UF baseball stops Arkansas' 13-game winning streak
There was too much excitement and not enough focus for Florida Friday, but with a freshman on the mound Saturday, the Gators rebounded with a much more relaxed attitude to end the Razorbacks’ 13-game winning streak with a dominating 8-2 victory in front of 3,115 at McKethan Stadium.
“You definitely don’t want to fall to 0-2 at home in a series,” said Zunino, who was 1-for-4 with two RBIs. “We tried to do everything we could to get a win.”
No. 7 Florida (27-11, 11-6, SEC) looked transformed against Arkansas (33-7, 13-4 SEC) Saturday. For starters, Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan shook up his lineup, replacing Daniel Pigott with sophomore Preston Tucker in right field and moving freshman Austin Maddox from designated hitter to first. In Maddox’s spot was Brian Johnson, who entered batting .333. Junior Tyler Thompson stood in for Jonathan Pigott in left.
The shake up paid off in the bottom of the fourth as the Gators roughed up Arkansas right-hander Brett Eibner. Maddox led off with a single to right, which was followed by a double from Johnson. After senior center fielder Matt den Dekker struck out, Zunino drove in two with a double off the left field wall.
