Cooper Walls Earns Weekend Start in Pitching Rotation
No. 13 Gators Baseball opens at home in a two-day series against the UAB Blazers on Friday.
The big question this week coming into the season: who will fill the starting pitcher position for the third game in this series?
Before Wednesday, the assumed starters for Friday and Saturday were veterans junior Liam Peterson and sophomore Aidan King. Following long debate amongst coaches and impressive performances in the preseason, Hawaii transfer Cooper Walls was named starting pitcher for game three.
“Cooper Walls, you’re going to hear an awful lot about him,” coach Kevin O’ Sullivan said.
The numbers speak for themselves. Last season, Walls delivered a 3.73 ERA and 45-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 60 1/3 innings pitched.
Walls also had impressive performances against teams like UC Santa Barbara where he threw seven shutout innings. Wrapping up his freshman season, he was named 2025 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year.
Standout pitchers throughout this debate included redshirt freshman Joshua Whritenour, sophomore Jackson Barberi and Walls.
Whritenour underwent Tommy John surgery last season, allowing him to redshirt in his freshman season. He is ranked No. 34 in the D1Baseball Top – 100 Relief Pitchers Preseason list. Barberi is also on this list at No. 91.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan emphasized the importance of this last pitcher position last week.
“The real difference maker is the third guy because that is usually the deciding factor in who will win the series,” O’ Sullivan said.
Walls joined Sportscene with Steve Russell on WRUF to speak on his mindset and gameplan for the weekend.
“I feel like I’m always out there,” Walls said. “I’m going to compete no matter what kind of stuff I had that day. It’s going to always be competitive when I’m pitching.”
Walls will step onto the pitcher’s mound as a Gator for the first time on Saturday. Representing the orange and blue, Walls has a reputation to uphold as a transfer player.
“I’m just going to go out there and do my thing,” Walls said.
Saturday’s doubleheader is set to begin at 2 p.m. with the second starting approximately 50 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
Category: Baseball, College Baseball, Gators Baseball
