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.
