Amazing things must come to an end, it is inevitable.
For the No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (23-7, 8-4 SEC), their impressive streak of 13 straight SEC series wins dating back to the 2019 season came to a close on Saturday, with a 9-7 loss to Florida (21-11, 5-7 SEC), with the Gators taking two-of-three games from the Razorbacks at Florida Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla.
Down 7-4 entering the 6th inning, Arkansas cut into the lead thanks to an error and a bases-loaded walk to trim the Gator advantage to 7-6 and tied the game in the 8th inning on a solo home run by [autotag]Zack Gregory[/autotag]. However, Florida would respond by scoring two runs thanks to brothers Deric and Jud Fabian, giving the Gators the win.
After a quiet start to the game, both offenses found their groove. Florida grabbed an early lead, and Arkansas sent an equally brutal blow right back.
The Gators would begin the inning with two singles by Colby Halter and Sterlin Thompson respectively. The third single of the inning would score the first run of the game for Florida. Wyatt Langford singled up the middle to score Halter, giving Florida the 1-0 lead.
The Gators would waste no time expanding the lead, as BT Riopelle crushed his 9th home run of the season to clear the bases, and extend Florida’s lead to 4-0.
Arkansas took the four-run blow by Florida personally, as they responded by scoring four runs of their own in the top of the 4th inning. [autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag] hit an RBI single with two outs in the inning to put the Razorbacks on the board. Zack Gregory’s first comeback attempt would be a double down the right field line to score Battles, as well as [autotag]Peyton Stovall[/autotag] and [autotag]Michael Turner[/autotag], to tie the game at 4-4.
Langford would help the Gators once more in the 5th inning with a three-run home run in the 5th to give his team another lead, 7-4. Arkansas responded by scoring two runs in the top of the 6th to drop Florida’s lead to one run.
The hero of the game for Arkansas at the plate was Zack Gregory. Despite not grabbing the win, Gregory put the team on his back twice, erasing two Gators leads in key moments of the game. He, along with Battles, had multiple hits for Arkansas.
[autotag]Brady Tygart[/autotag] took the loss for Arkansas out of the bullpen. In 2.2 innings of work, the freshman struck out four batters while allowing two runs on two hits. Starter [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag] allowed nine hits and seven runs in 4.0 innings, striking out five batters.
Arkansas will look to begin a new streak next weekend at home against LSU. The previous streak dated back to May 16-18, 2019, when Arkansas lost two-of-three games to Texas A&M in College Station. That season was the last time that the Razorbacks participated in the College World Series.
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