KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 7 Florida dropped game two at No. 2 Tennessee by a score of 10-0 in seven innings at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday evening.
 
Contrary to the final tally, UF freshman starter Aidan King was tremendous in his SEC debut. Making his second-career start, King twirled six innings of one-run ball while striking out six batters. The rookie from Jacksonville, Fla. has now tossed back-to-back quality starts for the Orange & Blue.
 
Starting pitchers Marcus Phillips and King exchanged zeros in the first, before the Volunteers (19-0, 2-0 SEC) opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. After hitting a leadoff double down the right-field line, Levi Clark came home on an RBI single to center from Manny Marin.
 
Justin Nadeau worked a nine-pitch at bat with two outs in the third, capitalizing with a single up the middle to push Phillips’ pitch count north of 50. Phillips stranded Nadeau on third by inducing a groundout, leaving the Gators (16-4, 0-2 SEC) scoreless through three.
 
King rebounded for a scoreless inning in the third, then struck out two more in the fourth while picking off Marin for the third out. With the Florida bats held in check on the offensive end, King continued to mow through the Tennessee lineup, blanking the Vols in the fifth before retiring the side in order in the sixth to keep the Gators within one run.
 
Sitting at 93 pitches after six innings, King’s day was done when the game entered the home half of the seventh. The Volunteers took advantage of his removal, promptly striking for nine runs to end the game at 10-0 after seven. Dean Curley drove in the first three runs on a bases-clearing double down the left-field line. Hunter Ensley added an RBI single through the left side to drive in Curley while Andrew Fischer plated a pair on a single to left-center. Reese Chapman then swatted a three-run homer to right field to bring Tennessee to 10 runs.
 
King dropped to 3-1 despite producing his second-straight quality start. The freshman allowed just one run on four hits and one walk while fanning six Volunteers across six innings.
 
Tennessee starting pitcher Marcus Phillips (2-0) earned the victory behind seven shutout frames. He finished with five hits allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts.
 
NOTABLES

• Florida was shut out for the first time this season.
• Making his first SEC start, King fired six innings of one-run ball on four hits and one walk while striking out six.

  • King has now thrown quality starts in each of his first two starts.
  • King wields a 0.95 ERA on the season.

• King threw Florida’s fifth quality start of the 2025 campaign, which matches the Gators’ total from all of last season (five).
• Florida’s weekend rotation is 8-2 with a 2.30 ERA, .165 BAA and 104-to-23 K-to-BB ratio in 66 2/3 innings.
• Colby Shelton went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles as the only Gator with multiple hits.
• Nadeau reached base safely twice, finishing 1-for-2 with one single and one walk.
• Blake Cyr and Shelton have reached base safely in all 20 games this season.
• Florida pitchers have recorded a 231-to-58 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 20 games.
• Florida is now 157-99 all-time vs. Tennessee, including 69-51 in Knoxville.

  • The Gators are 27-25 overall and 14-12 on the road in the series under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

• Saturday’s official attendance was 5,575.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On King’s great performance and it getting away at the end…
“It was a really weird game. Of course, we pitched really well the first six innings, gave up one run. For his first road start in the league, I thought he was outstanding. Their starter was really good, too. Pounded the strike zone. He had a really good arm. Just like last night, their starter got to two strikes in a hurry. And you’re right. The seventh inning just got away from us.”

On the end of the game…

“You can live with giving up the hits. That’s part of the game. But the walks and the wild pitches, and when it gets sloppy like that, that’s not what we’re about. So, it’s unfortunate the game got away from us, because I think if we could have put a zero on the board in the bottom of the seventh, we had Philpott down there ready to go, if we could scratch across a run or so. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.”

UP NEXT

Florida and Tennessee face off in the series finale on Sunday, which is set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.