Florida entered Friday morning’s SEC Tournament elimination game against Arkansas in the midst of a significant team-wide slump at the plate. They had scored just three runs on 10 hits in their last 26 innings, with one of those runs being unearned. They had struck out 32 times during that stretch.
Following their mercy-rule loss to Texas A&M on Thursday, coach Kevin O’Sullivan stressed the importance of his team putting up more competitive at bats. He also mixed up the lineup a bit for Friday’s game, dropping Jud Fabian down to the five-hole and moving Ty Evans up to the cleanup spot for the first time.