HOOVER, Ala. &ndash In order to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament, UF had to prove it was capable of beating every team in the eight-team field.
After Friday's 10-7 loss to Arkansas knocked the No. 2-seed Gators out of the tournament, UF is unable to make such a claim.
The Razorbacks were the only SEC team to sweep the Gators during the regular season, and UF's 19-8 record against the rest of the conference seemed to matter little as the squads met twice last week in Hoover - Arkansas beat UF 8-5 in the tournament opener Wednesday.
Despite bowing out of the double-elimination bracket in only three games, the No. 11 Gators (39-20) found out Monday that they earned a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, which means they will play at home for a Regional and a Super Regional should they advance.
UF was given the eighth and final national seed and will host Bethune-Cookman, Jacksonville and Miami in an NCAA Regional. The Gators will take on the Wildcats at 6:30 on Friday night.
After Friday's loss to the Razorbacks, UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan and third baseman Brandon McArthur talked about refocusing and correcting defensive mistakes before hosting the Regional.
"We came here to win, not to go 1-2," McArthur said. "We're not very excited about this weekend, but we have to quickly put it behind us because now it's the big tournament."
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn penciled in seven freshmen &ndash including starting pitcher Drew Smyly &ndash on the lineup card Friday, and his seventh-seeded Razorbacks defeated the Gators for the 10th time in their last 11 meetings, including each of the last six.
"They certainly got our number," O'Sullivan said. "I thought we were in a good frame of mind today though, I really did."
The teams committed a combined four errors, which led to 3 unearned runs for the Gators and 5 for the Razorbacks. Smyly's 3.2 innings pitched were the most logged by a hurler for either side, and 10 batters reached base via a walk or hit by pitch.
Though the game was sloppy on both sides, Arkansas freshman Zack Cox proved to be the difference, both in the batter's box and on the mound.
After the Razorbacks fell behind 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, Cox hit the top of the scoreboard with a 2-run moon shot off UF reliever Greg Larson, sparking a 5-run inning.
"When he hammered that ball, I think there were a lot of guys saying, 'Wow,'" Van Horn said. "If you hit one out of this ballpark, you hit it, and if you hit one off the top of the scoreboard, then you really hit it."
The Gators found themselves down 8-3 heading into the seventh inning before they began to chip away at the deficit. With two outs, senior Avery Barnes chopped a ball to the shortstop, and an error by freshman Tim Carver allowed McArthur and Matt den Dekker to score for UF.
The next batter was junior Jonathan Pigott, who crushed his third home run of the tournament to left-center field. Pigott, who hit two homers in the regular season and two in each of his first two seasons, tied the record set by Chuck Hazzard in 1996 for most longballs by a Gator in the SEC Tournament.
"(Friday), I think we swung the bats the best we have all year against them," McArthur said. "We thought we had the momentum, but we couldn't hold on to it."
In the bottom half of the inning, the Razorbacks pushed across two insurance runs, including an RBI single from Cox in his final at-bat of the day.
When it came time to protect the lead in the eighth, the third baseman moved to the mound. Cox, who pitched just 16 innings prior to this appearance, finished out the game without allowing a base runner.
