Freshman starter Aidan King was charged with one earned run over 4 2/3 frames in the shutout loss.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida was shut out in game two against No. 5 Arkansas by a 7-0 tally to even the series at Condron Family Ballpark on Saturday evening.
The Gators (29-16, 7-13 SEC) and Razorbacks (37-8, 14-6 SEC) traded zeros across the first four innings of play, as starters Aidan King<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/aidan-king/17366> and Gage Wood engaged in a pitchers’ duel. King used 66 pitches and three strikeouts to blank Arkansas through four frames while Justin Nadeau<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/justin-nadeau/17342> managed the Gators’ lone knock with a two-out double in the third.
In the fifth, Arkansas opened the scoring with six runs, five of which were unearned, to jump out to a commanding lead. Aided by a pair of UF fielding miscues, Kuhio Aloy produced an RBI single through the left side with the bases juiced to score two, followed by a sacrifice fly to left field by Carson Boles to bring in Wehiwa Aloy. Brent Iredale added a two-out, RBI automatic double to left while Cam Kozeal swatted a pinch-hit, two-run homer to right to push the score to 6-0.
Right-handed relievers Caden McDonald<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/caden-mcdonald/17329> and Carson Montsdeoca<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/carson-montsdeoca/17367> fired zeros for Florida in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to hold the six-run deficit. The Razorbacks extended their advantage to 7-0 in the eighth, as W. Aloy drove home Gabe Fraser on a sacrifice fly to center field.
After a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, righty Blaine Rowland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blaine-rowland/17358> took over pitching duties for the Gators. Rowland induced a 6-4-3 double play on his first pitch followed by a three-pitch strikeout of Kozeal to record three outs on just four offerings.
Razorbacks relief pitcher Gabe Gaeckle (4-1) earned the win behind 3 1/3 scoreless frames. The right-hander finished with one hit allowed, four walks and two strikeouts.
King (4-2) pitched much better than the box score illustrated, allowing just one earned run in 4 2/3 innings while picking up the loss. Unfortunately for King, he was charged with five total runs on five hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
Wood lasted three shutout innings in the no-decision, giving up just one hit while striking out five.
NOTABLES
* Florida has won 9 of its last 11 games overall and six of its last eight in SEC play.
* The Gators suffered their third shutout loss of the season and second at home.
* McDonald provided a scoreless outing with a shutout sixth inning in which he allowed zero hits and one walk.
* Rowland pitched a scoreless ninth in his second-career appearance, registering three outs on just four pitches with a double play ball and strikeout.
* Shelton has reached base safely in 44 of 45 games this season.
* Boser has reached base safely in 25-straight games.
* Florida is now 37-39 all-time against Arkansas including 21-14 in Gainesville.
* The Gators are 19-25 overall and 11-9 at home vs. the Hogs under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1999>.
* Florida is 10-6 in the last 16 home contests against Arkansas.
* Saturday’s official attendance was 6,081.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On the fifth-inning struggles…
“Hitting the eight-hole there to lead the inning off, obviously. We talked about that coming into the series, limiting the free passes and unfortunately, we had a 2-2 count and things spiraled out of control. We made three errors in the same inning and obviously disappointing in that. I don’t remember us making four errors in a game all year. Disappointing after coming off an emotional win last night. I told them, we threw six freshmen and they all pretty much held their own, gave up seven hits on three earned runs. We just defensively, I don’t know where that came from because we’ve been pretty clean, pretty much all year. Tomorrow we need a signature series win, it’s just that simple and that’s what’s in front of us, and we need to come out tomorrow ready to play. Obviously, we didn’t use any of our more-experienced pitchers today, so everybody should be rested. We’ll figure out who we’re going to have start, but we’re probably going to have to use 3-5 guys. We can extend Jake [Clemente] some tomorrow because we don’t have any midweeks this week, so we’re off all week. We’ll look at it and put a plan together.”
On the runners left on base…
“I think we hit into two double plays. The pitching was good for them. I mean their starter, we couldn’t lay off the high fastball, he’s 96-97. Gaeckle, obviously we know a lot about him, and Jimenez at the end, his numbers are outstanding. But like you said, it comes down to playing cleaner baseball tomorrow. Defensively, limit the free passes, and some guys are going to have to step up at the plate, bottom line.”
UP NEXT
The Gators and Razorbacks face off in the series finale on Sunday, scheduled for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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