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Gators Rebound with Slim Victory Over FAU

A home run from Brody Donay in the eighth inning practically sealed the game as Florida snapped a two-game losing streak.
Kyle Lander|
Brody Donay, seen here rounding the bases after a home run against Air Force, hit his seventh home run of the year to seal a win for the Florida Gators against FAU.
Brody Donay, seen here rounding the bases after a home run against Air Force, hit his seventh home run of the year to seal a win for the Florida Gators against FAU. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida Gators baseball responded to its Tuesday loss to UCF with a slim rebound win over FAU on Wednesday, walking away with a 4-2 victory. 

“Yeah, it was good,” Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of his team. “We manufactured runs in the first, second and the fourth to build a 3-0 lead…But overall it was really quality win over a really good Florida Atlantic team.”

It was a pitching duel from both teams as runs were at a premium in this one. The best of the lot tonight for the Gators was right-hander Billy Barlow, who finished the night with the win after giving up just one run and striking out five batters in 5.1 innings of work.

“It was great to go out there and put some innings up, put some zeroes up and put my team in a position to win the ballgame,” Barlow said on his outing. 

Following Barlow was left-hander Frank Menendez and closer Alex Philpott, who combined for one run allowed, eight strikeouts and just one hit in 3.2 innings pitched.

Florida’s Barlow began his outing Wednesday night much better than his Sunday afternoon against Miami as he worked a scoreless first inning versus the Owls and quickly brought the bats to plate. 

In the bottom half, the Gators were able to take the lead thanks to an RBI-double from Colby Shelton that scored Bobby Boser from second. The Gators had a chance for more in this inning, but freshman Brendan Lawson grounded into an inning-ending double play to limit their damage to one run. 

After Barlow kept the Owls at bay in the second, Florida doubled its lead behind a sac-fly from outfielder Hayden Yost to score Luke Heyman. Like the first, though, the Gators could have inflicted more as they had the bases loaded with just one out but couldn't only plate the one run from Yost.

Florida didn’t manage a run in the third, but did tack on another in the fourth inning. With one out Blake Cyr entered the box, and after he took the first pitch, he made sure not to let the next one pass as he smashed it the opposite way for a solo home run, putting the Gators ahead 3-0.

FAU had a chance to get some control in the game in the fifth after putting runners on first and second with just one out. Although they weren’t able to get either to touch home plate after Barlow struck out back-to-back hitters to close out the inning. 

Barlow gave way to Menendez in the sixth inning after putting runners on first and second base with only one out, and a defensive error in Menendez's first batter faced eventually led to a run for FAU on a groundout.

And while it was only one run in the sixth, the momentum slowly started to swing in the favor of the Owls down the home stretch. After the leadoff batter in the seventh worked a walk and made his way to second on a wild pitch, second baseman Justin Nadeau air mailed a toss to Lawson at first, which gave the Owls another run and cut the Gators lead to just one going into the eighth. 

To begin the eighth inning, O’Sullivan opted for closer Philpott out of the pen, and FAU continued to put runners in scoring position with a runner on second with only one out. However, nothing came from it as Philpott struck out the next two batters to keep the Gators lead intact. 

“It was huge,” Barlow said of Menendez and Philpott stranding runners in the seventh and eighth. “I had a lot of confidence in them guys.”

The momentum from Philpott's strikeouts carried over to the UF bats as the Gators were able to get a much-needed insurance run via a solo shot from Brody Donay. He lined one the opposite way and over the right field wall for the Gators fourth run of the game. 

The ninth started worrisome after Philpott issued a leadoff walk, but he was able to refocus himself and get the next three batters out to close the game and give the Gators a 4-2 victory. 

Florida will next welcome Harvard for a three-game series this weekend. The first of the three will be on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network+. 

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Kyle Lander
KYLE LANDER

Kyle Lander is a contributing writer at Florida Gators on SI. He is also a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. On top of his writing, Kyle is a photographer for the site as well. Outside of his work with Florida Gators on SI, he likes to hike, travel, watch movies and hang out with family and friends.

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