King For A Day! Aidan Breathes Life, New Hope Into Gator Baseball

This is how you stave off elimination in a 4-team regional.

As has been his habit ever since the Florida Gators began their remarkable turnaround of a season headed for the tank, freshman Aidan King came to the rescue. One day after the Gators were left for dead by East Carolina, King came back to keep hopes alive in the NCAA Conway Regional.

King went eight innings Saturday against Fairfield, allowing four hits while walking two and striking out seven. Except for a hung slider that Matt Bucciero crushed, sending it on a semi-orbital flight over the teal monster in dead center field, King was all but untouchable. Had he not spent 40 minutes on the bench in the eighth inning when the Gators put up an 8-spot on the Stags, King probably would have gone the distance but eight innings or nine? Did it matter? He was crafty, efficient and sometimes overpowering as he improved to 7-2 on the season while lowering his ERA to a sparkling 2.43.

Coincidentally, King’s effort on the mound awakened the Florida bats. Stifled by East Carolina Friday afternoon, Florida hitters bounced back with 16 hits and showed plenty of patience at the plate by waiting out Fairfield pitching for 11 walks.

This is how you stave off elimination in a 4-team regional.

“We were in a very similar situation last year,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the Gators pounded out a 17-2 backs to the wall win that propelled the Gators into another elimination game Sunday noon against ECU, which was hammered by host Coastal Carolina, 18-7. “The first thing that has to happen is you've got to be able to score a bunch of runs. And the second thing is you need your starting pitcher to go deep so you don't have to use your pen. And that's exactly what happened.”

A year ago at the Stillwater Regional, the Gators lost their second game to Oklahoma State, then had to win three in a row to advance to the Clemson Super Regional. After taking out Fairfield, the Gators will have to win three straight games to advance to the Super Regional. They will go with lefty Pierce Coppola (3-0, 1.86 ERA) against East Carolina (34-26). Beat ECU and things will get interesting for O’Sullivan, who will have to juggle his pitching staff if the Gators are to win and advance.

Saturday, King held Fairfield hitless through the first three innings. He finally got some run support in the fourth when Blake Cyr homered into the left field bullpen. Fairfield answered with the Bucciero homer in the bottom half of the inning but the Stags managed only three singles the rest of the way.

Fairfield managed only one threat the rest of the way off King. In the sixth, Dean Ferrara hit a one-out single off shortstop Bobby Boser’s glove and Luke Nomura followed with a single to left, but King caught Bucciero looking at a 1-2 slider and got JP Kuczik to foul out to Brendan Lawson at first base to end the inning.

Florida put the game away with a 4-run fifth. Justin Nadeau singled to right field and Boser followed with a no-doubt 2-run homer to left center, his 19th of the season. The Boser blast was followed by a single to center field and a walk to Ty Evans. Blake Cyr hit a run-scoring single that scored Lawson and Hayden Yost hit a sacrifice fly that scored Evans.

The Gators increased the lead to 7-1 in the sixth on a double to right center by Lawson and Brody Donay’s monstrous homer to left center, his 19th of the season.

The Florida eighth was an absolute zoo. The Gators scored eight runs on three hits, five walks, a hit batter and a Fairfield error. Landon Stripling hit a sacrifice fly, Boser got an RBI with a bases loaded walk and Lawson hit a 2-run single to right. Donay got an RBI on a bases loaded walk, Cyr hit a 2-run single to left and Hayden Yost hit an RBI single to right.

The Gators scored two more in the ninth on one hit, a hit batter and two Fairfield errors. Lawson singled off the shortstop’s glove to drive in one run and Evans grounded out to third to drive in Florida’s final run of the day.

Lawson had a 5-7 day at the plate with four singles, a double and three RBI. Cyr went 3-4 with four RBI on two singles and his ninth home run of the season. Boser went 3-6 with two singles, his 19thhomer and three RBI.

SEC in regional play

Nashville: No. 1 seed (43-17) Vanderbilt lost to Louisville (37-21), 3-2. The Commodores face Wright State (39-20) in a Sunday elimination game.

Austin: No. 2 Texas (43-13) lost to UT-San Antonio (46-13), 9-7, and will face Kansas State (32-25) Sunday in an elimination game.

Fayetteville: No. 3 seed Arkansas (45-13) beat Creighton (42-15), 12-1, in a winner’s bracket game.

Auburn: No. 4 Auburn (40-18) beat Stetson (41-21), 8-5, in a winner’s bracket game.

Chapel Hill: Oklahoma (36-21) lost to No. 5 seed North Carolina (44-12), 11-5, and will play Nebraska (33-28) in a Sunday elimination game.

Baton Rouge: No. 6 LSU (45-14) blasted Dallas Baptist (41-17), 12-0, in a winner’s bracket game.

Athens: No. 7 Georgia (43-16) lost to Duke (39-19), 6-3. The Bulldogs will face Oklahoma State (29-24) in a Sunday elimination game.

Tallahassee: Mississippi State (35-22) dropped a 10-3 decision to No. 9 Florida State (40-14). The Bulldogs will play Northeastern (49-10) in a Sunday elimination game.

Oxford: No. 10 Ole Miss (41-20) staved off elimination with an 8-5 win over Western Kentucky (46-14). The Rebels will face Georgia Tech (41-18) in a Sunday elimination game.

Clemson: Kentucky (30-25) avoided elimination with a 7-3 win over USC-Upstate (36-25). The Wildcats will face No. 11 Clemson (45-17) in a Sunday elimination game.

Conway: Florida (39-21) hammered Fairfield, 17-2, to avoid elimination. The Gators play East Carolina (34-26) in a Sunday elimination game.

Knoxville: No. 14 Tennessee (45-16) beat Cincinnati, 10-6, in a winner’s bracket game.

Hattiesburg: Alabama (41-18) was eliminated by No. 16 Southern Miss, 6-5.