Emergency
starter senior Trey Holloway worked a career-high 5.1 innings as No. 7 Arkansas
(17-2/1-1 SEC) evened its weekend series at No. 13 Florida (16-7/1-1 SEC) with
a 3-2 triumph at McKethan Stadium on Saturday
afternoon. The left-hander (2-0) allowed four hits and two runs before turning
the game over to the Hogs’ bullpen, which responded with 3.2 scoreless innings
and limited UF to one hit.
Sophomore Bryan Augenstein
(Sebastian, Fla.) (5-1) notched his second complete
game in the defeat, scattering seven hits and permitting two earned runs. The
Gators committed four errors in seeing their season-high seven-game winning
streak come to an end.
“I am very
pleased with Bryan’s
performance, he kept the game close for us,” said head coach Pat McMahon. “Arkansas does a lot of the little things
well and was opportunistic. We ran out of outs today and that was credit to
their pitching.”
Aided by
two Gator errors in the first inning, Arkansas
took a 1-0 lead. Senior Craig Gentry reached second on a leadoff error and was
sacrificed to third by sophomore Clint Arnold. Another throwing error by junior
David Cash (Odessa, Fla.)
on junior Danny Hamblin’s grounder allowed Gentry to score the game’s first
run. Junior Matt LaPorta
(Port
Charlotte, Fla.)
was robbed of a home run in the bottom of the frame on a leaping grab by
Gentry, who snagged the ball as it was heading over the fence.
A two-out
rally by the Razorbacks in the second against Augenstein
resulted in a 2-0 score. Gentry legged out a double to center and Arnold had an infield hit
for runners on the corners before Hamblin poked a RBI single to right field. After
a throwing error on the relay gave UA two men in scoring position, LaPorta made a diving stop on sophomore Brian Walker’s
liner to first to end the frame.
Freshman
Matt Willard walked to begin the fifth and Gentry beat out a bunt for a hit
before Arnold
sacrificed his teammates into scoring position. An RBI grounder from Hamblin
pushed Gentry to third and scored Willard for a 3-0 advantage.
In the
bottom of the frame, junior Gavin Dickey
(Tallahassee, Fla.) pulled the Gators to within 3-2 by
belting his team-leading fifth homer with two down. The previous batter, senior
Stephen Barton (Miami, Fla.),
poked his fourth double down the right-field line and Dickey followed with a
shot to left center just above the 365-foot sign.
Hamblin
reached on an infield single with one down in the eighth, stole second and Walker’s grounder was
misplayed, resulting in runners on the corners. Augenstein
escaped the jam by inducing an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play by freshman
James Ewing.
Dickey was
hit by sophomore Shaun Seibert to start UF’s turn in
the eighth and sophomore Matt Gaski (Greensboro, N.C.)
popped up a bunt into a double play (1-4). Junior Adam Davis (Fort Myers, Fla.)
earned a free pass, prompting a pitching change. Junior Daryl Maday came out of the bullpen for Seibert (2.1 IP, 0H, 2
BB, 1K) and struck out LaPorta. The righty went 1.1 innings to collect his team-leading fifth
save. Gentry and Hamblin were each 2-for-4 for Arkansas, which held a 7-5 advantage in
hits. The series finale will be at noon tomorrow.
Game Notes
- Florida fell to 3-3 in one-run games this season.
- Brandon McArthur’s (0-for-4)
hitting streak ended at six games.
- Matt LaPorta
(0-for-4) is 0-for-6 with two walks since returning to the lineup.
- Bryan Augenstein
has worked seven innings in all six of his starts.
-UF-
