Arkansas defeats Florida 2-1 in series-opener
The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (36-6, 15-4 SEC) won their 26th straight home game over the Florida Gators (21-20, 8-11 SEC) 2-1 at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville on Friday.
Freshman designated hitter Ryder Helfrick got the scoring started early on a solo-shot blast in the second inning to hand the Hogs a 1-0 lead over the Gators. Five scoreless frames later, and Florida tied things up on a throwing error. The final run of the game came in the bottom of the eighth, when Jared Sprague-Lott's sac-fly scored Ty Wilmsmeyer for a 2-1 advantage.
Junior left-hander Hagen Smith was as dominant as ever, as he tossed seven near-perfect innings with 11 strikeouts, one walk and one unearned run. He crossed the 300-strikeout career threshold and lowered his season ERA to just 1.35.
Right-handed freshman Gabe Gaeckle shut things down the rest of the way with two scoreless innings. He struck out three, walked two and only allowed one hit against the Gators.
Hagen Smith started the game with a swinging strike before Florida's leadoff man reached first base on a single. Jac Caglianone lined out on the first pitch he saw from Smith before the Hog lefty hit the next batter to put two runners on. Smith struck out the next Gator batter looking before forcing a fly out to end the frame.
Arkansas' batters started the game with a 1-2-3 inning thanks to three straight strikeouts by Florida LHP Pierce Coppola.
After a shaky first inning, Smith bounced back in the top of the second with a 12-pitch, two-strikeout frame to set the Gators down in order. The Razorbacks' bottom of the second started like the first: with a strikeout. A flyout continued the downward trend before Ryder Helfrick sent a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall for a home run. Arkansas finished the inning with a 1-0 lead.
Stop me if you've heard this before, but Smith is pretty good at baseball. He started his third inning with two strikeouts before forcing a groundout to Caglianone. Coppola kept the apparent ace-on-ace battle going into the bottom of the third, as he set down the Hogs in order again with two strikeouts.
The top of the fourth started with two strikeouts for Smith, who had his slider working like a charm. A flyout to deep center field ended the frame and Arkansas' lead remained at 1-0. Copolla's reign of terror over the Hog bats finally came to an end in the latter half of the frame, as a walk forced a pitching change to RHP Fisher Jameson out of the Florida bullpen. Wehwia Aloy grounded into a fielder's choice which left him on first base and Ben McLaughlin singled in the next at-bat, but Peyton Holt grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Smith didn't stop dominating in the top of the fifth, as he collected two groundouts to start the frame before striking out the final Gators batter for his eighth of the day. Nolan Souza came in to pinch hit for Helfrick to leadoff the bottom of the fifth, but he struck out on five pitches. Kendall Diggs and Hudson White followed up with groundouts to end the inning.
Florida's top of the lineup came to the dish in the top of the sixth, but Smith paid no mind and struck out the first two batters before forcing Caglianone to ground out for his third hitless at-bat of the game.
Ty Wilmsmeyer began the bottom of the sixth with a HBP before stealing second to give the Hogs a scoring threat. Stovall struck out for the third time of the game right after and Jared Sprague-Lott grounded out to move Wilmsmeyer over to third base. The frame ended after Wehiwa Aloy grounded out to second.
The top of the seventh was a weird inning. Things started off with Smith's first walk of the day to the leadoff man. Florida's next batter bunted and was hit by the baseball on the throw by Sprague-Lott, and was subsequently called out for interference. Smith gave up a double that put two Gators in scoring positon, and then Sprague-Lott made an amazing play to throw out a runner at first on a fielder's choice play. Florida ended up tying the game after a throwing error by McLaughlin allowed the runner at third to score.
Arkansas put a runner in scoring position in the seventh thanks to a McLaughlin walk and wild-pitch advancement to second baes, but Florida reliever RHP Luke McNeillie escaped the threat with back-to-back strikeouts on Souza and Diggs.
Dave Van Horn turned to RHP Gabe Gaeckle out of the bullpen in the top of the eighth. Gaeckle walked the first batter before picking up back-to-back strikeouts, but Caglianone smoked a single to left center to give the Gators runners on first and third. Caglianone advanced to second on indifference and Colby Shelton was intentionally walked to load the bases. Gaeckle stranded them that way with a pop up.
Hudson White led off the bottom of the eighth with a groundout, but Wilmsmeyer walked in the following at-bat. Stovall picked up his first hit of the day on a single to right center and moved Wilmsmeyer to third base, where he eventually scored from on a Sprague-Lott sac-fly to give Arkansas a 2-1 lead.
Gaeckle closed the game out with two groundouts and a strikeout in a tension-free final frame.
Up next, the Razorbacks will take on the Florida Gators for a double-header at Baum-Walker Stadium on Saturday. First pitch for game one is set for noon CT and it will broadcast on ESPN2.
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