NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Memphis scored the winning run on a double steal in the eighth inning and then held off Arkansas for a 5-4 victory Tuesday night before an estimated crowd of 7,929 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Memphis (15-4) extended its winning streak to 11 games, its longest since a 16-game winning streak in 1994.
Arkansas (11-12) dropped below .500 through 23 games for the first time since 1974.
The Razorbacks rallied from a 4-2 deficit against hard-throwing reliever Craig Caufield in the seventh inning to pull into a tie after falling behind 4-0 in the third inning.
Caufield (3-0) hit Joe Serrano with a pitch that grazed his left shoulder with two outs in the eighth, then Andrew Benintendi launched a two-run home run over the right-field wall for his team-best sixth home run.
Brandon Montgomery legged out a triple to deep left-center field off Lance Phillips (0-2) with one out in the eighth. Phillips gave himself a good shot to escape the inning by gloving Carter White's soft liner up the middle to allow the Arkansas infield to back up to its normal depth.
Pinch-hitter Jake Elliott walked with two outs, then headed for second base on Phillips' delivery, causing Arkansas catcher Alex Gosser, a North Little Rock native, to throw to second base. Montgomery took off from third base on the throw and his slide beat shortstop Brett McAfee's throw to the plate.
The teams will wrap up their two-game series with a 5:30 p.m. game today from AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds in downtown Memphis.
Memphis broke out with a four-run third inning against Jackson Lowery and Josh Alberius with the aid of some small ball and two timely doubles.
Nine-hole hitter Zach Schritenthal opened the inning with a shot up the middle for a single. Speedy Darien Tubbs laid a bunt down the first-base line that Lowery fielded, but Tubbs eluded his tag attempt by a couple of inches. Jake Overbey bunted to the third base side, and Schritenthal's slide beat Lowery's try for the forceout at third, leading to a brief argument from Van Horn.
Kane Barrow ripped Lowery's next pitch down the right-field line for a two-run double, ending Lowery's night.
Tucker Tubbs greeted Alberius with a run-scoring groundout, then Chris Carrier bounced a double over the head of third baseman Bobby Wernes to provide the final run of the inning.
Arkansas' Clark Eagan reached base on a bunt single in the first inning, but the Razorbacks could not move him up against 6-4 left-hander Alex Gunn. The Hogs stranded two runners in the third inning before breaking through in the fourth to score the first run this season given up by Gunn.
Wernes led off the inning with a double to the gap in left-center field, and he hustled home on Cullen Gassaway's hit over third base. Barrow, the Memphis left fielder, threw out Gassaway at second base trying to stretch his hit into a double.
Two-out hits by Serrano and Benintendi went to waste in the fifth as Tyler Spoon grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
Arkansas first baseman Cullen Gassaway hit his first career home run with one out in the sixth inning, a shot over the left-field wall, to cut Memphis' lead to 4-2.
Sports on 03/25/2015