A.J. Puk’s much-anticipated return was almost ruined as Florida (30-5, 9-4 SEC) spoiled an 11-2 eighth inning lead, but held on to beat Arkansas (21-13, 4-9 SEC) 11-8 on Thursday night in Fayetteville.
Down 11-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning Arkansas’ bats woke up. Freshman Michael Byrne replaced Frank Rubio in the seventh, but immediately lost control of the game in the eighth. A leadoff single was compounded by hitting the next batter and capitalized on by the Razorbacks with a three-run home run that brought life back into what had been a church quiet Baum Stadium.