Gators Baseball Announces Sunday Starting Pitcher

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Despite Liam Peterson and Aidan King returning as the Friday and Saturday starters on the mound, the Florida Gators entered the 2026 season with a major question mark for who would take the mound on Sundays. That the question has been answered.

Hawai'i transfer Cooper Walls, the favorite to win the job, was officially announced as the Sunday starter on Wednesday ahead of the season-opening series against UAB.

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— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) February 11, 2026

The 6-foot-5 sophomore righty arrived at Florida this offseason after a stellar freshman campaign at Hawai'i. Across 60 1/3 innings pitched, Walls had a 3.73 ERA and a 45-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His performance earned him 2025 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year honors.

Walls' naming as the Sunday starter does not come as a big surprise considering the start to his career and his performance throughout the offseason. Arriving at Gainesville with a fastball in the low 90s, he has increased his numbers with a heater topping at 98 miles per hour.

"He's been awesome. He's developed a lot since he got here," fellow pitcher Luke McNeillie told Florida Gators on SI about Walls. And I think the main thing for him was just his physical aspect of the game. I mean, when you have a velo jump like he had from last spring to what he has now, it's like, definitely a physical maturity of himself."

While Walls may not have had the SEC velocity in his lone season at Hawai'i, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said he could not ignore his performances when evaluating Walls in the transfer portal. Specifically, a standout performance against Oregon State on May 4, during which Walls threw five two-hit innings with five strikeouts, gave O'Sullivan confidence that Walls could be an instant-impact performer.

"I think we get caught up in the radar gun. And for me personally, I was like, we have to value performance as well. Like we need high performers. And he was a high performer," O'Sullivan said. "He went on the road, was on a weekend rotation at Hawaii, was away from home from San Diego, and goes on the road. I don't know how many freshmen would be like, kind of compared to what Aidan King did last year against Texas. It's not easy."

Florida opens the season on Friday against the Blazers at 6:30 p.m. with Peterson (8-4, 4.28 ERA in 2025) on the mound. King (7-2, 2.58 ERA), who joined Peterson on the Preseason Golden Spikes Watch List, will resume his role as the Saturday starter at 6 p.m. Walls will make his first appearance for Florida on Sunday at 1 p.m.

All games can be streamed on SEC Network+.

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