![Florida pitcher Aidan King (47) pitches during an NCAA baseball game at Condron Family Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field in Gainesville, FL on Friday, April 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_524,w_1916,h_1077/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01kqa81btpt6cdct1kfy.jpg "Florida pitcher Aidan King (47) pitches during an NCAA baseball game at Condron Family Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field in Gainesville, FL on Friday, April 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida is set to enter May and the final three weekends of the regular season in a fascinating spot within the college baseball world. After a string of series against ranked opponents, Florida is set to close out the year against Oklahoma, Kentucky, and LSU, all squads currently unranked, though Oklahoma is 18th in RPI. If the Gators can close out and win these three series, they will stand a good chance at hosting Regionals for the first time since 2023.
But as each passing week has gone by, it’s clear the Gators have a bona fide ace who is almost an instant win while Kevin O’Sullivan has to hold his breath for the rest of the team. And at some point over these next three weeks, Florida has to prove they have someone besides just Aidan King who can carry the load.
Aidan King is carrying Florida
For two series in a row, an elite start from King helped take game one, only for the rest of Florida's flaws to come out in games two and three. This weekend against Texas A&M, King went 8.0 innings and shut down the Aggies. Then, in game two, Liam Peterson gave up five runs in 5.0 innings of work, and Florida’s hitters struck out 12 times while only drawing one walk. In the rubber match, two more errors combined with a complete refusal to make Texas A&M pitchers work (the Aggies' staff threw just 106 pitches combined) led to a series loss.
If you are keeping score at home, Florida now has a team fielding percentage of .969 and ranks 170th in the country.
The problem for Florida is that King has emerged as the only reliable arm, and Florida's offense isn’t mashing at a rate that can overcome anything going wrong. Florida is just 194th in on-base percentage, but unlike past years, they don’t have the power bats to overcome that. Florida is 119th in slugging percentage. Blake Cyr and Brendan Lawson are the only Gators with at least eight home runs, and the Gators are just 59th in total home runs and 138th in total doubles hit.
So when thinking ahead to the NCAA Tournament, these next three weeks are going to tell a massive story in terms of what Florida’s chances are to make it to Super Regionals. Let’s assume Florida sneaks in as a Regional host and throws King in game one against an overmatched No. 4 seed. The Gators would then move on and play a team that is on par with Oklahoma, Kentucky, and LSU.
If Florida can prove its struggles are simply a byproduct of facing the meat of the SEC, it can calm fears that this team will get bounced once again in Regionals.
If Florida scuffles down the stretch and continues the trend of the last two weekends, this will be a hard team to trust in a month.
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