FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 19 Arkansas snapped a 2-2 tie with a pair of runs in the eighth inning to complete a three-game Southeastern Conference sweep of No. 18 Florida with a 4-2 triumph in front of 7,411 fans Sunday at Baum Stadium.
The eventual winning run scored when Florida senior right-hander Patrick Keating (2-3) struck out freshman Jarrod McKinney and the ball bounced off the dirt, hit the batter and rolled away, allowing senior Ben Tschepikow to come in from third base.
Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan argued that there was interference on the play and was ejected.
Arkansas (12-3, 3-0 SEC) also took advantage of a season-high six Florida errors and used 2.1 innings of shutout relief from freshman Zack Cox (2-0) before junior Stephen Richards recorded the final two outs to collect his second save.
The Razorbacks (12-3, 3-0 SEC) drew first blood against freshman Nick Maronde with an RBI single by senior Scott Lyons in the first inning, scoring Collin Kuhn, who had tripled.
Florida (9-7, 0-3 SEC) had runners on the corners with one down in the second against redshirt freshman Drew Smyly but came away empty-handed. Junior Matt den Dekker (2-for-3) legged out a bunt to start the inning and moved into scoring position on a grounder by senior Brandon McArthur. After an infield hit by sophomore Riley Cooper, den Dekker raced over to third on a wild pitch. Smyly struck out junior Clayton Pisani and Cooper was thrown out attempting to steal second.
Senior Avery Barnes (2-for-4) evened the game at 1-1 with a two-out solo home run in the third, his second homer of the season.
The Gators took advantage of a wild pitch by Smyly to grab a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Adams had a leadoff single up the middle and was sacrificed over by den Dekker. A base-hit by McArthur gave the visitors runners on first and third with one down and Smyly responded by fanning Cooper. However, the southpaw uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Adams to score and give Florida its first lead of the series.
Maronde worked out of a major jam in the bottom of the inning to keep his squad in front. With one down, the Gators committed back-to-back infield errors and a passed ball left a pair of runners in scoring position. Maronde struck out sophomore Brett Eibner and caught sophomore Andy Wilkins looking on strikes to preserve the one-run advantage.
An RBI groundout by senior pinch hitter Chase Leavitt in the sixth tied the game at two runs apiece. Lyons reached on a throwing error by Mooney and Tschepikow extended his hitting streak to 10 games to put Arkansas in business.
Keating was called on to replace Maronde, who allowed four hits and two runs (one earned) with a career five strikeouts in five innings.
Freshman pinch-hitter Bo Bigham executed a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners with one down. Leavitt grounded out to Pisani, but Lyons scored. After an intentional walk to Wilkins, Keating got Andrew Darr to hit into a fielder’s choice that got the third out.
After Tschepikow scored the go-ahead run, junior Tony Davis replaced Keating and hit Wilkins. With freshman Anthony DeSclafani on the mound, Arkansas pulled off a double steal. Wilkins swiped second and McKinney took third but another throwing error by Munroe resulted in a 4-2 lead for the Hogs.
The Gators return to home to face Florida State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and then head to Orlando Wednesday for a matchup with UCF before hosting SEC East rival Tennessee in a three-game series next weekend.