With the bases loaded and his start hanging in the balance, freshman Logan Shore put his fielding drills to use. Cleanup batter Krisjon Wilkerson hit a chopper down the third base line. The right-hander quickly got off the mound, gloved the bouncing baseball, planted and fired a throw to first baseman Peter Alonso whose stretch preserved a 1-1 game in the top half of the third inning.
Shore made a stop that in the box score looks insignificant but actually was the beginning of a string of plays Friday night that carried Florida (12-6, 1-0 SEC) to its sixth-straight victory and a series-opening 2-1 win against Arkansas (8-6, 0-1).
"When you play one-run games everything matters. Every little thing matters. These games come down to one pitch here and one play there," Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "That's just the way this league is and that's how Friday nights are."
From the onset, Florida's attention to detail was evident. In the first inning, Alonso drove in the first run of the night on a groundout down the third base line deep enough for Richie Martin to score.
Freshmen John Sternagel and Buddy Reed, hitting eighth and ninth, sparked a rally in the third inning with their aggressive base running. Sternagel, who reached on a single to left field, advanced to third base on Reed's blooper that skirted passed a diving Andrew Benintendi, who couldn't haul in the catch in shallow center.
Sternagel never hesitated rounding second base and scored when Casey Turgeon grounded out to shortstop. Turgeon, facing left-handed starter Jalen Beeks, fouled an outside fastball a pitch earlier to protect the plate with two strikes.
"In SEC games like this all the little things are important. It was good to get those things done early in the game," catcher Taylor Gushue said. "There were a couple of other opportunities that we had to score, but I think we did a good job early, and those really played out for us in the end for sure."
Florida left 10 runners on base, which is four shy of a season high it reached against Connecticut on March 7. The fourth through seventh innings ended with a Gators' runner stranded at third base.
On paper, it appears the Gators' offensive execution disappeared with the five-straight zeros dotting the scoreboard. On the diamond, Arkansas' Beeks and freshman right-hander Zack Jackson kept their team close with pitching that’s of the norm when it comes to SEC series openers.
The play that defined the game as crisp as the 72-degree Gainesville weather at first pitch didn’t happen at the mound or on the mound, but instead at shortstop.
In the fourth, Martin caught Eric Fisher, who doubled to begin the inning, leaning off second base while snagging a ground ball in the hole. The shortstop, diving back to second, tagged a sliding Fisher before the junior could reach the bag. Shore stranded runners on first and second four batters later to keep Arkansas off the scoreboard.
Relievers Bobby Poyner and Aaron Rhodes followed Shore with 2.2 scoreless innings. Poyner, in a left-on-left situation against Benintendi, induced a ground ball back to the mound for his only batter. Rhodes struck out six of seven Razorbacks in an appearance that’s epitomized his resurgent sophomore season.
O'Sullivan said Friday was one of Florida's cleanest games all year. Neither team made an error. Arkansas, led by veteran coach Dave van Horn, stayed a swing away from tying the game. Florida, fueled by plays like Martin’s heads-up tag at second and Shore’s defense to end the third, held off a Western Division rival that it had dropped four of its last six against dating back to 2011.
"I think Richie's play was the play of the game. That was the turning point," Shore said. "It stopped the momentum with the leadoff double and helped me settle in a little bit. Those plays are the ones that win games."
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus
Catcher Taylor Gushue throws the ball back to the mound during warmups between innings in Florida’s 4-0 victory against Ole Miss on March 31 at McKethan Stadium.
