Arkansas Rallies For Series Sweep

FAYETTEVILLE — Tick. Tick. Tick. As the clock slowly moved forward second-by-second, then minute-by-minute, the Arkansas and Florida baseball teams almost found themselves facing a curfew Sunday.

Because of a Southeastern Conference rule, Sunday’s game in Baum Stadium definitely was in jeopardy of ending before it was completed. As it turned out, time didn’t run out as the No. 9 Razorbacks beat the Gators 10-7 in front of 7,487 fans to complete a sweep in the weekend series. With two minutes to spare — on Sunday, no inning could start after was 3:35 p.m. because of Florida’s flight arrangements — the Gators were able to bat in the ninth and finish the game. After Arkansas rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to take the lead for good, Razorbacks reliever Travis Hill ended all the drama by striking out the side in the ninth. “I was real aware of the curfew,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “If (Matt) Willard (the last Razorbacks batter in the eighth who struck out) could have drawn a walk and maybe we get one for hit or another runner on, that might do it. “You know, I don’t like the curfew and I don’t like playing under a clock, that’s why I don’t coach basketball,” Van Horn said. “It’s too stressful, the clock, I don’t like it. I like the outs, until the last pitch is made. I’m glad it ended the way it ended. “I would have taken it with the curfew, no doubt about it, I’m not going to lie to you there ... baseball is supposed to be 27 outs at a minimum, so I’m glad it worked the way it did and we still won the game.” Arkansas (29-10 overall, 11-4 in the SEC) basically won the game on a freak three-run double by Logan Forsythe. Gators center fielder Matt den Dekker never saw the ball and it dropped behind him. “He (den Dekker) lost if off the bat,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t lose it up in the sun. He lost it immediately, he never saw it.” That double put Arkansas in front 9-7. The Gators (20-19, 8-7) had taken a 7-6 lead on Austin Pride’s solo home run to start the eighth. Razorbacks first baseman Danny Hamblin had tied the score at 6-6 in the seventh with a two-run homer. It was a typical Sunday in the SEC. “Yeah, no lead’s safe, it usually comes down to the bullpen,” Van Horn said. “You know, you take away one inning and we played a pretty good ballgame. They’ve got a lot of firepower in that offense and I feel fortunate to get away with today’s game. “I thought, offensively, defensively, except for a couple of plays, we had a tremendous weekend. One the mound we had a tremendous weekend, we came through with a lot of big clutch hits. “I think the team played really, really well.”