ChompTalk.com

In the final non-conference weekend series of 2025, the No. 7 Florida Gators pulled off a dominant sweep of the Harvard Crimson. With the biggest week of the season so far coming up, here’s three storylines from the weekend to keep an eye on:

The King presides

Aidan King made his first start as Gator and impressed. He tossed six shutout innings while fanning away eight batters and giving up just two hits and a walk. With the health of prior weekend starters Jake Clemente and Pierce Coppola still up in the air, King will likely fill in on Saturdays indefinitely.

“Yeah. that’s the main reason we started him today, is to kinda get him going,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after Saturday’s sweep.

King had only made relief appearances to this point, but got his first taste of being the primary arm last week when he took over for an injured Coppola against Miami early on. He said the change of pace last week helped him adjust his preparation prior to starting against Harvard.

“I would say [it helped],” King said. “Having a longer pitch count and really having to pitch longer helped me a little bit.”

Bobby-Brody derby

Florida, while not quite as focused on hitting for power this season, can certainly still swing it pretty good. The two biggest bats in the lineup right now are Brody Donay and Bobby Boser. Donay, who’s taken his big frame and combined that with an efficient new swing, has always gotten high power grades and was expected to rake. But Boser has shocked many by sitting just one home run behind Donay’s eight.

Boser said the friendly competition and luxury of hitting next to another big bat has been a positive experience for everyone involved.

“It’s awesome, we feed off each other,” Boser said. “[Donay]’s an unreal hitter… I’m just glad to be producing with these guys.”

Shelton and the shift

Gators shortstop Colby Shelton’s bat has been excellent to start the year, hitting .348 with 13 RBIs after recording a .254 average with 56 RBIs last season.

For some reason, teams have employed a right shift against Shelton to little success. It seems almost every hit off the junior’s bat rockets up the third base line — precisely where teams seem to think he can’t hit to.

Either teams will stop shifting or Shelton will stop beating the shift, but with how he’s playing, it’s anyone’s guess which comes first.

Florida heads to Tallahassee to take on the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The game will stream on ACCNX.