Saturday March 25, 2000Baseball Wins Third Straight, Beats Arkansas in 10
Fayetteville, Ark.
Baseball Headline
The Florida baseball team needed extra innings for the second consecutive
day to take an 8-7 victory in 10 innings over Arkansas Saturday in front
of 2,447 fans at Baum Stadium. Florida (17-13, 4-4 in the Southeastern
Conference) defeated Arkansas 8-7 in 11 innings in the series opener
Friday.
Designated hitter Jason Dill provided the key hit in the game with a run- scoring double with two outs in the 10th inning to score Mark Kiger, who had walked to lead off the inning. Kiger had advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Siegel.
“It is a good feeling,” said Jason Dill on Saturday’s win. “But, the weekend is not over yet.”
Joey Simon (3-2) picked up the win in relief, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings while allowing just one hit. Simon was one of five Florida pitchers on the day. UF starter Craig Mosher allowed just four hits in a career-high six innings, giving up four runs (three earned).
Florida struggled to hold any significant lead with three ties over the first six innings. UF led 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before giving up three runs to Arkansas (15-14, 2-6) in the seventh inning.
The Arkansas seventh started with an error by UF’s Spencer Williams, who dropped a fly ball after entering the game for Tim Olson. Reliever Eddie Rojas then allowed back-to-back singles to tie the game at 4. After a strikeout by new pitcher Jay Belflower, Kyle Washburn singled to take the lead with the second run of the inning. Two walks loaded the bases and forced the third run of the inning across the plate for a 6-4 Arkansas lead.
The Gators responded with three runs in the eighth with the help of three Razorback errors to take its fifth one-run lead at 7-6. Arkansas’ Greg Blum then tied it at 7 with a solo home run off Kenny Birch to open the bottom of the eighth inning.
Both teams has runners on base in the ninth but failed to plate the go- ahead run before Dill’s 10th inning single.
Florida will attempt to complete the sweep with the final game of the series Sunday at 2 p.m.
Designated hitter Jason Dill provided the key hit in the game with a run- scoring double with two outs in the 10th inning to score Mark Kiger, who had walked to lead off the inning. Kiger had advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Siegel.
“It is a good feeling,” said Jason Dill on Saturday’s win. “But, the weekend is not over yet.”
Joey Simon (3-2) picked up the win in relief, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings while allowing just one hit. Simon was one of five Florida pitchers on the day. UF starter Craig Mosher allowed just four hits in a career-high six innings, giving up four runs (three earned).
Florida struggled to hold any significant lead with three ties over the first six innings. UF led 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before giving up three runs to Arkansas (15-14, 2-6) in the seventh inning.
The Arkansas seventh started with an error by UF’s Spencer Williams, who dropped a fly ball after entering the game for Tim Olson. Reliever Eddie Rojas then allowed back-to-back singles to tie the game at 4. After a strikeout by new pitcher Jay Belflower, Kyle Washburn singled to take the lead with the second run of the inning. Two walks loaded the bases and forced the third run of the inning across the plate for a 6-4 Arkansas lead.
The Gators responded with three runs in the eighth with the help of three Razorback errors to take its fifth one-run lead at 7-6. Arkansas’ Greg Blum then tied it at 7 with a solo home run off Kenny Birch to open the bottom of the eighth inning.
Both teams has runners on base in the ninth but failed to plate the go- ahead run before Dill’s 10th inning single.
Florida will attempt to complete the sweep with the final game of the series Sunday at 2 p.m.
