Fantastic Performance by Florida Gator Junior, Brody Donay, Lands Him SEC Player of the Week
In 2024, the Florida Gators began their season with a tough 9-5 loss to St. John’s. After that, two games were rained out. However, that was last year; this year’s start begins exactly how the Gators would want it to go.
On opening night, they defeated Air Force 7-0 in the first of three games in two days against the Falcons. Then, on Saturday, in a doubleheader, they kept things going with a 10-4 win in the first game and an 11-1 victory in the second game.
At the center of it all was Brody Donay’s stellar performance.
The Florida Gators catcher and designated hitter, Brody Donay, got quite the label put on him for the next few days. The junior was named the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Week.
He earned that title due to his fantastic performance in the Gators’ series sweep over Air Force this past weekend.
This accomplishment marks Donay’s first within the conference. It’s his second season with UF after transferring from Virginia Tech between his freshman and sophomore seasons.
The native of Lakeland, Florida, hit a home run in all three games this past weekend, going 7/10 in the series. Donay’s homers were pretty impressive, as all three of them exceeded 400 feet.
The stats for his performance only get better. Donay got on base 18 times in the series, along with two doubles, six runs, five RBI, two walks, and one steal.
As the Gators enter the second week of their 2025 season, Donay leads the conference in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases, and batting average.
All of those stats mentioned above tie him with Texas A&M’s Jace Laviolette.
Donay’s junior year is off to a great start, but it may be a continuation of just how good his sophomore season was with Florida. He finished last season with 14 home runs in 167 at-bats.
On Monday morning, the news that Donay had received the SEC Player of the Week award generated a lot of buzz all over Gainesville and beyond, but the season has only just begun.
Florida looks to keep things moving in the right direction with an in-state matchup against Jacksonville University on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. ET.
