Luke McNeillie named SEC Freshman of the Week

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•04/01/24•

delatorre

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators pitcher Luke McNeillie was named the SEC Freshman of the week. Florida went 2-2 last week and McNeillie picked up both of the wins for the Gators coming out of the bullpen.

McNeillie came on in relief twice over the weekend. On Friday, McNeillie hurled a perfect ninth inning to keep the Gators within striking distance. He threw just 12 pitches and struck out the side on the way to his second career win. On Sunday, McNeillie came in to relieve Jac Caglianone in the sixth inning. The freshman threw 3.1 innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball.

“This is four or five outings in a row he pitched good,” Kevin O’Sullivan said on Sunday. ” We made our mind up that if we had gotten in trouble in the sixth, and then that’s what happened, that we would go to Luke right away. You know we’d been struggling offensively, so had an idea this might be a low-scoring game, not a normal Sunday game. So, he came in, he was really good. To make a couple of those pitches to Larry, their leadoff hitter with the runners in scoring position to keep it a one run game, was huge.”

Luke McNeillie and the weekly SEC Awards

Player of the Week: Braden Montgomery, Texas A&M

Texas A&M’s Braden Montgomery led all SEC hitters last week in home runs (4), runs scored (8) and total bases (21) to help lead the Aggies to a 4-0 record. In the series sweep of Auburn, the junior homered in all three games and recorded a three-hit performance in the final two. In the series-clinching win on Friday, Montgomery homered twice, marking his second multi-hit performance as an Aggie. The junior also ripped two doubles and drew four walks.

Pitcher of the Week: Bryce Cunningham, Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt’s Bryce Cunningham pitched 7.0 scoreless innings and registered a career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing just one hit Friday night vs. Missouri. Cunningham allowed just three baserunners over the seven innings en route to his fourth win on the season. Cunningham’s 12 strikeouts led all SEC pitchers on the week.

Freshman of the Week: Luke McNeillie, Florida

Florida’s Luke McNeillie went 2-0 across two appearances in the Gators’ series against No. 17 Mississippi State. McNeillie did not allow a run in 4.1 innings and surrendered just two hits with six strikeouts and no walks. He earned the win in the decisive game three over the Bulldogs, throwing 3.1 shutout relief frames on two hits and three strikeouts. McNeillie held opponents to a .143 batting average on the week.

Florida Gators hold steady in top-25

RankTeamRecord
1Arkansas23-3
2Clemson24-3
3Texas A&M25-3
4Tennessee24-5
5Oregon State21-4
6Florida16-11
7Vanderbilt23-6
8Dallas Baptist23-4
9Duke20-8
10North Carolina25-4
11Virginia Tech21-5
12East Carolina20-6
13Alabama21-7
14Florida State22-4
15Virginia22-6
16UC Irvine22-3
17Kentucky24-4
18LSU 20-9
19NC State18-7
20Coastal Carolina20-7
21Wake Forest17-10
22South Carolina21-7
23Mississippi State19-10
24Nebraska20-5
25UCF18-7

You may also like