Here's another story I'm sure no one will read...
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Quiet bats and poor pitching led to another early deficit and a quick exit from the SEC Tournament by Arkansas.
Florida jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then hung on for a 7-5 win over the Razorbacks in an elimination game at the Hoover Met on Friday, ending their trip to Hoover after just two games.
It marked the eighth straight game Arkansas found itself down by at least three runs within the first five innings and extended its losing streak to four games. The Razorbacks are now 2-6 in their last eight games and 8-11 over the last six weeks.
“It's not like we've fallen apart, it's just that we haven't done enough to win,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It's like I always tell the players — winning is hard, losing is easy. You have to do something special sometimes to win, and we didn't do anything special this week.”
Jac Caglianone delivered the two biggest swings for the Gators early on.
With runners on second and third and no outs in the second, he swung at the first pitch he saw from Connor Noland and hit it right back up the middle for a two-run single.
It was still 2-0 when the freshman led off the fifth inning with his second at bat of the game. This time, he took a strike before taking Noland deep for his fifth home run of the season.
A couple of batters later, Colby Halter hit a two-out blast and BT Riopelle added an RBI double to make it 5-0 Florida.
Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, the Gators weren’t done. Immediately after giving up two runs in the top of the sixth, allowing Arkansas to creep back into it, Florida answered with a leadoff home run by Jud Fabian — his 21st of the season — and RBI single by Halter to push its lead back to five.
“They come in, we scored two, they scored two, and that's got to be our shut-down inning to really have a chance to get back in the game,” Van Horn said. “I thought their hitters did a really good job of laying off some borderline pitches early in the count and worked the count and got a good pitch to hit. We just couldn't catch them.”
Arkansas made it interesting with a few runs in the ninth inning, but as Van Horn said, the margin was too much to overcome.
Here are a few other key takeaways from Friday’s loss…
Relying on the Long Ball (Again)
For the first five innings, Arkansas couldn’t get much of anything going at the plate. It got leadoff singles in the second and fourth innings and two-out walks in the third and fifth, but never advanced to second base.
Over that stretch, the Razorbacks went just 2 for 17 with eight strikeouts against Florida starter Nick Pogue. (In two games at the SEC Tournament, Arkansas went just 5 for 34 with 12 strikeouts and only one run in the first five innings.)
“We got off to a really slow start offensively and you've got to give credit to Pogue for that,” Van Horn said. “He just threw a lot of strikes, got ahead of us. We couldn't get a big hit off of him early.”
With his pitch count at 84, Pogue went back out in the sixth and Arkansas immediately made Florida pay for the decision. Cayden Wallace hit the first pitch of the inning over the left field wall and Michael Turner hit the third pitch over the right field wall. The back-to-back solo shots pulled Arkansas within 5-2.
After failing to do anything with a leadoff base runner the next two innings, Jalen Battles walked to start the ninth inning and eventually came around to score on a passed ball. Zack Gregory worked a two-out walk, as well, setting the stage for Braydon Webb’s two-run home run that made it 7-5.
The offensive performance was on par with what the Razorbacks have done most of the year, particularly since the Ole Miss series. In the 15 games since then, they have scored 48 of their 80 runs via the long ball — a whopping 60 percent.
“The situation today, we really didn't have like a runner at third and one out where we needed to drive man by putting a bat on the ball,” Van Horn said. “We didn't strike out, pop up and not score. Home runs are obviously good.
“But if you're going to add to leads, get leads, put teams away, you've got to be able to score other ways. The last couple of games we scored by hitting home runs.”
Noland’s Outing
For the 12th time in its last 17 games against SEC competition, Arkansas’ starting pitcher failed to last at least five innings. It was Noland, the team’s ace, on Friday.
The senior right-hander managed to face the minimum three times and was sitting at just 56 pitches through the first four innings.
He did give up three straight hits to start the second inning that resulted in a couple of runs, but it wasn’t until the fifth that he ran into real problems. He gave up the two solo home runs and issued a four-pitch walk before being pulled after 4 2/3 innings.
That runner eventually scored on a double allowed by Evan Taylor, so Noland was charged with five earned runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
It was the third straight start in which he’s allowed five earned runs, his fifth straight allowing at least six hits and the third time in four starts that he failed to get through the fifth.
Over his last five starts, Noland has given up 22 earned runs in just 26 innings, causing his ERA to balloon from 2.54 to 4.07. Opponents are hitting .343 (37 for 108) against him over that stretch.
“I think the scouting report is getting out a little bit,” Turner said. “He goes to that curveball a lot, and if he can't locate the fastball it's almost like we're more confident in throwing the curveball for a strike.
“Once they start sitting on it like that… I think we're going to talk this week, he's got to be able to get that fastball over for a strike. We'll make the adjustment. He'll be back.”
Other Starters Get Work
With the Razorbacks down by five and the prospect of another game in Hoover looking bleak, Van Horn opted to get his other two primary starters — Hagen Smith and Jaxon Wiggins — some work out of the bullpen.
Smith worked around a two-out hit batter and struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning. Wiggins issued a pair of two-out walks, but notched his second strikeout against Sterlin Thompson to end the threat without giving up a run.
Van Horn said he wanted both of them to get some work ahead of next week’s regional.
“That's what we were trying to do,” Van Horns said. “We were losing, four, five runs, and we wanted to get Hagen at least an inning and then also Jaxon Wiggins an inning. … They all got to get on the mound this week. They have a little extra time to rest this week and have a little bullpen session and get ready for whatever gets put in front of us.”
Early Exit by Tygart
Another pitcher who was used outside of his normal role was Brady Tygart, as the closer came in the game in the sixth inning.
He promptly gave up a home run and hit a couple of batters sandwiched around a strikeout before motioning to the dugout that he needed to come out of the game.
It was a scene reminiscent of Peyton Pallette’s early exit against Florida late last season, but the SEC Network later reported that it was not an arm injury, but rather that he just wasn’t feeling well. According to the SEC Network, his mother said he was feeling “dizzy and faint.”
Van Horn echoed the sentiment that Tygart was not hurt and should be fine moving forward.
“Obviously in the middle of the diamond right there, he had a little rubbery legs, so we got him out,” Van Horn said. “Coach just went out to the mound, he should have just told him I don't feel good, and then there wouldn't have been that much drama, but guys want to try to stay in, tough it out, but sometimes that's not the right thing to do. He'll be fine.”
Van Horn Returns
After missing the Alabama game and spending two nights in the hospital with what he described as a really bad case of food poisoning, Van Horn was back in the dugout Friday morning.
It was believed to be just the third game he’s missed as Arkansas’ head coach, with the other two coming in 2012 and 2016 so he could attend his two daughters’ high school graduations.
Asked what it was that made him so sick, Van Horn said it was “probably salad,” but thankfully it wasn’t something the entire team ate.
“No, thank goodness or we'd have been in trouble because there was nobody going to play with what I had,” Van Horn said. “I don't want to say where I probably got it because I don't want to get sued.”
Other Tidbits
~This is the first time Arkansas has made the SEC Tournament and failed to win a game at the event since 2012 — a year it rebounded from the 0-2 showing by reaching the College World Series. It also has an 0-2 trip to Hoover in 2010, 2006, 2005 and 2003 under Van Horn. The Razorbacks made it to the super regionals in 2010, but failed to win a regional the other three years.
~With three more Friday, the Razorbacks have now hit 86 home runs this season. That moved them past the 2017 (83) and 1999 (84) teams for fifth in school history.
Up Next
Arkansas will now await its postseason fate. Regional hosts will be announced Sunday, but the Razorbacks are not expected to earn one of those 16 spots.
Instead, they’ll likely be a 2 seed and travel for a regional for the first time since 2015. The selection committee will announce the full bracket Monday, with the selection show scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
BOX SCORE
Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' loss to Florida at SEC Tournament
HawgBeat brings you the key takeaways from Friday's loss to Florida that eliminated Arkansas from the SEC Tourney.
Quiet bats and poor pitching led to another early deficit and a quick exit from the SEC Tournament by Arkansas.
Florida jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then hung on for a 7-5 win over the Razorbacks in an elimination game at the Hoover Met on Friday, ending their trip to Hoover after just two games.
It marked the eighth straight game Arkansas found itself down by at least three runs within the first five innings and extended its losing streak to four games. The Razorbacks are now 2-6 in their last eight games and 8-11 over the last six weeks.
“It's not like we've fallen apart, it's just that we haven't done enough to win,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It's like I always tell the players — winning is hard, losing is easy. You have to do something special sometimes to win, and we didn't do anything special this week.”
Jac Caglianone delivered the two biggest swings for the Gators early on.
With runners on second and third and no outs in the second, he swung at the first pitch he saw from Connor Noland and hit it right back up the middle for a two-run single.
It was still 2-0 when the freshman led off the fifth inning with his second at bat of the game. This time, he took a strike before taking Noland deep for his fifth home run of the season.
A couple of batters later, Colby Halter hit a two-out blast and BT Riopelle added an RBI double to make it 5-0 Florida.
Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, the Gators weren’t done. Immediately after giving up two runs in the top of the sixth, allowing Arkansas to creep back into it, Florida answered with a leadoff home run by Jud Fabian — his 21st of the season — and RBI single by Halter to push its lead back to five.
“They come in, we scored two, they scored two, and that's got to be our shut-down inning to really have a chance to get back in the game,” Van Horn said. “I thought their hitters did a really good job of laying off some borderline pitches early in the count and worked the count and got a good pitch to hit. We just couldn't catch them.”
Arkansas made it interesting with a few runs in the ninth inning, but as Van Horn said, the margin was too much to overcome.
Here are a few other key takeaways from Friday’s loss…
Relying on the Long Ball (Again)
For the first five innings, Arkansas couldn’t get much of anything going at the plate. It got leadoff singles in the second and fourth innings and two-out walks in the third and fifth, but never advanced to second base.
Over that stretch, the Razorbacks went just 2 for 17 with eight strikeouts against Florida starter Nick Pogue. (In two games at the SEC Tournament, Arkansas went just 5 for 34 with 12 strikeouts and only one run in the first five innings.)
“We got off to a really slow start offensively and you've got to give credit to Pogue for that,” Van Horn said. “He just threw a lot of strikes, got ahead of us. We couldn't get a big hit off of him early.”
With his pitch count at 84, Pogue went back out in the sixth and Arkansas immediately made Florida pay for the decision. Cayden Wallace hit the first pitch of the inning over the left field wall and Michael Turner hit the third pitch over the right field wall. The back-to-back solo shots pulled Arkansas within 5-2.
After failing to do anything with a leadoff base runner the next two innings, Jalen Battles walked to start the ninth inning and eventually came around to score on a passed ball. Zack Gregory worked a two-out walk, as well, setting the stage for Braydon Webb’s two-run home run that made it 7-5.
The offensive performance was on par with what the Razorbacks have done most of the year, particularly since the Ole Miss series. In the 15 games since then, they have scored 48 of their 80 runs via the long ball — a whopping 60 percent.
“The situation today, we really didn't have like a runner at third and one out where we needed to drive man by putting a bat on the ball,” Van Horn said. “We didn't strike out, pop up and not score. Home runs are obviously good.
“But if you're going to add to leads, get leads, put teams away, you've got to be able to score other ways. The last couple of games we scored by hitting home runs.”
Noland’s Outing
For the 12th time in its last 17 games against SEC competition, Arkansas’ starting pitcher failed to last at least five innings. It was Noland, the team’s ace, on Friday.
The senior right-hander managed to face the minimum three times and was sitting at just 56 pitches through the first four innings.
He did give up three straight hits to start the second inning that resulted in a couple of runs, but it wasn’t until the fifth that he ran into real problems. He gave up the two solo home runs and issued a four-pitch walk before being pulled after 4 2/3 innings.
That runner eventually scored on a double allowed by Evan Taylor, so Noland was charged with five earned runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
It was the third straight start in which he’s allowed five earned runs, his fifth straight allowing at least six hits and the third time in four starts that he failed to get through the fifth.
Over his last five starts, Noland has given up 22 earned runs in just 26 innings, causing his ERA to balloon from 2.54 to 4.07. Opponents are hitting .343 (37 for 108) against him over that stretch.
“I think the scouting report is getting out a little bit,” Turner said. “He goes to that curveball a lot, and if he can't locate the fastball it's almost like we're more confident in throwing the curveball for a strike.
“Once they start sitting on it like that… I think we're going to talk this week, he's got to be able to get that fastball over for a strike. We'll make the adjustment. He'll be back.”
Other Starters Get Work
With the Razorbacks down by five and the prospect of another game in Hoover looking bleak, Van Horn opted to get his other two primary starters — Hagen Smith and Jaxon Wiggins — some work out of the bullpen.
Smith worked around a two-out hit batter and struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning. Wiggins issued a pair of two-out walks, but notched his second strikeout against Sterlin Thompson to end the threat without giving up a run.
Van Horn said he wanted both of them to get some work ahead of next week’s regional.
“That's what we were trying to do,” Van Horns said. “We were losing, four, five runs, and we wanted to get Hagen at least an inning and then also Jaxon Wiggins an inning. … They all got to get on the mound this week. They have a little extra time to rest this week and have a little bullpen session and get ready for whatever gets put in front of us.”
Early Exit by Tygart
Another pitcher who was used outside of his normal role was Brady Tygart, as the closer came in the game in the sixth inning.
He promptly gave up a home run and hit a couple of batters sandwiched around a strikeout before motioning to the dugout that he needed to come out of the game.
It was a scene reminiscent of Peyton Pallette’s early exit against Florida late last season, but the SEC Network later reported that it was not an arm injury, but rather that he just wasn’t feeling well. According to the SEC Network, his mother said he was feeling “dizzy and faint.”
Van Horn echoed the sentiment that Tygart was not hurt and should be fine moving forward.
“Obviously in the middle of the diamond right there, he had a little rubbery legs, so we got him out,” Van Horn said. “Coach just went out to the mound, he should have just told him I don't feel good, and then there wouldn't have been that much drama, but guys want to try to stay in, tough it out, but sometimes that's not the right thing to do. He'll be fine.”
Van Horn Returns
After missing the Alabama game and spending two nights in the hospital with what he described as a really bad case of food poisoning, Van Horn was back in the dugout Friday morning.
It was believed to be just the third game he’s missed as Arkansas’ head coach, with the other two coming in 2012 and 2016 so he could attend his two daughters’ high school graduations.
Asked what it was that made him so sick, Van Horn said it was “probably salad,” but thankfully it wasn’t something the entire team ate.
“No, thank goodness or we'd have been in trouble because there was nobody going to play with what I had,” Van Horn said. “I don't want to say where I probably got it because I don't want to get sued.”
Other Tidbits
~This is the first time Arkansas has made the SEC Tournament and failed to win a game at the event since 2012 — a year it rebounded from the 0-2 showing by reaching the College World Series. It also has an 0-2 trip to Hoover in 2010, 2006, 2005 and 2003 under Van Horn. The Razorbacks made it to the super regionals in 2010, but failed to win a regional the other three years.
~With three more Friday, the Razorbacks have now hit 86 home runs this season. That moved them past the 2017 (83) and 1999 (84) teams for fifth in school history.
Up Next
Arkansas will now await its postseason fate. Regional hosts will be announced Sunday, but the Razorbacks are not expected to earn one of those 16 spots.
Instead, they’ll likely be a 2 seed and travel for a regional for the first time since 2015. The selection committee will announce the full bracket Monday, with the selection show scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
BOX SCORE
