Florida Baseball turns to a new starter pitcher against FSU tonight
Pitching has been a bit of a sore spot for Florida Baseball in 2024. Beyond Jac Caglianone the Gators have struggled to find consistent arms it can lean on. This has shown up the most in their mid week games as Florida lost to Stetson and UCF following disappointing pitching performances.
Hoping to jump start the squad against undefeated FSU tonight, Kevin O'Sullivan will turn to a freshman that has been one of the better arms out of the bullpen this season.
Florida Baseball: Fresh Start
Baseball. 435. . . 10-5. 526. . 6 PM. 14-0
Alex Philpott is a 6'5" freshman from Tampa who attended Strawberry Crest High. He was decently ranked by Perfect Game coming out of high school, but within Florida's class of 2023 he was only their 7th highest ranked pitcher at 271st overall.
He was noted for a fastball in the lower 90s and a curveball that could generate swings and misses and he has used that to solid effect so far as a Gator.
Thus far, Philpott has appeared seven times and has pitched a total of 14 innings. Has 15 strikeouts against seven walks in that time frame with an ERA of 2.57. Philpott did not give up a run in his first four appearances, but has given up at least one run in his last three.
But given the struggles of Luke McNeillie, turning to Philpott to start against FSU feels like a move that O'Sullivan had to make. Even though the Gators have won 22 of the 26 meetings and enter tonight ranked in the top ten while FSU is still struggling to crack the top 25 in some polls, tonight's contest feels far from a given.
FSU enters tonight undefeated and Florida has lost two of its last three mid-week games where it has to lean on pitchers not named Caglianone.