Florida sweeps No. 4 Razorbacks, exposing pitching, hitting woes

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Florida sweeps No. 4 Razorbacks, exposing pitching, hitting woes

Dave Van Horn has built one of the most consistent programs in college baseball at Arkansas. He knows how to fix things.

But after Florida completed a three-game sweep at Baum-Walker Stadium on Sunday, winning the finale 7-6, there’s no sugarcoating what needs fixing and it starts with the pitching staff and an offense that’s gone quiet at the worst possible times.

The Razorbacks fell to 19-10 overall and 4-5 in SEC play, dropping below .500 in conference games for the first time this season.

It’s the first time an SEC opponent has swept Arkansas at home since Alabama did it in 2016, a season that ended without an NCAA Tournament bid.

Outside of that year, no team had swept the Hogs in a three-game home series since South Carolina in 2010.

Van Horn didn’t have many answers on Sunday. Neither did his pitching staff.

Starting pitching has become serious problem

The most pressing issue Van Horn’s got to solve is what’s happening with his starting rotation.

Across all three games of the Florida series, Arkansas starters combined for just 7⅓ innings of work. That’s not a recipe for winning in the SEC, and Sunday was another example of how bad it’s gotten.

Lefty Colin Fisher got the ball for Game 3 and didn’t make it out of the third inning. He lasted just 2⅓ frames and allowed three earned runs before Van Horn had to go to the bullpen.

It’s been a sharp decline for Fisher who went at least five innings in each of his first three starts this season, but he hasn’t completed the fifth inning in four straight appearances since.

His ERA over that four-start stretch has ballooned to 8.10.

Florida left fielder Blake Cyr got to Fisher right away, hitting an RBI single in the first inning to give the Gators an early lead.

After that, it was just a matter of damage control — and Arkansas couldn’t do enough of it.

Tate McGuire came on in relief and promptly gave up back-to-back home runs to Florida shortstop Brendan Lawson and first baseman Ethan Surowiec to lead off the fifth inning.

Those two solo shots pushed the Gators to a 5-2 lead and took the air out of Baum-Walker. Lawson and Surowiec combined to go 8-for-10 on the day and Van Horn’s pitchers had no answer for them.

Ethan McElvain took over later in the game and walked three straight batters in the seventh before working out of the jam.

The bullpen did enough to keep Arkansas close, but the early damage from the starters was too much to overcome.

Walk improvement that came too late

One area that showed some progress Sunday was walk prevention. Arkansas pitchers had issued an alarming 18 walks to Florida across the first two games of the series.

On Sunday, they held the Gators to just three free passes — though all three came in the same seventh-inning sequence with McElvain on the mound.

Still, it didn’t change the bigger picture. Florida sent all nine starters to the plate and every one of them reached base with at least one hit.

The Gators finished with a season-high 17 hits on the day. Van Horn’s pitching staff simply didn’t have enough to slow them down, even with fewer walks in the mix.

Offense isn’t getting job done either

While the pitching’s been the bigger headline, the Razorbacks’ offense has its own issues that Van Horn’s got to work through.

Arkansas managed to keep things interesting Sunday.

They brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh and eighth innings and had the winning run at the plate in the ninth, but the Hogs couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it most.

Kuhio Aloy is a prime example of the offensive inconsistency Van Horn’s dealing with.

Coming into Sunday, Aloy had gone 2-for-his-last-18 at the plate. He did finish 2-for-4 with a home run Sunday — his second since February 22 and his first multi-hit game since March 2 against Stetson — which nudged his season average back to .284.

But he also grounded into a key 5-4-3 double play in the sixth that killed an Arkansas rally, even though a run scored on the play.

Van Horn made a notable lineup change Sunday in an attempt to shake things up.

With Maika Niu scratched from the starting lineup due to illness, he inserted true freshman Carter Rutenbar into the leadoff spot for the first time in his career. The move paid off.

Rutenbar reached base three times on a walk and two singles and forced Florida starter Russell Sandefer to throw him 22 pitches across three plate appearances — more than a quarter of Sandefer’s 83 total pitches on the day.

Helfrick provides bright spot, but it’s not enough

Ryder Helfrick gave Razorback fans something to cheer about in the seventh.

After going just 1-for-10 in the series entering that at-bat, Helfrick connected on a two-run home run off Florida reliever Luke McNeillie to pull Arkansas within one. It was his eighth homer of the season and briefly made things very interesting at Baum-Walker.

Florida answered back in the top of the eighth when second baseman Cade Kurland singled to left to score Lawson and push the lead back to two.

Aloy’s home run in the bottom half made it a one-run game again, setting up a tense final two innings.

The ninth inning came down to one at-bat. After two quick strikeouts to open the frame, Rutenbar singled to extend the game.

Pinch runner TJ Pompey entered for Rutenbar, stole second and advanced to third on a catcher’s error by Florida’s Carson Bowen. The tying run stood 90 feet away with Helfrick at the plate.

Helfrick struck out swinging. The Gators had their sweep.

Florida left 12 men on base throughout the game, giving Arkansas every opportunity to pull off a win.

The Hogs couldn’t take advantage.

What Van Horn has to fix before Auburn

Arkansas doesn’t get much time to regroup.

The Razorbacks head out on a four-game road trip starting Tuesday at Missouri State, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

The bigger test comes over the weekend when the Hogs travel to Auburn for another SEC series.

Van Horn’s got real work to do before then.

The starting rotation has to stabilize, the lineup needs more consistent production up and down the order and the Hogs can’t afford to let pitching leads evaporate the way they did all weekend against Florida.

At 4-5 in SEC play, the margin for error is shrinking fast.

 

Razorbacks can’t stop walking Florida, now facing series sweep

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks can’t stop walking Florida, now facing series sweep

The walks keep piling up, and so do the losses.

Arkansas dropped a 7-4 game to No. 25 Florida on Saturday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, losing for the second straight day in a series that’s exposed a rare and glaring vulnerability in an otherwise sharp pitching staff.

An announced crowd of 9,847 watched the Razorbacks fall to 19-9 overall and 4-4 in SEC play, while the Gators improved to 22-6 and 5-3 in conference action.

Florida’s won its first series in Fayetteville since 2016, and it’ll have a chance to complete the sweep Sunday at noon.

“We can’t get this one back,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “The best we can do is 1-2, so let’s try to get to 1-2 and move on.”

Seven Arkansas pitchers combined to throw just 91 of 169 pitches for strikes — a 53.8% rate — and gave the Gators far too many free passes for the second consecutive game.

One day after walking 10 batters and hitting two more in the series opener, the Hogs walked eight and hit two more Saturday, totaling 10 free passes in the loss.

It marked the first time since May 10-11, 2024, against Mississippi State that the Razorbacks had given up double-digit free passes in back-to-back games.

“Walks have been the big problem the last two days,” Van Horn said. “We haven’t really seen it from this staff, but yeah, it’s been a problem.”

Free passes fuel the Gators

Entering the weekend, Arkansas had averaged 2.97 walks per nine innings — the fourth-best mark in the country.

Eighteen of the team’s 92 walks issued in 28 games have come during the Florida series alone, a startling 19.6% of the season’s total stuffed into just two games.

Walks contributed to every one of Florida’s run-scoring innings. The Gators broke on top 2-0 in the second when Blake Cyr led off with a double and Cade Kurland followed with a walk against starter Hunter Dietz.

A hit batter and Kyle Jones’ two-run single to center made it a two-run Gator lead.

Arkansas answered in the same inning with a pair of two-out singles. Nolan Souza singled, swiped second and scored on Reese Robinett’s single up the middle to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Hogs took their first lead of the series in the third inning, loading the bases with nobody out on a Carter Rutenbar walk, a Damian Ruiz single and a Camden Kozeal bunt single. Rutenbar scored on a wild pitch, and Ryder Helfrick’s sacrifice fly plated Ruiz to push Arkansas ahead 3-2.

Florida right fielder Ashton Wilson — who’d entered the game as an injury replacement just one inning earlier — made a diving catch to rob Zack Stewart of a hit and keep the damage to just two runs.

“We never really got the big hit,” Van Horn said.

King battles, then Eaves struggles

Florida starter Aidan King — statistically the Gators’ best starter and a first-round prospect for the 2027 MLB Draft — was knocked out in the fourth inning after allowing three runs, five hits and two walks while striking out three in 3⅔ innings.

“King, he has an ERA of [1.97] for a reason, because he pitches around the knees,” Van Horn said. “He had the perfect umpire for him today calling that low strike. It kind of became a guessing game a little bit; one time it was, one time it wasn’t, but he took advantage of it.”

Dietz meanwhile exited after four-plus innings, having allowed three runs, five hits and four walks. He threw just 48 of 88 pitches for strikes. Van Horn had hoped Dietz could manage five innings, but a leadoff walk to begin the fifth — none of the four pitches close to the zone — forced his hand.

“In a perfect world we wanted Dietz to get us through the fifth inning,” Van Horn said. “He goes out and throws four straight balls, none of them even close. That was difficult.”

Reliever Steele Eaves came on and immediately threw a balk that advanced the runner. Cade Aurland’s RBI single tied it at 3-3, then Cole Stanford went the other way and launched a 406-foot home run to left field that gave Florida a 5-3 advantage it wouldn’t relinquish.

The eighth puts it away

The Gators tacked on two more in the eighth against Jackson Kircher.

Jacob Kendall’s pinch-hit single and a Jones walk set the table, and Tyre Briscoe entered for his SEC debut only to issue a four-pitch walk that loaded the bases.

James DeCremer induced a double-play ball that scored Kendall, and Karson Bowen — Florida’s cleanup-hitting catcher — doubled to center to score Jones and push the lead to 7-3.

Bowen’s been the difference-maker in this series, going 5-for-9 with three runs and three RBI in the first two games.

“He’s just a really good hitter,” Van Horn said. “He’s hitting in the middle of the order for a reason. He’s jumped a couple of first-pitch fastballs and hammered them into the gap. He hasn’t swung at a lot of stuff out of the zone. That’s the key to hitting: You’ve got to know the strike zone.”

Arkansas made it briefly interesting in the bottom of the eighth when Helfrick and Stewart reached on back-to-back errors by Florida’s left side of the infield.

Helfrick scored on a wild pitch, and Robinett drew a two-out walk to bring the tying run to the plate. But Kuhio Aloy’s high chopper to third base was fielded cleanly by Sam Miller — who’d committed one of the Gators’ three errors on the night — and his strong throw to first ended the threat.

Florida closer Joshua Whritenhour then threw scoreless eighth and ninth innings to record his fourth save of the season, his second against the Razorbacks.

Van Horn summed up Florida’s approach at the plate in a way that doubles as a critique of his own staff’s command this weekend.

“There’s a reason that plate is the size it is and they’ve got to throw it over that, or at least close,” Van Horn said. “That seems to be what they’ve done a lot better job of this weekend than we’ve done.”

Game three of the series is set for Sunday at noon, with the Razorbacks looking to avoid the sweep and salvage one on their home field.

Razorbacks’ pitching struggles in 9-4 series-opening loss to Florida

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks’ pitching struggles in 9-4 series-opening loss to Florida

It was supposed to be a celebratory evening at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Razorbacks wore throwback uniforms and caps to honor legendary former coach Norm DeBriyn, who was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class.

The packed Friday night crowd was ready to celebrate. But the baseball itself didn’t cooperate.

No. 4 Arkansas, entering the night at 19-8 overall and 4-3 in SEC play, dropped a 9-4 decision to Florida (also 21-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play) in the opening game of the weekend series at Baum-Walker Stadium on Norm DeBriyn Legends Weekend.

The loss stung, not just because of the opponent but because of how it came apart — one walk, one hit batter, one shaky inning at a time.

The Razorbacks’ pitching staff issued a season-high ten free passes on the night.

Against a Florida lineup that didn’t need much help, that kind of generosity proved costly from the very first inning.

Florida tagged Arkansas starter Gabe Gaeckle for three runs on one hit and four walks in just 1.1 innings of work, giving the Gators an early lead.

Gaeckle’s command wasn’t there from the jump, and Florida made him pay for every miss.

Three runs before the second inning was done set an uncomfortable tone for the home team.

The Hogs needed someone to stop the bleeding fast, and Cole Gibler answered the call.

Gibler emerged from the bullpen in the top of the second inning and turned in a career-long 4.2 frames of two-run ball, adding three walks and five strikeouts to keep Arkansas within striking distance.

It was a gutsy stretch from the reliever. The kind that keeps a dugout from going completely quiet. But the walks the pitching staff kept issuing would prove to be too much to overcome as the game moved along.

Missed Chances Cost the Hogs Early

While the pitching struggled, the offense had its own issues — specifically against Florida starter Liam Peterson.

Peterson worked four scoreless innings and issued six walks while striking out seven, but the Razorbacks couldn’t capitalize despite having him on the ropes multiple times.

That’s a frustrating combination for any offense to deal with.

Peterson wasn’t untouchable — six walks prove he wasn’t always commanding the zone — but Arkansas kept coming up empty when opportunity knocked.

You don’t get unlimited chances in SEC baseball, and the Hogs let too many of theirs go to waste.

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Ryder Helfrick launched a two-run home run against Florida relief pitcher Ernesto Lugo-Canchola to pull the Razorbacks back within two. It felt like a turning point.

Momentum shifted briefly toward the home dugout, and the crowd at Baum-Walker came alive.

But the Hogs couldn’t string anything else together in that inning, and the lead stayed at two heading into the later frames.

A two-run home run in the top of the seventh re-extended Florida’s advantage to four, but consecutive two-out RBI doubles by Carter Rutenbar and Reese Robinett in the bottom of the eighth brought Arkansas back within two runs.

Two runs down with a chance to tie and the stadium was buzzing again. It was exactly the kind of situation where a program like Arkansas has the experience to pull through.

But the window slammed shut in a hurry.

The Gators put the game away in the top of the ninth with a three-run frame to push the final margin to 9-4.

Florida took advantage of two hit batsmen in that closing inning, capping off a night where the Arkansas pitching staff issued a season-high 10 free passes total.

When you hand a quality SEC opponent that many baserunners across nine innings, winning becomes nearly impossible. Friday made that clear.

Helfrick and Niu Stay Consistent at the Plate

Even in a losing effort, a couple of Razorbacks found ways to produce. Maika Niu went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, recording his team-leading 13th multi-hit game of the season.

Niu’s steady presence at the plate has been one of the quieter stories of the Hogs’ spring, and he kept that going Friday even when the offense around him went cold at critical moments.

Helfrick went 1-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and two walks, extending his team-leading reached base streak to 26 consecutive games while raising his season slash line to.310/.488/.598 with seven home runs and 21 RBI.

He’s been one of the most dependable offensive players in the SEC this spring, and Friday was no different.

His two-run shot in the fifth gave the stadium a jolt of energy — it just wasn’t enough to flip the outcome.

The rest of the lineup had its moments but couldn’t deliver when it mattered most.

Arkansas left too many runners stranded against a Florida pitching staff that found ways to work out of trouble, and the Gators made the Hogs pay on the other end of the field every time the Razorbacks’ pitchers lost the zone.

Saturday Gives the Hogs a Chance to Even It Up

The series isn’t over. It’s 1-0 in Florida’s favor, and Arkansas has shown the ability to bounce back in tough spots this season.

Left-hander Hunter Dietz, who carries a 2-2 record and a 3.86 ERA, is set to take the mound Saturday for the Razorbacks against Florida right-hander Aidan King, who comes in at 3-2 with a 1.27 ERA.

King’s ERA ranks among the best in the conference, so the Arkansas offense will need to be sharper and more decisive than it was against Peterson if it wants to make Saturday a different story.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. Fans without cable access can still catch the action through the SEC Network streaming platform.

There’s also some recent history worth keeping in mind.

Arkansas has won two straight home weekend series against Florida at Baum-Walker Stadium in 2021 and 2024 and hasn’t dropped a home weekend series to the Gators since 2016.

It wasn’t the night anyone wearing Razorback red had in mind on Norm DeBriyn Legends Weekend.

479 Equipment Ruscin & Zach podcast March 27

Derek Ruscin
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479 Equipment Ruscin & Zach podcast March 27

We talk about where Arkansas goes from here following the loss to Arizona.

Ruscin has nothing to say about all the nonsense in the second half (because he was asleep)

Candles are no longer for sale.

Plus the polls and more.

Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres looking at teams reaching Elite Eight games

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres looking at teams reaching Elite Eight games

After Razorbacks ran into a very good Arizona team, what his thoughts are on players and remainder of March Madness shaking out.

BetSaracen’s Neal Atkinson on NCAA Tournament having big interest

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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BetSaracen’s Neal Atkinson on NCAA Tournament having big interest

How interest in Razorbacks was big in Sweet 16, but still staying high in other games across the tournament.

Former Razorback James Teague on Hogs’ run in NCAA, Florida series

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Former Razorback James Teague on Hogs’ run in NCAA, Florida series

How baseball pitcher watched Sweet 16 performance and players make it to high level again in basketball plus some baseball talk.

Eastside Liquor Halftime Podcast: 3.27.26

Christian Johnston
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Eastside Liquor Halftime Podcast: 3.27.26

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 3-27-26

Colton Little
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 3-27-26

Razorbacks’ radio analyst Bubba Carpenter on big weekend series

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks’ radio analyst Bubba Carpenter on big weekend series

With Hogs facing Florida, maybe the biggest event will be celebrating what former coach Norm DeBriyn accomplished building the program.

Arizona ends Razorbacks season again with 109-88 Sweet 16 blowout

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arizona ends Razorbacks season again with 109-88 Sweet 16 blowout

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Darius Acuff gave it everything he had.

The SEC Player of the Year and projected NBA lottery pick poured in 28 points Thursday night at SAP Center. Meleek Thomas added 17.

Billy Richmond chipped in 13 before getting thrown out of the game late. And none of it mattered one bit.

Arizona was simply on another level.

The top-seeded Wildcats rolled past fourth-seeded Arkansas 109-88 in the Sweet 16, sending the Hogs home for the second consecutive March. It’s the kind of loss that stings not just because of the defeat but because of how one-sided it was from the very first possession.

Eighteen seconds into the game, Arizona had the lead. It never gave it back.

For a Razorbacks squad that’d won seven straight games heading into San Jose and finished 28-9 — a record that tied for the program’s best since the 1994-95 national runner-up team went 32-7 — this wasn’t the ending anyone in Fayetteville had in mind.

Paint points told whole story

If you want to understand how Thursday night unfolded, start in the paint.

Arizona came in averaging 42 paint points per game. Against the Hogs, the Wildcats had 15 layups and seven dunks and outscored Arkansas 60-50 in the lane. That’s not a team getting lucky. That’s a team doing exactly what it wanted, exactly when it wanted to do it.

Six Arizona players finished with at least 14 points. Brayden Burries led the way with 23, including an and-1 conversion that put the Wildcats up 65-47 early in the second half. Jaden Bradley’s layup and another Burries 3-pointer later fueled a 9-2 run that stretched Arizona’s lead to 78-57 with 13:19 remaining.

After that, it was over in every way but the clock.

The final margin of 109-88 tied for the sixth-most lopsided loss in Arkansas Tournament history and set a new record for most points ever allowed by the Razorbacks in the postseason. The previous mark was 108 — set by North Carolina in a 2008 second-round game.

Arkansas never found footing

The Hogs didn’t help themselves early, and Arizona made them pay for every mistake.

By the second media timeout of the first half, the Wildcats had sprinted to a 26-15 lead while shooting 77% from the field. Tobe Awaka’s dunk pushed it to 46-31 with 3:46 left in the half.

Arkansas found a little offensive rhythm over those final few minutes but couldn’t get stops, and Arizona went into halftime ahead 54-43.

The Razorbacks weren’t going to get a soft start to the second half either. Arizona opened with an 11-4 run and the gap only grew from there.

The closest Arkansas got after the midpoint was 14 points — on Acuff free throws with 15:18 to play — before the Wildcats responded with that decisive 9-2 push.

The Hogs never got within 17 points again. Arizona led by as many as 25 before it was done.

Chaotic finish made rough night rougher

As the second half wore on and the outcome became clear, things got messy on the Arkansas side.

Fouls dominated the final stretch, with Arizona holding a 25-16 edge in calls.

Trevon Brazile drew a Flagrant 1 on an offensive rebound attempt. Zvonimir Pringle — who’d returned from a hamstring injury after missing the Hogs’ first two Tournament games — played 18 minutes, scored 6 points and fouled out with seven minutes left.

He also picked up a technical for bouncing the ball hard after a foul call.

Richmond’s night ended even earlier with a Flagrant 2 ejection on what looked like a flop by Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenkov.

Coach John Calipari drew the game’s final technical with 5:38 remaining for something said from the bench. He didn’t say another word to the officials for the rest of the night.

End of an era for Acuff

If Thursday was indeed Acuff’s last college game — and given his NBA Draft trajectory, it almost certainly was — he didn’t go quietly.

His 28 points were a reminder of what made him the SEC’s best player this season. But even that performance couldn’t change what this night was.

Arkansas fought through a special season, won seven straight to close the regular year and gave its fans plenty of reasons to feel good about where this program’s headed.

But Arizona was a different animal Thursday — deeper, more physical and more locked in than anything the Hogs had faced all year.

The Wildcats move on to face Purdue in the Elite Eight on Saturday at 7:49 p.m. Central on TBS with a Final Four berth waiting for the winner.

The Razorbacks move on too. Just not in the direction they wanted.

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