination portion of the tournament, which would have Neely in line to start against No. 2 seed Texas A&M on Wednesday.