Down to their final strike on Friday night, the Florida Gators battled back to take the series in dominant fashion over the Kentucky Wildcats.

Hunter Barco had his way with the Kentucky lineup and the Gators' offense did enough to secure a 9-2 win on Saturday to improve to 33-14 (15-9 SEC) on the season.

After a rough start against Tennessee Barco has been solid for the last month and is showing why he's considered one of the top pitching prospects in the 2022 MLB Draft.

"He got underneath a lot of those right-handed hitters barrels. Those last two innings might have been the best two innings of the day," Kevin O'Sullivan said after the game. "Really pleased with his outing."

Barco matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work, allowing just two hits.

The Gators wasted no time getting on the board, scoring a run in each of the first three innings. Nathan Hickey tripled to centerfield in the first and scored on Jud Fabian's sacrifice fly in the first. Jacob Young singled to drive Kendrick Calilao home in the second and Calilao drove Kris Armstrong home with a single in the third.

Barco didn't allow his first hit until the fourth inning. He hit John Rhodes to start the frame and Coltyn Kessler broke up the no-hitter with a single to left field. Barco navigated his way out of the inning with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts to throw another zero on the board.

The Gators made it 4-0 in the fifth inning on a Jacob Young sacrifice fly to plate Calilao. Young and Calilao combined to go 6-9 on the day with five RBI.

Christian Scott took over for Barco in the seventh inning and gave up two solo home runs in the eighth but the Gators responded for four more ninth-inning runs to put the game out of range.

The series win on the road will play in Florida's favor as the NCAA plans to announce 20 potential regional host sites on Wednesday. Florida should be in line to host a regional based on their reséumé.