Cade Kurland was dead in the water.
Jammed between first and second base and stuck in a run-down after a pickoff attempt by left-hand Arkansas pitcher Hagen Smith, he looked guaranteed to be out.
But Luke Heyman took off from third.
Churning toward the plate, Arkansas first baseman Ben McLaughlin threw toward third base. The throw ricocheted off the glove of third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott and rolled into the backstop.
Heyman scored, tying the game.
But the Razorbacks came back one inning later and scored the winning run.
The Florida Gators (21-20, 8-11 SEC) lost to the No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (36-6, 15-4) 2-1 Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Florida hasn’t gotten the opportunity to play in many low-scoring games this season. But against a rotation as lofty as Arkansas’, it was expected.
Heading into the weekend, the Razorbacks boasted a 2.91 ERA and .203 batting average against, which ranked best in the SEC in both categories.
Led by Smith, the Razorbacks held the Gators to one run across seven innings. But Florida imitated Smith’s dominance.
Gators left-hander Pierce Coppola produced three impressive innings of one-run baseball. He struck out six batters and gave up just one run on a solo-shot by Arkansas designated hitter Ryder Helfrick.
After surrendering a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, Coppola was taken out for reliever Fisher Jameson. The right-hander was just as strong.
Jameson pitched three scoreless innings and set up freshman reliever Luke McNeillie to finish out the contest.
But the freshman gave up the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
Sprague-Lott hit a sacrifice fly to right field and Gators right fielder Ty Evans couldn’t make a throw to home in time to prevent the winning run.
Overall, Florida’s offense was flagging in the fight. The Gators recorded just three hits and one run on an error. UF struck out 14 times.
Florida will return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Razorbacks and Gators will play a double header because of inclement weather expected Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on X @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
