FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas recorded only four hits for the second consecutive game Friday night, but this time the Razorbacks' bats came through in the clutch.
Jake Wise's two-out single scored Matt Reynolds, who led off the ninth inning with a single, and Arkansas rallied for a 5-4 win over Auburn at Baum Stadium to tie the three-game series at one game apiece.
Wise, who had bases-loaded walks to beat Northwestern State and Alabama earlier this season, recorded his third game-winning RBI in his first at-bat of the game. He entered the contest as a defensive replacement for John Clay Reeves at catcher in the eighth inning.
"When the pressure is on, I like to think I'm at my best and this is a little better than a walk because I actually got to put a ball into play," Wise said.
"It seems like every game we lose is by one run, so it was awesome to come out on the other end. Hopefully this will give us some momentum so we can win tomorrow and carry it down to the next series."
Arkansas (35-16, 13-13 SEC) took a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning when Dominic Ficociello scored on a throwing error and Reynolds came home on a wild pitch from Tigers' reliever Justin Bryant, who started the game as designated hitter. Bryant issued four walks in the inning.
"We played hard," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "We knew we needed to win in the worst way and I'm just glad we kept fighting and battling.
"Hopefully we'll come out and play better tomorrow. All the way around, it wasn't a real pretty game."
Jacob Morris nearly extended the lead with two outs in the seventh, but his long fly ball fell just inches short of the 375-foot mark in left-center field, stranding two runners.
Auburn took advantage quickly in the top of the eighth with Patrick Savage hammering a solo home run off Razorbacks reliever Colby Suggs to tie the game 4-4.
The Tigers (27-23, 11-15) put a runner on second in the top of the ninth, but Suggs recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
Suggs, a sophomore, improved to 5-0 by pitching 2 1/3 innings of relief.
"I thought Suggs went out there and did a tremendous job," Van Horn said. "We take the lead and on the first pitch, the guy hit a home run, but he didn't panic. He just kept working and got us to the bottom of the ninth with a chance to win it and we did."
Arkansas took a 2-0 lead early on Ficociello's fifth home run of the year in the first inning, but Auburn quickly tamed the Razorbacks' bats for the second straight night.
Daniel Koger pitched six innings for the Tigers, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk. In two games, Auburn's starting pitchers have combined to allow just four hits in 14 innings on the mound.
The Tigers beat Arkansas 3-2 in 10 innings Thursday night.
Randall Fant pitched three innings for the Razorbacks, but left after loading the bases on an infield single and two hit batters in the top of the fourth. Cade Lynch pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief for Arkansas, getting out of the fourth inning jam allowing just one run.
Auburn scored twice in the top of the fifth, tying the game on a Ryan Tella RBI bunt and taking a 3-2 lead when Creede Simpson scored on Bryant's flyout into foul territory down the right field line. Brian Anderson looked to have Simpson thrown out on the play, but Reeves was unable to corral the ball at the plate.
The Tigers lost despite out-hitting the Razorbacks 10-4. Slade Smith picked up the loss for Auburn, pitching 1 2/3 innings out of the bullpen.
The two teams will play the series finale Saturday with a first pitch scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Arkansas will start either right-hander Nolan Sanburn or left-hander Ty Wright on the mound, while Auburn has yet to designate a starting pitcher.