Florida’s offense was asleep for the first three innings on Thursday night.
Arkansas’ Dominic Taccolini cruised along through the first three frames, allowing just one runner to reach base and retiring seven in a row at one point.
The offense woke up in the fourth.
UF scored six runs on five hits and sent 10 batters to the plate as No. 3 Florida (31-5, 9-4 Southeastern Conference) beat the Razorbacks 12-8 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to open the three-game series.
Josh Alberius replaced Taccolini with the bases loaded, and Peter Alonso made him pay right away.
The junior first baseman ripped a two-RBI single to left field to give Florida a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Jonathan India laced an RBI double to triple UF’s lead. Mike Rivera and Nelson Maldonado also added doubles to cap off the scoring.
Florida followed up the fourth by scoring at least one run in each of the final five innings.
The run support was more than enough for A.J. Puk.
Making his first start in almost two weeks, Puk was effectively wild during his outing. He tossed five innings, striking out nine hitters and walking three.
Puk (2-2) was pulled after just 10 pitches in his last start against Texas A&M on April 3, but he threw 98 pitches on Thursday night, touching 97 mph on his fastball and mixing in his slider.
Arkansas (21-13, 4-9, SEC) made a game out of it in the bottom of the eighth. The Razorbacks scored five runs off of Florida’s relievers, highlighted by a three-run home run from Grant Koch. UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan had to bring in closer Shaun Anderson, who immediately uncorked a wild pitch and allowed a runner to score from second.
The junior righty settled down, striking out Luke Bonfield to end the eighth. Chad Spanberger added a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off of Anderson before he closed the game.
Game 2 of the series is set for 7:35 p.m. on Friday. Logan Shore is scheduled to start for the Gators.
Contact Luis Torres at ltorres@alligator.org and you can follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.
UF's A.J. Puk pitches during Florida's 8-4 win on Feb. 20, 2016, at McKethan Stadium.
