Florida gave Arkansas one of its best three-game efforts of the season this weekend, but even that wasn’t enough to steal just a single victory in the series against the nation’s top team. The Razorbacks, who didn’t lose an SEC series this season, are absolutely loaded, and no game in the series demonstrated it more than UF’s 9-3 loss on Saturday.
Arkansas (42-10, 22-8 SEC) cycled through seven pitchers, and Florida (35-19, 17-13 SEC) couldn’t crack the code against any of them. The Gators had the game tied at two runs late, but a seven-run seventh inning put the regular-season finale out of reach as No. 9 UF was swept by UA.
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Jaxon Wiggins made just his second start of the season for Arkansas, but he was as sharp as the rest of the Razorbacks staff has been to start. He retired the side in order to start the first, but Florida’s Franco Alemán matched that, as the game’s first six batters were put down.
After a leadoff groundout from Kris Armstrong in the second, Kendrick Calilao got the game’s first hit on a single to right field. A failed pickoff attempt from Wiggins moved him to second, but he put the next two batters out to strand Calilao.
Alemán also conceded his first hit in the second on a one-out double to Robert Moore, but back-to-back flyouts brought the inning to an end after that. Florida had a good chance to get a run in the top of the third when Jacob Young hit a two-out triple that got behind the diving Razorbacks left fielder, but Nate Hickey hit a high flyball to shallow foul territory, ending the threat and keeping the game scoreless.
Arkansas went down in order in the fourth innings, thanks to two strikeouts from Alemán. Wiggins was pulled after the third, allowing just two hits and doing what was asked of him in the longest outing of his career to this point. Senior Kole Ramage took over, and he immediately gave up the first hit of the series from Jud Fabian, who had struck out in seven of his eight at-bats against the Razorbacks so far.
He singled on a nine-pitch at-bat, but he wouldn’t stay on base for long. He was thrown out trying to steal, and a strikeout from Armstrong put two away. Calilao managed to get another hit for the Gators on a single, but a flyout from Kirby McMullen ended any hope at getting a run on the board in the fourth.
Unfortunately for UF, things started to come off the rails for Alemán in the bottom of the inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Cayden Wallace, and Brady Slavens cleaned up the base path with an opposite-field home run to break the scoreless tie and give UA a 2-0 lead.
The Razorbacks threatened to add more after a single and a walk put two more batters on, but Sterlin Thompson made an excellent play on a lineout in right field, and he threw out Moore at second to turn two and escape the fourth.
Arkansas continued its committee-style pitching, throwing out Connor Roland to begin the fifth. He didn’t have a great start, giving up a single to Thompson on a full count to lead off. Josh Rivera struck out on the next at-bat, but it allowed Thompson to steal second, though the UA fans wanted an interference call on Rivera, which didn’t come. After a shallow single from Cory Acton, UF had runners at the corners and the go-ahead run at the plate in leadoff hitter Young, and he delivered with a sacrifice dribbler to third base that drove in Thompson.
A flyout to left field from Hickey sent the Gators back to the dugout, but not before they cut the Razorbacks’ lead in half. Alemán bounced back after a rough fourth, turning in a 1-2-3 fifth inning, though Matt Goodheart challenged on a two-out drive to deep center that Fabian adjusted to nicely to make the play.
UA made yet another pitching change at the top of the sixth, and this time, the Gators were able to take advantage. It was a rough start for freshman Heston Tole, who hit Fabian on just his second pitch. On the following pitch, he gave up a single to Armstrong that put runners at the corners. Tole forced a double-play ball from Calilao, but it allowed Fabian to come around and score the tying run. A strikeout against McMullen ended the inning, but the damage had already been done.
Alemán continued his strong play at the bottom of the sixth, stringing together another clean inning and keeping his pitch count low in the process. But the Razorbacks continued to flex their pitching depth, bring in a fifth pitcher in Zebulon Vermillion, and he went three up, three down with two strikeouts in the top of the seventh.
After a strikeout to begin the bottom of the seventh, Alemán’s success started to fade. He gave up a pair of singles to put runners at the corners, and a base hit from Jalen Battles brought a run across. After hitting the next batter with a pitch, Alemán’s day came to a close.
It was a sour end to an otherwise strong start from Alemán. He gave up seven hits in 6 1/3, but he only allowed three runs and struck out eight Razorback batters. Kevin O’Sullivan handed the reins to Jordan Butler in a bases-loaded situation, trying to limit the damage.
That didn’t happen, though. His very first pitch went wild, allowing a run to score and runners to advance to second and third. Christian Welch, who hit the walk-off on Friday night, came to the plate, and the right-handed hitter made the lefty Butler pay with a deep double that bounced off the outfield wall. Two more runs scored, and Arkansas wasn’t done. Butler hit Wallace with a pitch to put two on, and a three-run homer from Slevins broke the game open, giving UA a 9-2 lead.
Butler was pulled after setting his ERA aflame, and Christian Scott entered the game with just one out. His effort may have been in vain at that point, but he gave UF a nice recovery with a pair of strikeouts.
Not much of note happened after that, aside from the return of Mac Guscette, who entered as a pinch hitter in the eighth. He hadn’t appeared in a game since he took a fastball to the wrist against Ole Miss on April 1, but the true freshman struck out swinging against Ryan Costeiu, who worked through the inning in order.
Brandon Sproat gave up a single and a walk to Arkansas at the bottom of the inning, though no runs came from it. Zack Morris, who came in for the Razorbacks at the top of the ninth, allowed a one-out walk to Calilao. A double from Thompson scored a consolation run for the Gators, but it didn’t lead to a significant rally as Rivera struck out swinging the next at-bat.
With the regular season in the books, this week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, will represent Florida’s last chance to secure a national seed (and prove itself worthy of being a potential Super Regional host). The Gators missed out on a top-four seed, meaning they will have to participate in the single-elimination opening round on Tuesday after ending on a four-game losing streak.
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