Facing the No. 1 team in the nation on the road this weekend, Florida knew coming into the series against Arkansas that it had its work cut out for it. But the Gators’ performance in Game 1 was far from ideal.
Their lineup couldn’t crack the code against the Razorbacks’ top-two pitchers, and though UF’s pitching held up for much of the game (until a three-run homer in the eighth), it wasn’t enough to keep the game in range, allowing nine hits in total. No. 9 Florida dropped the series opener 6-1 and will have to fight out of a hole on Friday and Saturday to take the series.
Patrick Wicklander took the mound to start for UA (40-10, 20-8 SEC), and he had one of his best performances in an Arkansas uniform, striking out a career-high 11 batters. He allowed just three hits in six innings, and he led off the game by retiring the side in order.
Wicklander made one of his few mistakes in the second inning. With one out, he gave up a solo homer to Kendrick Calilao on a 1-0 pitch as Florida (35-17, 17-11 SEC) took an early lead. Tommy Mace, who started for the Gators, allowed a hit in the first inning but he worked through the second cleanly.
Arkansas tested him in the third with an effort that started with a leadoff double. Mace forced two outs, but after that, a pair of walks loaded up the bases. A flyball that was easily fielded ended the threat, but it signaled what was to come.
Mace hit a batter to start the fourth, but he seemed to recover well with back-to-back strikeouts. But he couldn’t escape the inning, allowing an RBI single to Casey Opitz that tied the game at one run. A subsequent double put two runners in scoring position, but a strikeout looking from Mace ended the inning.
He continued to run into trouble after that, though. He gave up a solo home run to Cayden Wallace, and though that wasn’t enough to end his night, the two walks he gave up following it were. It wasn’t the best outing for Mace, who went just 4 2/3, allowing five hits and three runs (though he did manage eight strikeouts).
Trey Van Der Weide entered, and he immediately gave up a single to load the bases. Opitz cracked a single, notching another RBI, and Arkansas took a 3-1 lead. Wicklander, meanwhile, hadn’t given up a hit since the fourth inning, and he worked through the sixth inning cleanly, though Van Der Weide managed to do the same after a rough start in the fifth.
Wicklander’s night finally came to an end, but the news for Florida still wasn’t good. Kevin Kopps, the nation’s ERA leader at 0.80, entered, and he shut down the Gators entirely. He pitched three innings, allowing no hits, and he struck out five Florida batters.
Christian Scott, who entered for UF in the middle of the seventh, tried to keep the team in range but struggled in the eighth. After starting off with two outs, he gave up a ground-rule double and chose to intentionally walk UA’s Matt Goodheart.
The Razorbacks made him pay for that, as Wallace crushed his second homer of the game, this time scoring three runs, and Arkansas stretched its lead to five runs for good measure. Heading into the ninth, Florida didn’t have much hope. But whatever remained was extinguished by Kopps, who put UF’s lineup away in order with just nine pitches.
With the Game 1 loss, Florida will try to even up the series in Game 2 on Saturday, which is set to start at 8 p.m. EDT.
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