Florida Gators
Alumni Meet
A Florida-Arkansas primer for rematch tonight in SEC Tournament
Friday, May 22, 2015 | Baseball, Men's Swimming & Diving, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators swung back hard Thursday after their loss to Arkansas with an 11-2 thumping of Auburn in the SEC Tournament, pounding Tigers pitchers for 15 hits.
By staying alive in the tournament, Florida (41-16) earned a rematch with Arkansas (35-21) tonight at 7:30. The Razorbacks lost to No. 1-ranked LSU 10-5 on Thursday night.
The stakes are easy to understand for both teams: win and keep playing, or lose and go home.
When the teams faced off Wednesday night/Thursday morning -- the game didn't end until 2:33 a.m. ET -- Florida owned a 6-3 lead after six innings but Arkansas scored a run in the seventh and rallied for three in the ninth to win 7-6.
It was a difficult loss for the Gators to digest, and making matters worse, they only got a few hours sleep before they had to be back at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for Thursday afternoon's tilt against Auburn.
No worries, The Gators scored eight runs in the third inning and cruised behind a strong outing from ace Logan Shore, who limited Auburn to two runs over 7 ⅔ innings before turning it over to reliever Frank Rubio.
Today's winner faces LSU on Saturday. (Link to watch WatchESPN).
Let's take a look at the Florida-Arkansas matchup:
*****
PLAYER TO WATCH: Gators senior 3B Josh Tobias went hitless against Arkansas on Wednesday, snapping his 12-game hitting streak.
However, he led Florida's barrage of hits on Thursday by going 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. A career .269 hitter entering this season, Tobias was a regular in the lineup because of his glove. He is an excellent defensive player and has only one error all season.
A decision to turn back into a switch hitter this season has made Tobias into one of the SEC's most dangerous hitters. He his hitting a team-high .372 with 12 doubles, five triples, five homers and 36 RBIs.
*****
PITCHING MATCHUP: Florida sophomore lefty A.J. Puk (7-3, 4.77 ERA) faces Arkansas freshman right-hander Dominic Toccolini (6-3, 3.96 ).
When Puk is in control, he's as good as any pitcher on Florida's staff -- or any team's staff. However, an up-and-down season cost him a regular spot in the rotation late in the season. Puk routinely hits 96-98 mph on the radar and leads the Gators with 74 strikeouts in 54 ⅔ innings. If Puk can deliver Florida a strong start tonight, Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan will have plenty of options over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Toccolini is a formidable challenge for Florida's lineup. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Texan has made 12 starts and has 67 strikeouts in 75 innings. Opponents are batting .230 against Toccolini, ranked the 158th best prospect in the country by Baseball America coming out of high school.
*****
COACH CHATTER
Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan: “I think we are in pretty good shape now. In all we have six guys who have not thrown yet. Everybody else should be close to ready to go. It should come down to our starters, specifically A.J. If he gives us the start we need him to then we should have a chance.”
Arkansas' Dave Van Horn: “It just started out bad. We got behind the eight-ball real quick. You can't make five, six errors against anybody, much less one of the best teams in the country and expect to win, that's for sure.”
*****
NOTABLES: Arkansas committed a season-high six errors in its loss to LSU … Razorbacks OF Andrew Benintendi, the SEC Player of the Year, is 1-for-12 in the SEC Tournament. His average has dropped from .415 to .395 … The teams' only meeting this season was Wednesday … Gators OF Harrison Bader (0-for-3) was the only player in the starting lineup without a hit in the victory over Auburn.
