Michael Bratton on offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, defensive coordinator Barry Odom talked Saturday on why they aren’t going anywhere.
Bud Light Next Morning Rush Podcast: SEC Mike joins the show!
Tye & Tommy on how The Masters played out, SEC Mike joins, baseball team loses and more!
Hogs drop Saturday slugfest to Gators
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arkansas junior left fielder Zack Gregory tied the score with an extra-base hit twice Saturday afternoon, but the Florida bats could not be stopped.
The Gators scored twice in the eighth to go up 9-7, the eventual final score, beating the Hogs in the game and the series at Florida Ballpark.
Arkansas had not lost a Southeastern Conference series since the last weekend of the 2019 regular season.
The Gators jumped on sophomore right-handed pitcher Jaxon Wiggins in the third inning, stringing four hits together for four runs. Left fielder Wyatt Langford opened the scoring with an infield single, and catcher BT Riopelle took Wiggins deep to center for a three-run homer.
The Razorbacks stormed right back to tie it in the top of the fourth. Senior shortstop Jalen Battles got them on the board with an RBI single, and Gregory cleared the bases with a two-out double two batters latter, prompting Florida to turn to the bullpen.
Wiggins surrendered back-to-back singles in the fifth, and Langford chased him from the game with another three-run blast. In four innings, Wiggins allowed nine hits, two walks and seven earned runs.
Arkansas clawed back with two unearned runs in the sixth, bringing the score to 7-6. Battles led off with a double and scored on an error, and junior second baseman Robert Moore drew a bases-loaded walk.
Senior left-hander Evan Taylor worked a scoreless fifth, and freshman righty Brady Tygart posted a pair of zeros in the sixth and seventh. After they settled things down, Gregory unleashed a mammoth shot to right field with one out in the eighth, knotting the score at seven and triggering another Florida pitching change.
Tygart allowed a leadoff bunt single in the bottom of the frame, and it turned into a run after his throwing error, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. Head coach Dave Van Horn pulled him after a two-out double, which became another run on a single allowed by senior righty Zebulon Vermillion. Tygart was charged with two runs and his first loss of the season.
The Hogs will return to Baum-Walker Stadium for five home games next week, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Arkansas-Pine Bluff will be in town for two, and the Razorbacks will host the LSU Tigers from Thursday to Saturday.
Hogs offensive coordinator Kendal Briles after Saturday’s practice
Talking with media about Razorbacks’ personnel, schemes and detailed position analysis heading to spring’s final week.
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom after Saturday morning’s spring practice
Personnel moves, what they’ve been improving on and even why he’s content being defensive coordinator in Fayetteville.
Gators down Razorbacks, even series
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arkansas could not collect a clutch hit to save its life Friday night at Florida Ballpark, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and falling 7-2 to the Gators as the home team evened the series.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Hagen Smith never settled down after a two-run first inning for Florida. He surrendered a double and a pair of long fly balls, one which senior center fielder Braydon Webb robbed, and one which did get over the fence for a home run. Florida struck twice more in the second, cashing in on a leadoff walk and an error by freshman first baseman Peyton Stovall.
Catcher BT Riopelle took Smith deep to right-center field in the third inning, making it a 5-0 ballgame.
After rally-killing double plays in the second and third innings, the Razorbacks finally got a run across in the fifth. Senior shortstop Jalen Battles led off with a single, advanced to third on another by Stovall and scored when the throw to second went awry.
The Gators responded with two more runs of their own in the home half. Riopelle hit a sacrifice fly to chase Smith from the game after 4.1 innings, in which he allowed seven hits, two walks and seven runs, six of which were earned. The final Florida run came on an RBI double by first baseman Kendrick Calilao off of Razorback sophomore righty Gabriel Starks.
Following two outs from Starks in the fifth, senior right-hander Kole Ramage took care of the remaining nine outs. He struck out the side in the sixth, erased a one-out single with a double play in the seventh and got all three hitters he faced in the eighth to bounce out.
Senior designated hitter Brady Slavens cut the deficit to five runs in the eighth with a two-out RBI triple, but that was the last hit of the contest for the Razorbacks.
The two teams will square off once again at noon Saturday to decide the series. Arkansas sophomore right-hander Jaxon Wiggins will get the start, and the game will stream live on the SEC Network+.
D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers on Razorbacks’ starting pitchers
Even with Peyton Pallette out, Hagen Smith and Jaxon Wiggins making up for it by eating up innings this year.
Aaron Torres thinks fans shouldn’t be so quick to think Jaylin Williams gone
Fox Sports Radio doesn’t think it’s a lock Williams is gone and Hogs would be a really solid team if he’s back.
Halftime Pod Presented by Eastside Liquor: Torres, Rogers
Muss Remakes Hogs; Hey Phil!?; Connor Noland’s Journey; Hogs Beat Gators; The Golden Hour
Guests- Aaron Torres & Kendall Rogers
Scott Tabor says Connor Noland has figured out how to handle ‘the little guy’
What radio analyst Bubba Carpenter refers to the voice hitters listen to is wrong facing Hogs’ pitching ace.
