GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A smart approach at the plate sparked an offensive surge and an SEC series victory for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks put an emphasis on making Florida’s defense work Sunday and took advantage of the No. 25 Gators’ shaky gloves to secure a 10-4 victory at McKethan Stadium.

Arkansas (19-15, 5-9 SEC ) took 2 of 3 games from Florida (24-12, 9-6 ), earning its first SEC series victory in five tries and snapping a streak of seven consecutive conference series defeats dating to the end of 2007.

Arkansas still has a lot of work remaining to qualify for the SEC Tournament and solidify an NCAA Tournament berth, and the postgame vibe around the visitor’s dugout was as much about relief as elation. Satisfaction was more difficult to find.

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“What are we, 5-9 in the SEC ? We haven’t done anything yet,” second baseman Ben Tschepikow said. “It feels good to win one, but we’ve got to keep going.

“ Until we make the postseason, I don’t think anyone can be happy or satisfied. I know I won’t be.”

Sunday was a good day for the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks’ offensive execution was a byproduct of the scouting report on Florida starter Tommy Toledo (4-3 ). The freshman had lost his previous two starts, but of more interest to Arkansas was

2 his low strikeout total, 17 in 37 / 3 innings. The stats played out that way with Toledo striking out two in five innings. Overall, the Razorbacks struck out only four times. “We slowed down our [batting practice ] because it had been rushed every day and we wanted our guys to get their work done early,” said hitting coach Todd Butler, who is seeking more consistency from an injury-depleted lineup. “Some guys are striking out, and the thing that is aggravating is guys are going down striking out the same way each at-bat.”

The Razorbacks fought back against Toledo and had five hits in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position. In those situations, the hitters drove in 8 runs with 3 walks and only 2 strikeouts. Just as important, twice balls were put in play and mishandled by Florida, part of a six-error day for the Gators.

Arkansas scored three in the third and two apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to maintain the lead. The Gators pulled within 3-2 and 7-4, but Arkansas answered each time.

“I think today was if not the best, one of the best offensive days we’ve had,” said designated hitter Jeff Nutt, whose home run in the eighth capped a three-hit, 3 RBI day for the senior.

Chase Leavitt, Tschepikow, Logan Forsythe, Nutt and Brett Eibner — the top five hitters in the lineup — combined to go 10 for 21 with 9 runs scored and 7 RBI. “We were really having good at-bats, good approaches. We took our time and didn’t rush,” Nutt said. “We knew this was the biggest game of the year, and we’ve put ourselves in a hole. We know we have enough talent to come out of it.” Justin Wells (3-0 ) also

pro-2 vided 6 / 3 hard-fought innings (4 runs, 9 hits, 2 strikeouts ) to earn his third conference victory. The Razorbacks’ remaining schedule is favorable with three of the next four SEC series at Baum Stadium, but Arkansas will have to turn in the same type of effort it gave this weekend. “This will be the best Sunday I’ve had in two months,” Coach Dave Van Horn said. “We told them before the game, ‘We’ve got a win so we can have a good plane ride home’. [The players ] responded. They wanted to win really bad.”