Florida baseball takes final game of three-game series at No. 2 Arkansas. What UF learned

Florida baseball salvaged the final game of a three-game series at No. 2 Arkansas on Saturday, beating the Razorbacks 9-5 in the second game of a doubleheader.

Florida lost 2-1 on Friday night and 6-5 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.

The Florida Gators (22-21, 9-12 SEC) have dropped four straight SEC series since taking 2 of 3 from Mississippi State in the final weekend of March.

"We're doing things that aren't conducive to winning games," Florida baseball coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Shoulda, coulda, woulda. We should have won this one. We could have won that one. The bottom line is we didn't. But we did battle today and we're walking out of here with at least one."

UF has three SEC series left with the next two coming at home against Tennessee and Kentucky.

Here were three things UF learned from the weekend series against the Razorbacks:

Sophomore LHP Pierce Coppola could help Florida baseball down the stretch

Coppola struck out the first four batters he faced and allowed just one run over 3 innings pitched in a Friday night start as he continues his return from arm problems that sidelined him last season. Florida will need Coppola to continue to progress and provide more length as a starter in order for UF to win some critical SEC series' in May

"Pierce threw the ball great," O'Sullivan said. "He had command of all of his pitches."

Florida baseball slugger Jac Caglianone still producing when teams pitch to him

Caglianone was intentionally walked four times during the weekend series, but came through with a big hit in the second game of a doubleheader against Arkansas, a grand slam that put UF up 7-1. Caglianone went 3 for 10 with a home run and 4 RBIs during the weekend series, extending his hitting streak to 22 straight games and his on-base streak to 29 straight game. For the season, Caglianone is batting .404 with 26 home runs and 53 RBIs.

"They had some opportunities to put Jac on and they didn't pitch to him — I think he had four intentional walks this weekend," O'Sullivan said. "I knew that was coming. That's why it's so important to have first base occupied."

Florida baseball needs to do the fundamental things better to win close games

Florida dropped a pair of one-run games in its two losses at Arkansas and have lost six SEC games by one run this month.

A base running error by Florida catcher Brody Donay cost UF a run in the eighth inning during its 6-5 loss to Arkansas on Saturday as Florida struggled to move runners up and hit with runners in scoring position throughout the weekend.

"We've gotta avoid those situations moving forward because what we saw this weekend is going to continue to happen," O'Sullivan said.

Up next

Florida begins an eight-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon against Florida Atlantic at Condron Family Ballpark (4 p.m., SEC Network Plus).

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What Florida baseball learned from dropping two of three at Arkansas