Two Gators honored by SEC

Two Gators have earned weekly honors by the SEC in their respective sports.

Junior first baseman Ali Gardiner was named the SEC Player of the Week after he led the Gator softball team to a 5-0 record last week, including series sweeps over conference foes South Carolina and No. 8 LSU.

Gardiner was the Gators' leading hitter over its five games against SEC opponents this week. She hit .643 for the week, including a 1.143 slugging percentage and a .706 on base percentage. She also led the team in hits (9), runs (5), home runs (2) and shared the lead in RBI (4) on the week.

Also junior right hander Patrick Keating was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week after his first-ever complete game on Saturday to clinch the series victory over LSU. He became the first Gator pitcher to earn the accolade since Darren O'Day collected the honor on Feb. 20, 2006, and the 16th different Florida pitcher to be recognized.

Keating improved his season record to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.41.