Florida’s nine runs in the finale were the most allowed by Arkansas this season.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Florida split a true doubleheader against No. 2 Arkansas on Saturday, falling 6-5 in game one before posting a 9-5 victory in the nightcap at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Gators (22-21, 9-12 SEC) brought an end to the Razorbacks’ (37-7, 16-5 SEC) 27-game winning streak at Baum-Walker in the finale, handing the Hogs their first home loss since Feb. 18, 2024. Florida ultimately outscored Arkansas, 14-11, across the doubleheader, highlighted by Jac Caglianone’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365> 26th home run of the season as he extended his hitting and on-base streaks to 29 and 22 games, respectively.
Game One | Arkansas 6, Florida 5
The first installment of Saturday’s twin bill saw Florida and Arkansas exchange zeros across the first two frames, as starting pitchers Brandon Neely<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-neely/16373> and Brady Tygart engaged in a pitchers’ duel. The Razorbacks broke the deadlock in the third, with Ben McLaughlin hitting a two-out double to right field to score Peyton Stovall for a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless frame from Neely in the fourth, Florida tied the contest at 1-1 in the top of the fifth. Brody Donay<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/brody-donay/16621> led off with a single to left-center, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/16375> and later came in to score on a two-out wild pitch.
Neely fired a clean inning in the fifth concluded by his sixth strikeout. Following a groundout to second base and hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the sixth, Neely was lifted in favor of Ryan Slater<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ryan-slater/16377>. The right-hander utilized a strikeout and groundout to hold the tie through six frames.
Florida took advantage of its strong pitching in the middle innings, coming alive for three runs to grab a 4-1 advantage in the top of the seventh. Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/16368> broke the tie with an RBI double down the left-field line to plate Robertson, followed by an RBI single to right off the bat of Colby Shelton<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/colby-shelton/16639>. Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/16370> capped off the outburst with a run-scoring single to left to bring home Evans.
Arkansas answered back with a five-spot in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-4 edge. Jared Sprague-Lott singled home Hudson White and Wehiwa Aloy knotted the tally with a two-run homer to left field. Peyton Holt put the Razorbacks on top for good with a two-run shot of his own to left.
The Gators responded in the eighth to cut the deficit to one. Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/16633> and Donay opened with singles to set the table. Robertson then advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, but a fielding error on the throw to first base allowed Yost to score all the way from second base for a 6-5 ballgame.
Florida put two men on in the ninth but was unable to cash in as Razorbacks reliever Christian Foutch secured his first save of the season. He pitched one-third of an inning via a strikeout for the final out of the game.
Arkansas reliever Will McEntire (3-0) recorded the victory. McEntire allowed two earned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out one.
Slater (3-2) was handed the loss after giving up four earned runs across 1 1/3 relief frames. The right-hander was charged with three hits allowed, one walk and two strikeouts.
Neely did not factor into the decision despite his stellar effort. He tossed 5 1/3 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out six batters.
Tygart received a no-decision as well after pitching six innings of two-run ball on three hits and four walks. He fanned six.
Yost (3-for-3) and Donay (2-for-5) collected multiple hits in the first game of the doubleheader.
Game Two | Florida 9, Arkansas 5
The Razorbacks struck first in the nightcap, using a two-out RBI single through the left side from Stovall in the bottom of the second to snag an early 1-0 advantage. The Gators quickly tied it in the next half inning, as Robertson found a hole through the left side to single home Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/16372>.
Tied at 1-1, Caglianone held the Hogs scoreless in the third while registering his second strikeout of the game. Florida then erupted for six runs in the top of the fourth, beginning with a bases-loaded, RBI single through the right side from Armando Albert<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/armando-albert/16619>. Evans proceeded to draw a bases-loaded walk for the second run while Caglianone hammered a grand slam to right-center field to give the Gators a commanding 7-1 lead.
Arkansas got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth to cut the UF lead to 7-3. Stovall doubled to right-center to bring in Will Edmundson and Nolan Souza.
Right-hander Jake Clemente<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jake-clemente/16366> relieved Caglianone at the onset of the fifth and blanked the Hogs to maintain the four-run advantage. The Gators seized the opportunity, increasing their lead to 9-3 in the top of the sixth thanks to a two-run blast to left-center field by Evans.
In the bottom of the sixth, Arkansas got one run back to make it 9-4. Aloy singled to left field and an errant throw to home from left field allowed Sprague-Lott to cross the plate for an unearned run.
Lefty Frank Menendez<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/frank-menendez/16627> assumed pitching duties in the seventh and worked a perfect frame with one strikeout. Arkansas scratched one run across in the eighth on an RBI single to right-center from McLaughlin to cut Florida’s lead to 9-5.
Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/16371> took the Gators across the finish line by chucking 1 1/3 shutout frames to close it out. The righty allowed one hit and fanned one.
Clemente (2-0) earned his first-career SEC victory. The redshirt freshman allowed one unearned run on three hits and one walk, striking out two.
Razorbacks starting pitcher Ben Bybee (2-1) was saddled with the loss. He was tagged for three earned runs in three innings on three hits and two walks while striking out a pair.
Caglianone did not garner a decision, surrendering three earned runs on six hits and three walks over four innings. The southpaw struck out four.
NOTABLES
* Saturday’s official attendance was 11,160.
* Arkansas allowed a season-high nine runs to the Gators in Saturday’s finale.
* Florida posted its 12th comeback win in the finale.
* All nine of the Gators’ SEC victories have been in come-from-behind fashion.
* The Gators outscored the Razorbacks, 15-11, across the three-game series.
* Caglianone was intentionally walked a career-high three times in game one.
* He was intentionally walked one time in the nightcap for a total of four across the doubleheader.
* Caglianone extended his on-base streak to 29 games and hitting streak to 22 in a row.
* Caglianone has hit safely in 41 of 43 games while reaching safely in all but one contest.
* Yost reached base safely five times while going 3-for-3 with a career-high three hits in game one.
* Caglianone used a fourth-inning grand slam in game two to collect his 26th home run of the season, which ranks second nationally.
* Clemente made his SEC debut in the finale and allowed one unearned run on three hits and one walk while fanning two to pick up the win.
* Evans added to his career high with his 11th home run in the finale.
* Over the last 10 games, the Florida offense has scored 72 runs on 98 hits.
* That features 69 runs on 92 hits in the team’s last 77 offensive half-innings.
* Across the team’s last 74 tilts against SEC teams, Florida is 46-28.
* That includes a 38-25 regular-season mark.
* The Gators are 47-25 in weekend series since the start of last season and 56-28 across their last 28 series.
* Florida is now 36-38 all-time vs. Arkansas including a 12-18 mark in Fayetteville
* The Gators brought an end to Arkansas’ 27-game winning streak at Baum-Walker, handing the Hogs their first home loss since Feb. 18, 2024.
* Florida snapped its five-game losing streak at Baum-Walker Stadium, winning its first game in Fayetteville since a 2016 sweep from April 14-16.
* The Gators are 18-24 against the Razorbacks under head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1752> (5-10 away).
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On game one…
“It was a long day. Going back to the first game I thought Brandon (Neely) threw the ball well but, once again, I think he was at 84 pitches over four. Basically 24 pitches over the 15 pitches per inning, which you’re looking for. We tried to go up with a high fastball to McLaughlin with and we missed on the inner half of the plate with it. Obviously, he drove in a run there. We just scored the three runs and then boils down to the same old thing. We had Nolan (Souza) up, hitting eighth I believe. Coming into the game hitting .200, I think at that point he was hitting .187 and we walk the leadoff man there with a three-run lead. Things just got away from us again. I think that’s the frustrating part. We continue to talk about the same things over and over and they continue to happen…”
On game two and Caglianone’s start…
“Yeah, they put together some good at-bats against (Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/16365>) but he hung in there. He battled like he always does. Obviously, the grand slam was a huge, huge at-bat for us, especially at that part of the game. But, the thing with Jac, even though maybe he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s always going to give you a good effort. He did that for us today. I thought (Jake) Clemente came in and did a nice job and kind of held it together. I thought Frankie (Menendez) rebounded from last night after walking the leadoff man that he saw. He threw the ball good for a couple innings. Fisher’s been good the entire weekend.”
On Albert and Yost drawing starts…
“We put Armando in there because the splits with their starter was drastic with left-handers vs. right handed hitters. He had a good game. I think he had a hit and this infield is not the easiest one to play. There’s a lot of balls that are hit in front of home plate that go dirt to dirt. He made three or four nice plays over there at third base today. Hayden Yost<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/hayden-yost/16633> had an incredible day. He saw all types of different arms, sprayed the ball around, had some good at-bats, was not overmatched with velocity. He hit some balls really, really hard. We couldn’t have asked for anything more from Hayden. He’s going to get a heck of a lot more opportunities moving forward.”
On being close to taking a series…
“The silver lining, like you said, is we won one. But at the same time, it was a frustrating weekend. We ran inside of the 45-foot line last night and that probably changed the complexion of that game. Couldn’t get a sac down. Obviously, they had some opportunities to put Jac on and they didn’t pitch to him — I think he had four intentional walks this weekend. I knew that was coming. That’s why it’s so important to have first base occupied. When we ran last night, when Jac ran it gave them an opportunity to walk Shelton and pitch to Shelnut. We’ve gotta avoid those situations moving forward because what we saw this weekend is going to continue to happen. And especially the tag play today. We’re really boiling down to knowing we’ve gotta stay within our lane, especially on a drag or a swinging bunt. Being able to execute on a sac and tagging up. Those are three things that, I mean you’re always going to make physical mistakes and that’s part of this game, but walking the bottom half of the lineup, guys that are hitting under .200, to start an inning after we just had the momentum and scored three. I mean, we’re doing things that aren’t conducive to winning games. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. We should have won this one. We could have won that one. The bottom line is we didn’t. But we did battle today and we’re walking out of here with at least one.”
UP NEXT
Florida returns home to host Florida Atlantic on Tuesday, April 30. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. ET with coverage on SEC Network+.
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