The Gators did everything they could Sunday to look for offense, but they left the field still searching for answers as Florida continued its midseason slump, and Arkansas continued to prove why its pitching staff is tops in the Southeastern Conference.
The Razorbacks (31-13, 11-10 SEC), led by righty DJ Baxendale, held the Gators (33-13,12-9 SEC) to just five hits and one run in a 10-inning affair Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium to take the weekend series from Florida with a 3-1 win.
Baxendale pitched 7.1 innings and didn’t give up a run until the eighth as Florida’s offense continued to flounder.
“We were late on the fastball, early on the curveball all day long,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He didn’t walk anybody. We tried to do some things. We tried to hit-and-run a couple times. We tried to steal. We’re trying to push the offense a little bit and do some things different to kind of get things moving, we just haven’t been able to put it together right now.”
The Gators were limited to three hits and just four base-runners through the first seven innings before finally manufacturing a run in the eighth. Florida got back-to-back one-out singles from freshmen Justin Shafer and Josh Tobias before Baxendale was pulled. Nolan Fontana was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Preston Tucker drove in the Gators’ only run of the day on a groundout to second. With a chance to take the lead, Mike Zunino followed suit and grounded out to second against reliever Colby Suggs (4-0, 1.19 ERA) to end the inning.
“We had some opportunities there in the eighth,” O’Sullivan said. “You couldn’t have scripted a better opportunity for us, their pitcher just made some good pitches.”
Outside of the eighth inning, though Florida’s lineup went 3 for 29 on the afternoon. At one point between the fourth and eighth innings, Baxendale retired 10 straight Florida hitters, and 16 of 17 overall.
For the weekend, Florida mustered just five total runs and hit .200 (19 for 95) as a team, with just three extra-base hits.
“We need a little bit better approach at the plate,” senior center fielder Daniel Pigott said. “I’m not sure what’s going on right now; we’re just having a little bit of trouble finding holes.”
Florida’s offensive woes put to waste another solid outing from the team’s pitching staff. After allowing a run in the first inning on a Bo Bigham RBI single, starter Jonathon Crawford and relievers Steven Rodriguez and Austin Maddox combined to put zeroes on the board for the next eight frames to force extra innings.
The trio combined for 12 strikeouts on the afternoon, compared to four hits and four walks.
“It’s not fun (pitching with no run support),” Crawford said. “It’s a lot easier pitching with run support, but it’s not easy.”
But on Sunday, much like the entire weekend, Florida’s offense didn’t make things easy on its pitching staff. Freshman Johnny Magliozzi took the loss in the 10th inning after hitting a batter and giving up a single, eventually resulting in two Razorbacks runs – an insurmountable lead for the Gators’ struggling offense, which went silently in the bottom of the frame to end the game.
“Offensively, we’re probably going through the roughest stretch we’ve been through,” Pigott said. “But the positive thing about tough times is eventually you come out and that’s what we’re working toward. We’ll get there.”
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
