Florida ace Hunter Barco tossed three perfect innings Thursday night against Arkansas, but he did not fare well his second time through the Razorbacks' batting order.
Barco, who is rated the No. 23 MLB Draft prospect this year by Baseball America, allowed the leadoff man to reach base and score in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. He plunked Cayden Wallace and Peyton Stovall to begin the fourth and fifth innings, and Chris Lanzilli led off the sixth with a solo home run.
The Gators’ hurler was pulled after allowing three consecutive base runners without recording an out in the sixth inning. The Razorbacks tagged Barco for 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. He struck out seven and hit two.
Arkansas' 8-1 victory was the second loss this season for Barco, who entered the game with a 1.87 ERA. Before the game, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn called Barco one of the two best left-handed pitchers in the SEC.
“I think our offense was excited about the challenge and I think they all stepped it up,” Van Horn said.
Arkansas starter Connor Noland won the pitchers' duel. Noland allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings.
Noland said the hype surrounding Barco fired him up.
“I knew he was going to be good,” Noland said. “You hear a lot about him, so I knew I had to bring my A-game.”
Barco threw 33 pitches during the first three innings, but the Razorbacks forced him to throw 36 runs during the fourth. Arkansas scored just once and stranded the bases loaded in the inning, but Van Horn said it was an effective inning.
"We did get Barco's pitch count up," Van Horn said, "and obviously it affected him later in the game where we took advantage of that and got him out of the game."
HR streak
Chris Lanzilli, Cayden Wallace and Braydon Webb hit solo home runs to give Arkansas its sixth consecutive game with multiple homers.
During that stretch that began March 29, the Razorbacks have hit 22 of their 45 home runs.
Arkansas has hit 4 home runs during a 16-8 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock; 2 home runs during an 8-1 victory over Mississippi State; 4 home runs during a 12-5 victory over Mississippi State; 2 home runs during a 5-3 loss to Mississippi State; and 7 home runs during a 21-9 victory over Central Arkansas.
Webb has hit home runs in three consecutive games. His ninth-inning homer at Florida brought his team-leading total to eight this season.
Webb had not recorded a hit prior to a March 15 game against Grambling State. He hit an eighth-inning home run that night for his first hit of the season.
Since starting the season 0 for 23, Webb is 19 for 46 (.413) at the plate with 9 extra-base hits and 20 RBI. He was moved to the two hole Thursday for the first time in an SEC game, replacing Peyton Stovall.
Stovall was 0 for 13 against Mississippi State last week, but went 2 for 4 while batting eighth in the series opener at Florida.
House warming
Thursday’s game was Arkansas’ first at the 7,000-seat Florida Ballpark, which opened last season.
It was the fourth consecutive time the Razorbacks won their first game at a new SEC ballpark.
Arkansas won its first game at Kentucky Proud Park in 2019, LSU’s Alex Box Stadium in 2010 and South Carolina’s Founders Park in 2009.
The Razorbacks also won their first games at Mississippi State Dudy Noble Field in 2021 and Alabama’s Sewell-Thomas Stadium in 2017 following major renovations that changed the look of each park.
In 2015, Arkansas lost its first game but won the series at Texas A&M’s Blue Bell Park, which underwent a major renovation shortly before the Aggies joined the SEC.
Arkansas won or swept its first series at five of the SEC parks that were built or overhauled, counting Texas A&M. The Razorbacks’ last loss in such a series was at LSU in 2010.
Quick turnaround
Arkansas was playing Thursday’s game with one less day than Florida between SEC series.
The Gators were swept at Georgia last week in a series that began Thursday and ended Saturday. The Razorbacks won a series against Mississippi State that began last Friday and ended Sunday.
The rest differential was notable for the starting pitchers. Barco had a normal seven-day rest between starts, while Noland started six days after his most recent start.
It was the second consecutive season the Razorbacks won in such a scenario. Arkansas defeated South Carolina 6-1 in a Thursday game last season when the Gamecocks had one more day of rest and were playing at home.
The Razorbacks will be the beneficiary of an extra day of rest next week in a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series against LSU in Fayetteville. The Tigers are scheduled to begin a series at Mississippi State on Friday.
Arkansas is scheduled to play three SEC series that begin on a Thursday this year. The Florida series was moved to accommodate SEC Network, the LSU series will begin on Thursday to avoid playing on Easter Sunday, and all SEC teams play a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series to end the regular season.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to end the regular season at Alabama.
Chasing history
The Razorbacks own the league’s longest active SEC series win streak with 13 straight and would extend the streak to 14 with one more victory at Florida.
The record of 15 consecutive series wins has been accomplished twice – by Florida in 2017-18 and Vanderbilt in 2012-14.
The Commodores won the national championship in 2014 and the Gators were national champions in 2017.
The Razorbacks’ last SEC series loss came at Texas A&M in 2019. Arkansas won all 10 of its SEC series last season and opened this year's campaign with consecutive series wins over Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi State.
Van Horn did not get caught up in the accolades during his postgame press conference Thursday. He emphasized his team’s mindset is on winning one game at a time.
“(Florida) has a really good team,” Van Horn said. "It’s going to be a battle the next two days.”
Short hops
• Connor Noland pitched seven innings in back-to-back weeks for the second time in his career. He followed a 7 2/3-inning start against Mississippi State with a seven-inning start against Tennessee in 2019.
• Noland has 60 strikeouts and 10 walks in 48 1/3 innings this season.
• Florida has lost both of Hunter Barco’s starts against Arkansas. He left in line for the win following a six-inning start against the Razorbacks last season, but Arkansas scored once in the eighth and once in the ninth to clinch the SEC regular-season championship with a 4-3 victory over the Gators at Baum-Walker Stadium.
• Zebulon Vermillion has multiple saves in a season for the first time in his career. Prior to Thursday, Vermillion had one save in each of the five seasons he played for the Razorbacks.
• Cayden Wallace, Braydon Webb and Robert Moore each stole a base Thursday. Arkansas has been successful in 26 of 28 stolen-base attempts this season.