King Shuts Down Kennesaw State to Clinch Series for No. 12 Florida

Saturday, February 21

Gainesville, Fla.

5:30 PM

Florida Gators

6-1

Kennesaw State

3-2

Kennesaw State

Florida

UAA Communications photo by Madilyn Gemme

King Shuts Down Kennesaw State to Clinch Series for No. 12 Florida

Saturday, February 21, 2026 | Baseball

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Starter Aidan King chucked six shutout innings and all nine Gators recorded hits, led by Kyle Jones (3-for-4), who produced his sixth multi-hit effort in seven games.

By: Sullivan Bortner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 12 Florida matched its season high with 16 hits and rode six shutout frames from Aidan King to clinch the series vs. Kennesaw State with an 11-0 victory in seven innings at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday night.

With the win, the Gators (6-1) secured their SEC-leading, eighth-straight series victory dating back to last season, including their second in as many weekends to open the 2026 campaign. Florida takes a six-game winning streak into Sunday's series finale (1 p.m.) against the Owls (3-2).

Less than 24 hours removed from Liam Peterson's masterful Friday night performance, King raised the bar with six scoreless innings in game two. The sophomore right-hander scattered five hits and struck out five, and has not allowed a run or walk across 12 innings pitched this season.

Florida received contributions from up and down the lineup, as all nine starters registered hits and seven drove in runs. Kyle Jones (3-for-4) led off three different innings with knocks, including the bottom of the first, and has now recorded a leadoff hit to begin the game in six of seven contests on top of six multi-hit performances.

Toeing the slab for the second time in as many Saturdays, King punched out Kennesaw State leadoff man Trenton Lyons before erasing a one-out single on a 6-3 twin killing executed by shortstop Brendan Lawson. In the home half, the Florida bats got off to a torrid start as each of the first five Gators to the plate recorded hits.

Starting off the contest with his sixth leadoff hit in seven games, Jones doubled to left-center and quickly scored on an RBI triple off the center-field wall by Lawson. Following an RBI single to right by Karson Bowen and singles from Cash Strayer and Ethan Surowiec, Blake Cyr plated a third run with a sacrifice fly to center. Rookie Jacob Kendall capped off the four-run frame with an RBI double to right-center.

Pitching with a 4-0 lead, King allowed a lone hit and struck out another Owl in a scoreless second inning. Jones proceeded to lead off with another hit in bottom-two, singling and advancing to third on a one-out single through the left side by Bowen. Strayer then singled home Jones while and Cyr reached on a fielding error at second base that allowed Bowen to score. Putting a bow on the frame, Sam Miller slapped a two-run single to right field as the Gators recorded another four-run inning for an 8-0 advantage after two.

King stranded a lone baserunner in the third for another zero and Florida added one run in the home half to lead 9-0 through three. Colton Schwarz smacked a leadoff single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a fielding error at second base off the bat of Bowen.

The two teams traded scoreless frames in the fourth and King blanked the Owls again in the fifth. Florida plated two runs in the bottom of the frame, as Jones got it going with his third leadoff hit on the game and later scored on an RBI single to center by Surowiec. Florida's 11th and final run came courtesy of Cyr, who became the ninth Gator starter to notch a hit with an RBI single to left field.

King cruised through the sixth, retiring the side in order and striking out two in the process. He was relieved by right-hander Schuyler Sandford in the seventh, who went three up and three down while finishing with a strikeout of Jake McGee to cement the 11-0, run-rule victory in seven innings.

Still yet to allow a run this season, King (2-0) fired six shutout innings and gave up just five hits. He did not issue a walk for the second-straight outing and struck out five Owls.

Owls starter Ty Bayer (0-1) was saddled with the loss, allowing eight runs (five earned) on nine hits. He did not issue a free pass and fanned two batters.

NOTABLES

The Gators have won eight-straight series dating back to the 2025 season.
Florida is now outscoring teams, 35-4, in the first two innings of games after plating four runs in the first and four runs in the second against Kennesaw State on Saturday.
Six Florida starters had a hit in Saturday's first inning while seven had a hit or an RBI.
All nine UF starters finished with a hit.
Florida tied its season high with 16 hits.
The Gators have walked six total batters in the last six games.
Florida has walked three or fewer batters in five of seven games.
After tossing six shutout innings in his first start, King fired another six scoreless innings on Saturday behind five hits allowed and five strikeouts.
King has opened the season with 12.0-consecutive scoreless innings across two starts, allowing eight hits and zero walks while striking out nine.
Across his last seven starts dating back to 2025, King is 6-1 with a 0.66 ERA and 38-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 40 2/3 innings pitched.
Jones led off the game with a hit for Florida for the sixth time in seven games, including five leadoff doubles.
- All three of Jones' hits led off frames on Saturday, as he also led off the second and fifth innings with singles.
Jones produced his sixth multi-hit contest and third three-hit game in seven games this season.
- Jones has recorded three hits in each of the first two games vs. Kennesaw State.
Lawson hit his second-career triple and first of the season.
Strayed recorded his fifth multi-hit games in six contests.
Florida has won six-straight games since its Opening Night loss.
The Gators have won 23 of their last 29 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
Florida improved to 2-0 all-time against Kennesaw State on the diamond.
Saturday night's official attendance was 7,783 – the 13th-largest crowd in program history.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On King's pitching performance…
"Yeah, just coming in, ball on both sides, typical Aidan King outing. Obviously, no walks. We played great defense behind him. Brendan made a nice play in short left field on that pop up. We worked awfully hard on that. And Sam made a really nice play at third, the ball took a weird hop there at the end, and played really good defense, but it's easy to do that behind Aidan. You know, just gives you a lot of comfort when you're watching him, not just from the dugout but, the stands. You just kind of know what you're going to get. I thought his stuff in particular, in the fourth, fifth and sixth, kind of took a tick up…"

On playing complete baseball games right now…
"…Had production from the bottom half of the order again, and up and down the lineup for that matter. And, we're playing really good baseball. Obviously, things are going our way, but it's really not that hard to see why we're having success right now. We're focused at the plate. Having really good at bats. We're extending at bats with two strikes. We're not waiting till the third or fourth inning to wake up and get going. We've been pretty good offensively both from the get-go, and I think a lot of that has to do with Kyle obviously getting us going. Playing really good defense. Our base running has been outstanding, couple of mistakes tonight, our dirt ball reads have been outstanding. We went first to third in as well as we have in a really long time the first couple of innings, and you know when you put all those things together and your pitchers throw strikes, it looks clean and it's amazing…"

On Peterson and King setting the tone…
"Yeah, I mean, if you want to win in this league, you better have good starting pitching. And, it doesn't end with your Friday or Saturday guy, it goes right to your Sunday guy too, and you better have a good bullpen and a guy at the end you trust that can pitch under pressure. So, it's coming together, but guys like Schuyler, you look at him and go, 'Yeah, that's a piece that can really be helpful moving forward.'"

UP NEXT
Florida and Kennesaw State face off in the series finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. The Gators will send right-hander Cooper Walls (1-0, 1.69 ERA) to the hill against Owls righty Cole Royer (1-0, 0.00 ERA).