Through five innings, Florida was hitless.
The Gators were helpless against Arkansas Razorbacks right-handed starter Ryne Stanek, striking out three times after not striking out once in Wednesday’s game against Bethune-Cookman.
“That pitcher was tough,” junior Austin Maddox said. “He was tough.”
Then came Casey Turgeon.
The freshman from Palm Harbor stepped into the box with two outs in the sixth inning and runners on first and third. He ripped an 0-1 double to right-center and changed the evening.
No. 5 Florida (33-10, 12-7 Southeastern Conference) used Turgeon’s boost to help launch itself to a 3-2 series-opening victory against No. 21 Arkansas (29-13, 9-10 SEC).
The evening started in a predictable manner with junior Hudson Randall returning to the mound as Florida’s Friday night starter. Randall worked fast but was seldom dominant in his six innings of work. The six hits he gave up did not become harmful until the fourth and fifth innings.
Arkansas’ first run came when senior Bo Bigham pushed across Sam Bates in the fourth on a single to left field. Its second run came on a wild pitch that got past UF catcher Mike Zunino in the fifth.
Zunino lost track of the ball and sophomore catcher Jake Wise was able to score from second.
“He just couldn’t find the ball,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “It was obvious he couldn’t find the ball. I didn’t want to upset him during the game. I just kind of let it ride.”
After Turgeon’s RBI double in the sixth, designated hitter Maddox singled him in from second to give Florida the 3-2 lead it would finish the game with.
“[Preston Tucker] started off the inning with a shot out to left field and everyone after that just became loose in the dugout,” Turgeon said. “We decided we should start hitting the ball now.”
Once Randall departed, Florida’s “big three” out of the bullpen took over. Greg Larson and Steven Rodriguez each worked a one-hit inning before giving way to Maddox in the ninth.
Maddox worked a hitless frame to earn his 12th save of the season.
“Sully has a lot of confidence in us coming out of the ‘pen,” Maddox said. “We’ve been doing our thing all year, and we’re going to keep doing it.”
