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GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- In the midst of a season where the Florida Gators have been historically bad to start SEC-play and look at risk of breaking their 16-season NCAA tournament streak, they still managed to win the season series against rival Florida State.

With the Gators' 5-4 home victory over the Seminoles on Tuesday, they secured a 2-1 series win against their top 10 ranked rival, giving them some much needed momentum heading into a very winnable series this weekend against Missouri.

The Gators have now taken seven of the last eight season series against FSU.

A night after the campus was set ablaze celebrating a national championship by the men’s basketball team, the Gators baseball program carried over the school's momentum behind strong performances by freshman Brendan Lawson and sophomore reliever Jake Clemente.

Lawson, a standout in Florida’s lineup so far this year, drove in four of the Gators' runs on the night. He went 2-for-4 with two extra-base hits, including a 3-run home run that gave Florida a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning.

Other than him, the Gators bats were relatively cold. Florida had four players combine for all six of their hits on the night, with Lawson and Colby Shelton being only two with multiple hits. The bottom five hitters in the lineup and leadoff hitter Justin Nadaeu all went hitless.

On the mound, the Gators were aided by another freshman in Jackson Barberi. In his fourth career start, he went three innings allowing just one run on five hits and four strikeouts.

In relief, Florida used four pitchers for the final six innings, with freshman McCall Biemiller picking up the win, the first of his career.

Clemente, who started the year in a starting role for Florida, picked up his first career save after pitching the final two frames without allowing a baserunner and fanning four.

The solid outing is something Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan has been looking for out of the pen all season. After being swept over the weekend, he called Florida’s pitching “hard to watch.”

Seemingly now with some momentum, Florida will head into a pivotal weekend series against the only SEC team below them in the standings, Missouri. Anything but a strong series win will likely be the final dagger in any hope of a postseason bid for the program this year.

The three-game set is scheduled to start Thursday with first pitch at Condron Family Ballpark slated for 7 p.m.

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This article first appeared on Florida Gators on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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