Florida baseball earned its first series win against an SEC opponent of 2025, defeating the Missouri Tigers 5-0 in the first half of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Aidan King returned to form after three shaky starts against SEC teams. King went 5 2/3 scoreless innings against Missouri, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out seven. King's command came into question over the past three weekends after walking a combined eight batters against Georgia, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
Those questions should be answered with this start, albeit against the worst-hitting team in the SEC. King's fastball was electric, holding 94-95 mph with good run into the sixth, and he flashed the changeup more often than he usually does. Florida needed him to perform well in a shortened game — SEC doubleheaders are seven-inning games — and he came up big on a day where Florida's offense struggled to finish anything off until late.
King → JC = shutout
King went 1-2-3 in the first before running into trouble in the second with a pair of one-out singles. He spiked a slider into the dirt, allowing both runners to move into scoring position, but a hard liner to second and pop-up to third ended the threat. King got back to work in the third, retiring the side in order with a pair of bookend strikeouts.
Missouri notched a single in each of the next two innings, but King stranded both baserunners with some late strikeouts. A four-pitch walk — King's only one of the day — with two outs in the sixth led Kevin O'Sullivan to bring in newly named closer Jake Clemente, who got the job done with a soft grounder to second.
Clemente was near perfect while earning his second save of the season. A four-pitch walk with two outs to the No. 8 batter isn't ideal, but he struck out the No. 9 hitter to make up for it and end the game. Clemente's 97 mph fastball and slider work well in relief. He can run up the velocity without worrying about having to go multiple innings and that makes the slider more effective, too.
Florida starts innings hot but struggles to score
Florida got runners on base in each of the first three innings but didn't score a run until the third. Bobby Boser singled to lead off the bottom of the first and stole second. Colby Shelton moved him over on a productive groundout to the right side of the infield, but he couldn't score on a Brendan Lawson liner to right.
Baseball can be a cruel game. Had Lawson not squared the ball up as well as he did, Boser would have likely scored on a soft hit. Luke Heyman couldn't get the job done either. He took too long getting into the box and making eye contact with the pitcher, resulting in a time violation strikeout. Blake Cyr walked in the second and was caught trying to steal second to end the inning.
Ashton Wilson was the first to score after being hit to open the third. Boser singled through the right side and trailed Wilson on a double steal. Missouri didn't contest the double steal as freshman third baseman Chris Patterson was late getting to third, setting up an RBI single from Shelton into right. Florida only managed the one run, though, as Lawson sent a grounder up the middle for a double play.
Missouri starter Kaden Jacobi worked his way out of a couple of jams early while only giving up a run, but he gave up back-to-back runs in the third and fourth frames. After striking out Heyman to lead off the fourth, Jacobi plunked Cyr and gave up a triple on a hard liner to Brody Donay. The left fielder slid to try to make a play on the ball, but it backfired and went past him ...
