Razorbacks fall to Florida, begin preparations for regionals

With their second loss in Hoover, Arkansas will now return to Fayetteville to prepare for next weekend’s regional round.

The Southeastern Conference will not have a repeat champion this year, as last year’s winner bows out after a long week in Hoover.

Arkansas’ second game at the SEC Tournament would be their last, as the Razorbacks fell to Florida, 7-5 on Friday. A three-run 9th inning was not enough to erase an early lead by the Gators.

Down 7-2 entering the final inning, Arkansas scored three runs to trim Florida’s lead to two runs. [autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag] scored on a passed ball, and two more runs scored on a blast to left-center field by [autotag]Braydon Webb[/autotag] with two outs in the inning. [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] was the third out of the inning, as he grounded out to 2nd base to close the game.

After moving to the losers bracket thanks to a run-rule loss to Texas A&M on Thursday, Florida jumped out to a quick five-run lead on Arkansas before the Razorbacks could respond.

Florida’s Jac Caglianone grabbed the Gators’ first three runs of the game. In the 2nd inning, Caglianone singled up the middle to score Jud Fabian and Ty Evans to give Florida the 2-0 lead. In the 5th inning, Caglianone joined Colby Halter to hit solo home runs in the inning. BT Riopelle plated a run on a double that extended the lead to 5-0.

Arkansas gained some momentum in the top of the 6th when Cayden Wallace and [autotag]Michael Turner[/autotag] led off the inning with back-to-back home runs, but Florida responded by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the inning, one on a solo home run by Fabian, and an RBI single by Halter.

Turner was the only Razorback to pick up multiple hits, while Webb led the team in RBI with two. [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag] took the loss for Arkansas, going 4.2 innings in the start, striking out five batters while allowing five earned runs on six hits.

Next up for Arkansas is the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. As of now, D1Baseball projects Arkansas as the no. 2 seed in the Austin Regional, hosted by Texas.

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Crash and burn: Arkansas falls to Alabama in finale, gets No. 3 seed for SEC Tourney

Arkansas lost to Alabama on Saturday by 13 runs, their worst defeat of the season.

The Arkansas baseball team will get three days off before the SEC Tournament. After Saturday’s result, they need it.

The Razorbacks played their worst game of the season, falling to Alabama on the road, 18-5. Coach Dave Van Horn’s bunch will play the first game of the second round on Wednesday against the winner of No. 6 Georgia and No. 11 Alabama who play in the first single elimination round on Tuesday.

Arkansas’ pitching simply did not have it. Of the eight pitchers who worked, only two allowed no runs. Alabama tagged starter [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag] for five runs and chased him after just 1 1/3 innings. Overall, Hogs pitchers gave up the 18 runs on just 11 hits, but they walked 11 batters, hit three more and threw four wild pitches.

The Crimson Tide had built the lead to 18-3 by the time the fifth inning was over. Alabama second baseman Bryan Eblin led the Tide with five RBI. Leftfielder William Hamiter added four more.

The Diamond Hogs lineup was fair, knocking 11 hits, including home runs from [autotag]Braydon Webb[/autotag] and [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag]. They also drew four base-on-balls.

But the story was pitching. Freshman [autotag]Hagen Smith[/autotag] is expected to start the SEC Tournament game on Wednesday even though he was used out of the bullpen Saturday. He gave up five runs on three hits and two walks. He also struck out the four batters he retired.

Arkansas will make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season, not counting the 2020 season that was washed out because of COVID-19. The Razorbacks have failed to make the postseason only once under Van Horn, in 2016. It will be difficult for the team, despite their No. 5 ranking entering the weekend, to get a national seed without winning the SEC Tournament, however, because their RPI sits in the 20s.

Big inning propels Arkansas to Game 1 win over Alabama

Peyton Stovall and Cayden Wallace each homered in Arkansas’ win over the Crimson Tide on the final weekend of the regular season.

Much like they have done for a bulk of the season, Arkansas baseball found a way.

Trailing by three runs midway through the game, the Diamond Hogs scored five in the fifth inning to dispatch Alabama in the first game of the final series of the regular season, 7-3, on the road.

Peyton Stovall hit a two-run home run and Cayden Wallace hit a three-run shot to provide the punch. The rest of the way, Arkansas’ bullpen gave up just two Crimson Tide hits to keep Alabama at bay.

The Razorbacks entered the day tied for second in the SEC with Texas A&M. The two teams held a two-game lead over Auburn and a three-game lead over LSU, Vanderbilt and Georgia. The top four teams in the SEC standings draw byes for next week’s conference tournament.

Will McEntire started his first SEC game of the season as coach Dave Van Horn shook up his weekend rotation. McEntire, who had started midweek games for most of the season, gave up three runs in four innings on eight hits and two walks.

Alabama scored two runs in the second inning and another in the fourth to chase McEntire. Kole Ramage, Evan Taylor and Brady Tygart finished things off for the Razorbacks.

Jalen Battles hit a two-run double in the ninth for a bit of insurance. He finished 2 for 4 with the two RBIs and double and a run.

Game 2 of the series is Friday at 7 p.m.

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Arkansas splits Sunday action, drops series to Vanderbilt

Arkansas Baseball could not adjust to the weather-altered weekend, dropping a home series to Vanderbilt.

The weekend forecast did not do Arkansas Baseball any favors this weekend, as they dropped their third SEC series of the season, their first at Baum-Walker Stadium since March 29-31, 2019 against Ole Miss.

Due to thunderstorms, Saturday’s game was halted in the 6th inning with Arkansas leading Vanderbilt, 8-6. The game resumed Sunday with the Razorbacks pulling away with an 11-6 victory. [autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag] hit a two-run home run in the 7th inning to headline the win.

The rules were altered for game three, as the game was trimmed to seven innings due to more rain in the area. Vanderbilt, led by Dominic Keegan’s three-RBI day, defeated Arkansas, 5-0 to take the series.

Arkansas grabbed two hits by [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Moore[/autotag] but were not able to manufacture any runs. [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag] struck out eight batters, but allowed two earned runs on four hits in 4.1 innings in his start.

The Razorbacks fall to 37-14, 17-10 in the SEC. They are currently tied with Texas A&M for the lead in the SEC West as we head to the final weekend of the regular season. Arkansas will travel to Alabama while Texas A&M travels to Ole Miss.

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Diamond Hogs get huge win, series victory over Auburn on Sunday

Arkansas batters reached base 21 times in a big win over Auburn on Sunday.

Arkansas’ game against Auburn on Sunday didn’t quite meet the must-win category. The Razorbacks would feel a lot better about their final two weekends of the regular season with a victory, though.

Done and done. Arkansas dispatched Auburn, 7-4, in the finale of the three-game set to take the series two games to win. The Razorbacks hold a two-game lead for second place in the SEC with six league games remaining. Texas A&M and LSU are chasing in a tie for third.

The Diamond Hogs teed off on Auburn starter Joseph Gonzalez, chasing him from the game after 2 2/3 innings in which he gave up five runs on nine hits, including four that went for extra bases. Braydon Webb’s three-run home run in the third was the big blast.

[autotag]Will McEntire[/autotag], Arkansas’ midweek starter over the last few weeks, came out of the bullpen in the sixth and worked 3 1/3 innings while giving up just one run on three hits. He struck out four. Jaxon Wiggins picked up the win upon going the first five innings, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned.

Arkansas racked up 13 hits, six walks and the Hogs batters were hit by two pitches. [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag] each had two RBI.

The Razorbacks’ final homestand of the regular season starts Friday against Vanderbilt. Arkansas closes the year with Alabama on the road.

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Arkansas rallies late to take game one of series with Auburn

In what was a wild game, Arkansas scored seven runs in the 7th and 8th innings to solidify a win over the No. 19 Tigers.

The No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks continue to push the “they just win” mantra, doing so again on Friday night in Auburn.

Arkansas stormed back from being down 5-0 to take game one of the series with No. 19 Auburn, 11-8 at Plainsman Park.

The Razorbacks fought back to cut Auburn’s lead to 5-4 in the 6th inning, before grabbing their first lead on a three-run home run by Kendall Diggs as part of a four-run 7th inning. Arkansas grabbed three more insurance runs in the 8th inning to put the Tigers away.

Auburn struck first in a game that was slow to warm up. The Tigers loaded the bases with Bobby Pierce at the plate. Pierce hit a ground ball to shortstop [autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag], and with two outs, Battles put too much power into his throw to [autotag]Brady Slavens[/autotag] at first base, sending the baseball into the Auburn dugout. The costly error allowed two Auburn runs to score, giving them the 2-0 advantage in the 3rd inning.

After Arkansas went down in order on only five pitches from Mason Barnett in their half of the 4th inning, Auburn went on a tear by scoring three more runs in the inning to push their lead to 5-0.

Brooks Carlson led off the inning with a solo home run, then two of the next three batters would reach base on singles, allowing Auburn to use small ball to extend their lead. Blake Rambusch dropped a bunt down the first base line that was recovered by [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag]. However, 1st base was left uncovered as Slavens also attempted to play the bunt, allowing Brody Moore to score from 3rd base. Cole Foster would close scoring in the inning on a single by Kason Howell.

After being startled by the early 5-0 advantage, Arkansas got on the board in the 5th inning thanks to a slow-rolling single to short stop by [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] that scored Battles, who reached base on a full-count walk to lead off the inning. Following a controversial call that determined Michael Turner caused interference on his pursuit of 2nd base, erasing a run, Slavens hit a sacrifice fly to score [autotag]Zach Gregory[/autotag], cutting the lead to 5-2.

The next three runs between Arkansas and Auburn came via the long ball. Moore hit Auburn’s second home run of the day, a solo bomb to the right center field to extend the Tiger lead to 6-2. Arkansas wanted to one-up Auburn in the top of the 6th inning, and did so with a two-run blast by Jace Bohrofen to cut the lead to 6-4.

The Razorbacks kept chipping away at Auburn, ultimately grabbing their first lead of the game in the 7th inning. [autotag]Robert Moore[/autotag] singled on a ground ball to the pitcher, with the throw to first resulting in an error which allowed Turner to score, trimming the lead to 6-5.

Slavens would reach base in the next at-bat on a single of his own, setting up [autotag]Kendall Diggs[/autotag] with an opportunity to keep the momentum going. Diggs did so, by nailing a three-run blast to right field. The home run would give Arkansas their first lead of the game, 8-6.

In what ended up being a much-needed insurance swing, Moore would smack a three-run blast over the left field monster to push the Razorbacks lead to 11-6 in the top of the 8th. The home run proved to be major, as Auburn scored two runs in the bottom half on a double by Foster, and a single by Pierce, trimming the Arkansas lead to 11-8.

Arkansas looks to take the series with Auburn on Saturday. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m., and can be seen on SEC Network. Hagen Smith will battle Auburn’s Trace Bright on the mound.

Razorbacks escape Central Arkansas’ upset effort in extra inning win

The Razorbacks took advantage of a late-inning mishap by Central Arkansas to grab the win.

It took extra innings, but the Razorbacks pulled it out.

A 10th inning mishap by Central Arkansas with runners in scoring position gave Arkansas the break they needed as they walked off victorious, defeating the Bears, 2-1 Tuesday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Tied 1-1 heading to the 10th inning, Central Arkansas would strand a runner at third base to end their half of the inning, giving Arkansas a chance to walk away was winners. [autotag]Robert Moore[/autotag] and [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] would reach on a single and a walk respectively.

[autotag]Michael Turner[/autotag] would reach base at the expense of Wallace being thrown out at second base on a fielder’s choice but would advance Moore to third base. [autotag]Brady Slavens[/autotag] stepped in the box and would take a base on balls with a full count, but the last pitch escaped the pitcher, allowing Moore to score and to give Arkansas the win.

Defense was the name of the game prior to the 10th inning walkoff. Arkansas took their first lead of the game in the 5th inning, breaking a scoreless tie. [autotag]Braydon Webb[/autotag] opened the inning with a single to left field, and scored two at-bats later on a single to left field by [autotag]Dylan Leach[/autotag] to give the Razorbacks the 1-0 lead.

Central Arkansas answered in the top of the 6th inning. Hunter Hicks grounded out to score Kolby Johnson, who reached with a leadoff double, from third base.

Pitching wise, both teams received production from their bullpens. For Arkansas, starter [autotag]Will McEntire[/autotag] allowed three hits and an earned run in 6.0 innings, striking out four batters. [autotag]Zack Morris[/autotag], [autotag]Evan Taylor[/autotag], [autotag]Mark Adamiak[/autotag], and [autotag]Heston Tole[/autotag] would carry the load for the remaining four innings, with neither reliever allowing a hit.

Central Arkansas’ Oliver Laufman tossed seven innings in his start, allowing six hits and an earned run. Andrew Shoultz struck out four batters and allowed a hit in 2.2 innings of relief.

Webb led the Arkansas offense with two hits, while Leach led in RBI with one.

The Razorbacks return to Baum-Walker Stadium on Friday to host Ole Miss. First pitch of the weekend-opener is set for 6:30 p.m. CT

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Late rally falls shy by one run as Diamond Hogs fall to Texas A&M

The Diamond Hogs put up five runs in the eighth, but Texas A&M retired six straight to end the game.

So close.

[autotag]Arkansas baseball[/autotag] nearly had it. The Diamond Hogs plated five runs in the eighth inning of Sunday’s series finale against Texas A&M, but the Aggies held on by a lone run to clinch the three-game set, 11-10.

Arkansas trailed 11-5 heading to the eighth before [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] homered to lead off the inning. [autotag]Chris Lanzilli[/autotag] added another with an RBI single three batters later. [autotag]Peyton Stovall[/autotag] followed with an RBI single, as well. The Diamond Hogs had nobody out still when Dylan Leach plated two two batters after Stovall.

Jacob Palisch struck out three straight Arkansas batters, however, to end things in the inning with Jalen Battles stuck on third base. Arkansas went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end things and give the Aggies the series win.

Thanks to Georgia’s Sunday loss to LSU, however, Arkansas (31-9, 12-6) maintained its position in second place in the SEC. The Hogs are five games back of the No. 1 team in the nation, Tennessee.

Arkansas plays a one-off game Tuesday against Central Arkansas in North Little Rock before returning to Fayetteville on Friday for a three-game set against Ole Miss.

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Texas A&M takes Game 1 from Arkansas in pitchers’ duel

Arkansas was felled by one inning and one inning alone against Texas A&M in the opener.

Texas A&M was only better than Arkansas in one inning on Friday.

It was enough, though, as the Aggies took Game 1 of the three-game set over the No. 6 Razorbacks, 2-1.

Texas A&M scored its first run in the fourth after a fielding error by Arkansas third baseman [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] allowed the first Aggies batter of the frame to reach and take second on an errant throw. Two batters later, Troy Klaunch singled him home. Three batters after that, a bases-loaded walk gave the Aggies their max runs for the game.

Arkansas starter [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag] was good other than in that one frame. He worked six innings and only gave up two hits and three walks. Both hits came in the fourth and two of the three walks did, as well.

The Diamond Hogs pulled one back in the sixth on an RBI single from [autotag]Michael Turner[/autotag]. But Jalen Battles struck out with a runner on third to end Arkansas’ threat.

The teams play Game 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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Arkansas reveals update to uniform for Tuesday’s game with Arkansas State

Arkansas Baseball will wear special caps in honor of childhood cancer awareness.

Arkansas Baseball will be adding this feature to their uniforms for their midweek tilt with in-state foe Arkansas State.

On Tuesday, Arkansas Baseball will don gold caps to promote childhood cancer awarness.

This will be just the second time that Arkansas Baseball has worn the gold caps. Last season, the Razorbacks sported the caps against Arkansas State in their first-ever meeting on the diamond. In the 8-4 win, Arkansas’ [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] hit a grand slam, while pitchers such as [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag], [autotag]Kole Ramage[/autotag], and [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag] all saw time on the mound.

Tuesday’s game with the Red Wolves is set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Kole Ramage will get the start for Arkansas, facing off with Carter Holt of Arkansas State.

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