GAME OVER
The infielders will have to work extra hard after this one. Six errors, and the only one without an error was Pisani.
Speaking of Pisani, he starts the bottom of the ninth with a pop-out to second base. Two outs to go on the game. Pigott follows with a strikeout. One out to go.
Buddy Munroe is the Gators' last hope. Despite his introduction music being great, he grounds out and UF takes a loss in the game and series.
MID NINTH
Things are desperate for UF, as the team brings in J.K. LaCoste to pitch. A fly out to right field, then another error from Figueroa. Thankfully for the Gators, Townsend makes a good play on the next at-bat and starts an inning-ending double play.
END EIGHTH
Josh Adams is up. Josh Adams goes down, striking out on four pitches. A ground out from Townsend makes it two quick Gators retired, and Bryson Barber strikes out to end the inning.
UF had its chances today, and it looks like the Gators will not be winning this one because of error after error. They have three outs left, but the Razorbacks will likely shut the door without a problem.
MID EIGHTH
Travis Lawler comes in to pitch the eighth for UF, and does a great job. He gets Tschepikow to line out to Figueroa, then strikes out Forsythe.
Of course, as I type that, Nutt hits a homer over the right-field scoreboard. It's now a six-run lead for Arkansas. The inning ends with the next batter, as Eibner flies out to right field.
END SEVENTH
Buddy Munr-0-for-3 grounds out to shortstop. No hits on the day for him.
Barnes walks on four pitches, bringing up den Dekker with a chance to get something going. Den Dekker hits what could be a double play ball, but the second baseman makes a bad throw and den Dekker gets to go to second base. Barnes is out, though.
Wells' day is finally done, but he did a solid job. True, he gave up four runs on nine hits, but that's all Arkansas needed from him on a day where the offense scored nine runs.
The new pitcher does an even better job, making Figueroa look silly in striking out.
MID SEVENTH
Franklin hits the first batter he faces, then O'Sullivan changes pitchers. In comes Tony Davis, and he allows a sacrifice bunt. Eibner goes to second base and we have another pitching change. Josh Edmondson comes in with a runner on second and one out.
Smalling works Edmondson to a full count, and he gets hit in the back with the sixth pitch to put two runners on. Edmonson then gets Cisterna to ground to third, but Townsend kicks the ball and it goes through to the outfield. Eibner scores on the error, and that makes five on the day. Cisterna steals second base, and Arkansas has runners at second and third with one out.
A crazy fan in the stands screams "COME ON GATORS, THEY'RE NOT THAT GOOD!" This causes the entire press box to bust out laughing. It was very funny. Lyons hits a suicide bunt, scoring Smalling. It's two outs and a runner on third. There goes UF's two runs in the sixth. Every time UF scores, Arkansas answers.
A ground out ends the inning for UF, and O'Sullivan must be so angry right now.
END SIXTH
Den Dekker starts off the sixth with a ground out to third base, and Figueroa follows that with a ground out of his own to the first baseman. Smalling made a great diving stop, tossing to Wells to retire Figueroa.
Adams comes through with a hit to center field, a high fly ball that lands just in between Arkansas' shorstop and center fielder. Townsend follows that with his first hit of the day, a grounder in between third and second base. Barber then gets his second hit of the day, a single through the left side, scoring Adams from third. Barber must be liking this righty pitcher, as he is a lefty batter.
All of a sudden we have a game. It's back down to three runs after Pisani gets the Gators' fourth two-out hit in a row. Wells has not been himself this inning, and Arkansas coach Dave van Horn comes out to talk to him. Whatever he said works, as he strikes out Pigott looking on four pitches. The Gators caught up, though, and the deficit is a much more managable three runs. Without those two unearned runs in the top of the sixth, UF would only be down one. And without Barber getting picked off in the fourth, it would be a tie game.
MID SIXTH
The Razorbacks' sixth inning starts off well for them, with a routine ground ball to second base turning into an error and a runner on second. Lyons bunts Cisterna over to third, and the Hogs have a man at third with one out. New pitcher Clint Franklin looks good, though forcing two weak grounders already. He just got unlucky with that first error.
Another weak grounder goes to Figueroa, and he wisely throws home to retire Cisterna at the plate. It's now just a runner on first with two outs. Franklin makes an error of his own next, attempting to pick off Leavitt at first and instead missing Pisani. Leavitt heads to second.
Tschepikow reaches first on an error, as Josh Adams can't handle the hard grounder hit to him. Leavitt moves to second. O'Sullivan may be blowing a gasket in the dugout - that's three errors in the inning.
Forsythe comes to the plate next, taking enough pitches to make it a full count. The sixth pitch from Franklin is high, and Forsythe walks to load the bases again for Nutt. Last time in this situation, Eibner blooped a single over Adams' head.
Nutt does the same thing, singling and bringing home two Razorbacks. The speedy Forsythe tries scoring from first base, but the Gators have none of it, throwing him out at the plate to end the inning. Put up two more runs - both unearned - for the Hogs, and their lead is now five.
END FIFTH
A Gators fan, probably around age 10, is doing the announcing this inning. Her job is pretty short-lived, announcing Pigott, Munroe and Barnes in a matter of five minutes. Pigott and Munroe ground out to the left side, while Barnes flies out to right field. The fans applaud the girl as she leaves the press box, but they can't applaud at all for what they saw at the plate this half-inning.
MID FIFTH
Tschepikow gets a good hit off Toledo at the start of the fifth inning, going for a ground-rule double. Den Dekker couldn't quite catch up to it, and it bounced off the grass into the stands.
Forsythe can't get on base this time, as he hits a weak pop up to first base. Nutt, however, gets on safely with a single to center field. Toledo is in a bit of a jam here, with runners at the corners and one out.
Eibner comes through next with his third RBI of the day, bringing home Tschepikow with a double of his down to left-center field. There are Hogs on second and third with one out, and Toledo will be lucky to make it out of the fifth inning at this rate.
House grounds out to first base, but the Gators allow another run as Nutt crosses the plate without a throw. It's right back up to a three-run lead, almost as though the Gators' fourth never happened. Smalling hits a grounder back to Toledo, who throws to Pisani to end the inning.
END FOURTH
Den Dekker gets things going for UF, smacking a single into center field. That's two innings in a row that the Gators have led off with a hit. Figueroa follows that with his first hit of the weekend, a double to left field. It sure has taken him a while to get going this weekend, but it's worth it. UF has two runners on for the first time today, and both of them in scoring position with no outs.
Josh Adams makes it three hits in a row, getting a grounder in between first and second base. Adams brings home den Dekker and Figueroa, bringing Arkansas' lead down to one. Five members of the Arkansas pitching staff run to the bullpen.
Townsend lines out to first base, but Adams does a good job getting back to first to avoid the double play. Bryson Barber walks up next, and the Gators try a hit-and-run. Adams is already at second base when Barber's hit sneaks through the middle of the field, and he makes it to third base without a problem. Runners at the corners and one out for UF.
Pisani comes up to the plate and quickly goes down 0-2. On the third pitch, a ball in the dirt, Barber gets caught in between first and second and gets picked off. Pisani immediately hits a slow grounder to first base that would have easily tied the game, but he becomes the third out because of Barber's poor base running.
MID FOURTH
Cisterna starts off the fourth with a single to center field, and Toledo must be thinking, "Here we go again." However, he doesn't let the single impact his throwing, and he gets Lyons to fly out.
The next pitch is even better for the freshman lefty, as Leavitt gets his first out of the day, grounding into a 4-6-3 double play, ending the inning. That's the second UF double play of the afternoon.
END THIRD
Jonathan Pigott breaks up Wells' no-hitter with a ground ball to the third baseman. Forsythe made a great diving stop and threw to Smalling at first, but not in time. Pigott's speed helps him out there.
On the very next pitch, catcher Buddy Munroe grounds into a 5-4-3 double play, killing any momentum from that close play at first last time. Any other Gator in the lineup would have beat out that throw, but Munroe was an easy double play.
Avery Barnes again makes great contact, but grounds the ball right to Smalling. He calmly walks over to his base, stepping on it for the out. That was such a fast inning that I barely had time to type all this up.
MID THIRD
Scott Lyons, the last Arkansas batter, comes up and goes down quickly, grounding out to third base. Since giving up a leadoff single and then a walk to start the game, Toledo has retired seven of the next eight batters.
As I type that, Leavitt hits a single to left-center field. The Razorbacks sure knew what they were doing when they moved him to the top of the order, and he's 2 for 2 on the day now. Tschepikow follows that by getting on base for the second time as well, doubling past Barnes in left field. Two runners in scoring position with one out, and UF will be lucky to get out of this without giving up a run.
Forsythe is next, and he can do a number of things. He's fast - he led off Friday and Saturday - and he comes through for the Hogs with a ground-ball single through the left side. It's 1-0 Arkansas, and they have a runner on third with one out.
UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan comes out to talk to Toledo, who has now allowed three consecutive hits. The first pitch after the discussion allows Forsythe to steal second base. Didn't I say he was fast? It's now second and third with one out.
Nutt comes up after flying out to right field last time. Toledo walks him on four pitches, loading the bases and bringing up Eibner. Eibner has five homers on the year and 30 RBIs. He's hitting .322, and the loaded bases are surely making his eyes wide. He comes through for the Razorbacks, dropping a single over Adams' head and bringing in two runners.
After five consecutive batters reached, Toledo finally gets an out when House flies out to left field. Barnes didn't have to move. Toledo gets out of the inning back striking out Smalling.
END SECOND
Josh Adams begins the second inning for UF by striking out on the fifth pitch from Wells. He had a huge 3-for-4 day yesterday, but starts out 0 for 1 this afternoon.
Wells loses his perfect game against Townsend, who walks on five pitches. Townsend didn't lift the bat from his shoulders the entire plate appearance, but it was effective, giving UF its first base-runner of the day.
Bryson Barber comes to the plate for the first time this series. Dustin Bamberg was UF's designated hitter the first two days. Barber gets a hold of a pitch, but the ball only goes to the warning track and turns into a routine catch for Leavitt. Barber though he had that one.
Clayton Pisani is up next, and Wells starts off his at-bat by throwing to Townsend at first base, missing the first baseman and instead letting Townsend get into scoring position on the error. Pisani flies out to center field, however, ending the threat of a Gator at second base.
MID SECOND
Eibner, who took a hit from den Dekker last inning, starts things off with a slow grounder to third base. Jon Townsend makes the pick and throws the ball to first base for the out. It was a very close play, and credit Townsend with the fast throw to take away a possible infield hit from Eibner.
Jacob House takes a few pitches from Toledo, then swings away and flies out to center field. It's been a much better inning for Toledo so far. He looks to have his control down after walking a guy last time.
Tim Smalling steps into the batter's box, and hits a slow grounder in between Figueroa and Townsend. The ball goes under Townsend's diving glove and bounces off Figueroa's. Smalling is safe with a hit.
Ryan Cisterna is next. He's started every game of the year for the Razorbacks at catcher, and he has a .195 batting average. He's certainly not the best hitter they have, but he works the count full. Toledo looks shaky in this at-bat, but strikes out Cisterna with the full count.
Side note: Arkansas' 7-8-9 hitters have the jersey numbers 4, 6 and 3. Does that mean they ground into double plays a lot? We'll see as the day wears on.
END FIRST
UF faces a righty for the first time all weekend, and they must be thrilled. After the Gators' left-handed batters struggled against Arkansas' two lefties on Friday and Saturday, they look to rebound today against a right-hander in Justin Wells (2-0, 4.68 ERA).
Avery Barnes hits the ball well to start the game, but it's a comebacker to Wells. He calmly walks to first and underhands the ball to first base.
Matt den Dekker is up next, and he also makes great contact on the ball. However, Brett Eibner in center field is able to reach the ball in time, leaning forward for a good catch. Den Dekker hangs his head as he rounds first. Three feet to the left, and that ball lands in for a hit.
Cole Figueroa is the third UF batter of the inning, and he's also the last. He grounds out to second base, putting the Gators back on the field.
MID FIRST
UF starts Tommy Toledo (4-2, 2.63 ERA), and Toledo starts off the game by giving up a hit on the first pitch to Chase Leavitt. Leavitt was the No. 9 hitter the last two days, but Arkansas moved him way up in the order in hopes he would get on base to start innings. And he did.
Toledo runs up a full count against Ben Tschepikow, then walks him with an outside pitch. That's two on and no outs to start the game.
Logan Forsythe is Arkansas' next hitter, and he grounds into a double play, third to second. On the throw to first in an attempt of getting UF's third triple play of the year, Josh Adams udnerthrows Pisani and the ball rolls behind the bag. Forsythe moves to second on the error, but the stress from the situation is almost completely gone.
Jeff Nutt, the Hogs' cleanup man, hits a hard ball into right field, and Pigott makes a sensational diving catch to finish the inning. Toledo has be thrilled with the defense he got, as he certainly wasn't sharp.
