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Florida Gators right-handed closer Alex Philpott took the mound in the ninth inning against Florida Atlantic with a 4-2 cushion. The slimmest margin he’d worked with all season, Philpott was in search of three outs to hand the Gators a midweek win following a tough loss to UCF the night before.

He walked a batter to lead off the frame. Philpott didn’t waiver, picking up two strikeouts on his way to the win.

No. 7 Florida (12-2) defeated the Owls (10-2) 4-2 Wednesday night. With the win, the Gators finish its midweek slate at 1-1.

“It was great,” said Barlow. “We’ve been struggling the past couple games, so it was good to go in, put some zeroes up and be able to put my team in a position to win.”

UF wasted no time getting out in front. Junior shortstop Colby Shelton knocked in an RBI double to make it a 1-0 lead after the opening inning.

Gators starting pitcher Billy Barlow had a strong start to his outing. He tossed two 1-2-3 frames to open the game with two backwards Ks to go with it. He’d finish with the win on 5.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 5 strikeouts and 1 walk.

UF extended its lead to 2-0 in the second inning on a sacrifice fly from Hayden Yost which scored Luke Heyman.

Junior outfielder Blake Cyr made his presence known in the bottom fourth. He sent a ball looping over the right outfield wall for a solo-shot home run to give the Gators and Barlow a 3-0 cushion.

Lefty Frank Menendez took over for Barlow in the middle of the top sixth inning with a 3-0 cushion and a runner on second with one out for FAU. He’d let up one run on a sacrifice ground out before closing the frame.

“His command… he was really good,” Florida head coach O’Sullivan said.

Florida put itself in a precarious position in the seventh. A walk from Menendez put a runner on base and he sailed another pitch over Brody Donay’s head to advance him. Then, an error by Nadeau on a play at first allowed a runner to score.

He’d then strikeout three-straight batters to break loose of the jam. After seven, the Gators led 3-2.

Philpott took over for the Gators in the eighth inning. He’d let up a single before punching out three consecutive batters to close the frame.

Donay would add one run of insurance in the eighth on a solo-shot home run before handing the game back to Philpott in the ninth.

The right-hander got the job done and handed the Gators a Wednesday night win.

“We knew coming into this thing it was not gonna be easy,” O’Sullivan said. “But it was a win we needed.”

Florida begins its weekend series against Harvard at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The game will stream on ESPN SEC Network+.