SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Arkansas Razorbacks have their first losing streak of the baseball season.
LSU beat the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 10-8 Saturday night and 2-0 Sunday at Baum Stadium for the Razorbacks' first back-to-back losses.
After Arkansas beat LSU 9-3 Friday night, the Tigers overcame an 8-1 deficit through six innings Saturday night to win.
LSU freshman Eric Walker pitched a four-hit shutout Sunday to extend the Razorbacks' scoreless streak to 13 innings.
"It's not the end of the season for us," Arkansas second baseman Carson Shaddy said. "We're a really good team and we know it.
"People saying this was a season-ending change, no, it's not. This is not the end of the Hogs. We're going to be back. It's one weekend, and it's a long season."
Arkansas (25-8) plays Missouri State (21-10) at 6:30 tonight at Hammons Field before returning home to resume the SEC race against Georgia (14-19) this weekend.
The Razorbacks, tied atop the SEC West with Auburn and Mississippi State at 8-4, stayed No. 15 in the USA Today coaches' poll after going 1-2 against No. 13 LSU.
Sophomore left-hander Kacey Murphy (3-0, 3.57 ERA) will start for the Razorbacks tonight. He had a career-high 10 strikeouts in 4 innings in Arkansas' 6-1 victory over Grand Canyon on Wednesday.
Freshman left-hander Nate Witherspoon (1-2, 4.42 ERA) will start for Missouri State.
Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said no pitcher will go too long tonight with the Arkansas-Georgia series starting on Thursday night at Baum Stadium.
"What we need to do is play good baseball, swing the bats better, and -- win or lose -- get a better momentum going into this Georgia series," Van Horn said. "Georgia is a good team, and everybody will tell you that they've got just as good of talent as anybody else.
"Some of it's young, but they have good talent. They've had some bad days, but they're also starting to have some good days."
Missouri State swept a three-game series from Missouri Valley Conference favorite Dallas Baptist over the weekend, beating the Patriots 5-1, 11-8 and 7-3 at Hammons Field. The Bears lead the MVC at 6-0.
"I think this is the best we've played all season," Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin told the Springfield News-Leader.
The Bears are led by some of the same hitters who helped Missouri State sweep two games from Arkansas last season.
Junior third baseman Jake Burger, batting .370 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI, went 3 for 4 with a home run and triple and drove in 5 runs in the Bears' 14-6 victory over the Razorbacks at Hammons Field.
Sophomore shortstop Jeremy Eierman, batting .331 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI, went 4 for 5 with 2 home runs when Missouri State beat Arkansas 8-2 in the Razorbacks' final home game in 2016.
The sweep provided some revenge for the Bears after Arkansas beat Missouri State 2 of 3 games in a 2015 NCAA super regional at Baum Stadium to advance to the College World Series.
"That's where the rivalry started," Arkansas outfielder Jake Arledge said. "Last year, they got us a couple times and this year we're going to get them."
Sports on 04/11/2017