FAYETTEVILLE -- Florida came into Baum-Walker Stadium and swept No. 4 Arkansas with a 7-6 win on Sunday that went down to the final out.
Florida, (23-6, 6-3) took a 7-5 lead in the top of the eighth when Ethan Surowiec singled to start the inning. With one out, Karson Bowen then singled to put Surowiec in scoring position. Mark Brissey, Arkansas' fourth pitcher on the day, struck out Blake Cyr for the second out. However, Cade Kurland singled to plate Surowiec.
In the bottom of the eighth, Kuhio got his second hit of the game with a solo shot off Luke McNeillie to pull the Hogs to within one. With two outs and the bases empty, third baseman Reese Robinett hit a ball that looked like it might leave the park, but was caught by Hayden Yost to allow the Gators to escape what would have been a tied score.
Parker Coil retired all three Florida hitters in the top of the ninth. In the bottom half of the inning, Maika Niu and Christian Turner both struck out. Down to its last out, Arkansas got a single by Carter Rutenbar. Dave Van Horn opted to send TJ Pompey in to run for Rutenbar. Pompey stole second and went to third on the play when Florida's catcher Cole Stanford made a bad throw for an error. With the tying run on third, Ryder Helfrick struck out swinging to end the game. After losing 9-4 and 7-4 in the first two games, Van Horn saw something from his team he liked compared to the other losses, but it's difficult to play from behind against the Gators.
"It's really difficult because their bullpen is amazing," Van Horn said. "You could see the electricity coming out of that bullpen. They were throwing 97 miles per hour and a lot of future big leaguers out there.
"We fought pretty good. It was discouraging, but after the last couple of days there was nothing but to fight and our guys did."
Arkansas (19-10, 4-6) faces an uphill battle now with the next two weekends seeing them go to Auburn and then Alabama.
"Our guys were thinking they were going to win the game," Van Horn said. "We pitched just good enough from the middle of the game on to stay in it. We got within two or three runs. We had two home run balls that got blown down. Both were gone, no doubt. I like their fight. It looked like Robinett tied it up in the eighth. We all thought it was gone."
Just like the first two games of the series, Arkansas' starter didn't last long. Van Horn pulled Colin Fisher after he had recorded one out in the third. Brendan Lawson started the inning off with a single then Surowiec doubled. Fisher struck out Bowen, but Van Horn turned to Tate McGuire. Blake Cyr greeted McGuire with a two-RBI single putting the Gators up 3-1. But McGuire did retire the next two hitters.
Fisher (2-3) surrendered a run in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Kyle Jones singled. Surowiec singled and then Bowen was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cyr singled off of Fisher to give the Gators a 1-0 lead.
Rutenbar started off the bottom of the first with a single while batting in the leadoff spot. Florida Starter Russell Sandefer (2-1) then struck out both Helfrick and Camden Kozeal. Rutenbar, who had gone to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a two-out single by Zack Stewart to tie the game after one inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Aloy delivered a one-out single. Robinett then came through with a two-out double to get Aloy home and pull Arkansas within 3-2.
The Gators had a big fifth inning. Lawson and Surowiec started the inning off with back-to-back blasts over the fence off McGuire. After retiring the next two Florida hitters, McGuire allowed singles to Kurland and Stanford. Van Horn then went to the mound to bring in Ethan McElvain. Ashton Wilson singled to allow Kurland to score and take a 6-2 lead.
"Some times when things don't go your way they just don't go your way," Van Horn said. "We had a couple of big hits and scored some runs with two outs today, but there was some times earlier in the game when we could have used a couple of more big hits. We got some guys on base today, it was disappointing we let Florida come up with that one big inning."
One of the innings the Razorbacks could have used another big hit was the bottom of the sixth. Kozeal and Stewart singled to start the inning. Stewart's single allowed Kozeal to advance to third base. However, Aloy hit into a double play that allowed Florida to avoid what could have been a big inning. Kozeal scored on the double play. With two outs, Nolan Souza doubled, but obviously with the bases empty due to the double play. Robinett grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Razorbacks did strike back in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and no one on base, Rutenbar drew a walk. Helfrick then hit a long home run that pulled Arkansas to within 6-5.
Fisher took the loss. He allowed three runs, six hits and struck out two in 2.1 innings. He did hit a batter and had one wild pitch. McGuire worked 2.1 innings as well. He allowed six hits, three runs and struck out a pair. McElvain worked 2.1 innings and didn't allow run. Brissey surrendered one run and three hits in his inning of work. Coil struck out two of the three hitters he faced. The Razorback pitchers combined to allow 17 hits, struck out 12 and only walked three on the day. Florida did strand 12 runners on the day.
Sandefer pitched 5.2 innings to get the win. He allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out six Razorbacks and didn't walk anyone, Ernesto LugoCanchola and McNeillie, both of whom drew praise from Van Horn, combined to work 3.1 innings, allowing three runs and four hits. LugoCanchola gave up the only walk of the game for Florida. The two combined to strike out four Hogs, McNeillie earned his first save of the season.
Missouri State (17-9) will host Arkansas on Tuesday night at Hammons Field beginning at 6 p.m. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.