Gators Baseball Snags Series Opener Against Arkansas

The second ranked Florida baseball team took the first game of a three game series at Arkansas Thursday night with a 12-6 win.  Florida is now 31-5 on the season and 9-4 in conference play.

The Gators would be the first to get on the board in a big way, scoring six runs  in the fourth inning. To get things started, Decon Liput would single up the middle and advance to second on a wild pitch. After walking two, Arkansas pitcher Dominic Taccolini was relieved by Josh Alberius. Peter Alonso would then single to left field bringing in Buddy Reed and Liput. Jonathan India doubled home a run and Mike Rivera doubled home two as well.  Nelson Maldanado joined the double parade too, driving in the final run of the frame.

Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan says the Gator offense was the best he’s seen all season. 

The Razorbacks answered with two runs in the fifth off Florida starter AJ Puk but the Gators would continue to score runs, scoring in every inning until the end of the game.  It turned out to be a good thing for the Gators as the Razorbacks scored five runs in the eighth inning to make it interesting.  Both teams scored a run in the ninth but Shaun Anderson came out of the bullpen to secure the win for Florida.

AJ Puk would pitch five innings for the Gators to get the win in his first start since tweaking his back a couple of weeks ago; he struck out nine in the game.  Frank Rubio relieved and pitched a scoreless inning and O’Sullivan says Rubio went out and did his job and needs that effort from the rest of the relievers to make sure the bullpen is pitching well.

The Gators will start Logan Shore on Friday and O’Sullivan believes his team will continue to play well.