A.J. Puk started to walk off the mound.
He thought his two-out pitch had sealed it — a breaking ball down and away that just grazed the outside corner of the strike zone.
But the home-plate umpire didn’t agree, and Puk would have to throw three more pitches for Arkansas’s Michael Berna to fly out to center field and end the top of the seventh.
No. 4 seed Florida sealed the game in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs to run-rule No. 5 seed Arkansas 10-0 on Friday. In the first complete-game shutout of his career, Puk (8-3) struck out eleven batters to eliminate Arkansas and advance UF into the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
“That’s three out of the last four weekends he has thrown like that.,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in a release. “He had command of all three pitches... he competed and did a great job.”
Seven UF starters recorded a hit and six players scored at least one run as the Gators (42-16) hit .407, their highest batting average since April 26.
The Razorbacks (35-22) tallied just three hits and couldn’t duplicate their last win against the Gators, when they rallied from a three-run deficit to beat UF 7-6 on Wednesday.
“I think for us the whole thing is about being consistent. That’s two nights in a row where we’ve swung the bats really well and it’s been two really good starts by Logan (Shore) and by A.J.,” O’Sullivan said. “... We’ve swung the bat fairly well the whole year, but to put these performances back-to-back, that’s a step in the right direction.”
Josh Tobias put the Gators up 1-0 in the first inning after he grounded out to first base, sending Dalton Guthrie home from third.
UF scored five runs in the third inning after a single from Richie Martin, a sacrifice fly from Peter Alonso, an Arkansas infield error and a Jeremy Vasquez groundout.
JJ Schwarz increased UF’s lead to 7-0 in the fifth inning after scoring Alonso from third, and the Gators tacked on three more runs in the seventh to run-rule the Razorbacks.
Florida will face No. 1-seed LSU on Saturday after Vanderbilt and Texas A&M play at noon.
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A.J. Puk pitches during Florida's 7-2 loss to Miami on Feb. 21 at McKethan Stadium.
