RADIO: HawgSports on The Buzz | Wednesday
Offense struggles as 49ers silence Arkansas, 6-3
WHO: No. 4 Arkansas (16-5) vs. No. 2 Florida (19-4)
WHERE: Alfred A. McKethan Stadium, Gainesville (Fla.)
WHEN: Friday 5:30 pm (CDT), Saturday 11:00 am (CDT), Sunday 11:00 am (CDT)
TV: SEC Network+ on Friday, ESPN2 on Saturday, SEC Network on Sunday
Arkansas takes on the No. 2 Florida Gators in their second consecutive weekend series against a top-five SEC opponent. The two teams will compete in a three-game series with the final two being nationally televised.
The Razorbacks (16-5) followed up an undefeated week against Texas and then No. 4 Kentucky with a sloppy loss to Charlotte on Wednesday. In the 6-3 defeat, Arkansas’ bats failed them and multiple unforced errors were too much to overcome. The Hogs are one of two SEC teams (Vanderbilt) that are still undefeated in conference to this point.
The Gators (19-4) are the highest rated program in the conference at No. 2. Florida also played a one-game series this week, beating Jacksonville 10-3 on Wednesday. So far, they’ve dropped one game to Miami, two to UCF in a sweep and one to South Carolina in their first conference series. Florida started the season as conference favorites and a consensus No. 1 team.
Per usual, Blaine Knight (3-0, 1.30 ERA) will get the start for Arkansas on Friday against Brady Singer (5-0, 1.97 ERA). Saturday’s matchup will pit Isaiah Campbell (2-2, 1.73 ERA) against Jackson Kowar (3-1, 3.16 ERA). Dave Van Horn has yet to name a Sunday starter to battle Florida’s Tyler Dyson (4-1, 1.48 ERA).
Here are three things to know about the explosive Gators:
Florida’s lineup is almost as deep as Arkansas’.
The Gators have proven to be an explosive offense so far this season with eight players batting over. 300 (six of them are consistent contributors). Jonathan India is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and leads the charge with a .397 batting average. He has 8 homers and 18 RBIs. Will Dalton leads the team in home runs and RBIs with 9 and 22, respectively. As a team, Florida has 36 home runs, only five short of Arkansas’ total.
The Gators have salty starting pitching.
Florida will bring out Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar and Tyler Dyson to throw to Hog batters this weekend. Singer, a 6-5 junior, has won all five of his appearances this season and has yet to be pulled before the fifth inning. He has 32 strikeouts and only 5 walks in 32 innings. Kowar, an even taller junior at 6-6, is 3-1 on the year with 32 strikeouts and 11 walks in 31 1/3 innings. Dyson has the best ERA of the three at 1.48 and is 4-1 with 29 strikeouts and 6 walks. All three are right-handers. The Gators have three lefty pitchers on the roster who could all see action in relief.
Florida is currently 2-1 in conference play.
The Gators opened SEC play with a three-game road series against South Carolina. In game one, Singer shut the Gamecocks down en route to a 7-3 victory. In the second game, South Carolina flipped the script by jumping on Kowar early, scoring 3 runs in the first inning. Florida would go on to drop that game, 15-7. The Gators redeemed themselves in the rubber match, winning a close one, 3-2. Sunday’s game three was the only game of the series that Florida scored first.
