Arkansas 9, Alabama 7, Final
Arkansas defeated Alabama 9-7 on Sunday to sweep the SEC series and keep the SEC West lead by one game. Jake Reindl, the eighth pitcher of the game for the Razorbacks, recorded the final five outs. Alabama benefited from 15 walks, three errors and six wild pitches. That set the Arkansas school record for walks.
Dominic Fletcher hit a three-run homer and an RBI single to lead the Arkansas attack. Fletcher also made a diving catch in the eighth that likely kept the tying run from scoring from first. Fletcher dove all out in the gap in left center. Fletcher went 5 for 12 on the weekend as the No. 7 Hogs completed the sweep.
Alabama led 6-3 after a five-run third when the Hogs used four pitchers, walked seven and threw four wild pitches.
The No. 7 Razorbacks (32-13, 13-8 SEC) have won four straight. Alabama (23-23, 5-16) lost its ninth straight SEC game.
Alabama threatened in the ninth. After a strikeout to start the inning, Keith Holcombe singled and Cobie Vance walked. On a pitch in the dirt, Holcombe took third, but Grant Koch threw out Vance at second. Reindl fanned Joe Breaux for the final out and his fourth save.
The game took 4 hours, 27 minutes.
Arkansas 9, Alabama 7, End 8th Inning
Sam Praytor walked to tie the Arkansas school record with 14. Evan Lee relieved. He faced only Chandler Taylor. Lee fielded his bunt and fired to second to force Praytor. Jake Reindl relieved. He's the eighth pitcher of the day for the Hogs. Dominic Fletcher dove in the gap in left center to run down Kyle Kaufman's liner. He almost doubled off Taylor at first. Kyle Kaufman was called out to end the frame.
Arkansas loaded the bases with no outs. Eric Cole singled, Jax Biggers walked and Casey Martin put down a bunt that the third baseman decided to let go. It stayed fair. Luke Bonfield fanned. Heston Kjerstad plated Cole.
Arkansas 8, Alabama 7, End 7th Inning
Pinch-hitter Keith Holcombe walked to lead off the 7th. Holcombe moved to second on a passed ball. After Cobbie Vance and Joe Breaux were called out on strikes, second baseman Casey Martin retreated into short right field for Chandler Avant's pop.
Grant Koch walked, but was called out trying to steal on batter's interference when Dominic Fletcher was called for stepping into the catcher on strike three. Dave Van Horn protested that there was no contact. Jordan McFarland followed with a single and moved to second when the center fielder bobbled the ball. Jack Kenley was retired on a soft liner to short for the third out.
Arkansas 8, Alabama 7, End 6th Inning
Alabama put two runners on base, the second on the 12th walk of the game by Arkansas pitching. The school record is 14. But, Barrett Loeske pitched out of trouble with three strikeouts.
Brock Love takes over on the mound for the Tide. He struckout Eric Cole, then left with an injury after throwing three balls to Jax Biggers. Deacon Medders relieved. Biggers walked. He stole second on Casey Martin's strikeout. Luke Bonfield worked a walk after falling behind 1-2. Heston Kjerstad bounced out to first to end the frame.
Attendance is 7,392. It's 27,041 for the weekend series.
Arkansas 8, Alabama 7, End 5th
John Trousdale homered to lead off the frame. It was his first of the season. Jett Manning singled and moved to third on two wild pitches. One of them was ball four to Cobie Vance. After striking out Joe Breaux, Bolden was lifted after a first pitch ball to Chandler Avant. Barrett Loeske relieves. On the roster for the weekend and yet to pitch on the weekend are Bryce Bonnin and Zebulon Vermillion. Chandler Avant was out on a liner to third that was dropped and fired to first to end the inning.
The Hogs took the lead with four in the 5th. The Hogs knocked out reliever Kyle Cameron when Luke Bonfield walked and Heston Kjerstad and Grant Koch followed with singles. Bonfield scored on Koch's single to center. Lefty Dylan Duarte relieves. He pitched two scoreless innings Friday night. Dominic Fletcher greeted him with a 3-run homer to left, a slicing drive that rode the right to left breeze. Fletcher just missed a homer to right on the previous pitch. It turned foul into the wind. Arkansas leads in hits, 11-4.
Alabama 6, Arkansas 4, End 4th Inning
Caleb Bolden faced the minimum thanks to a double play turned by Jack Kenley and Casey Martin to end the inning. Chandler Taylor was erased after a one-out single. It was a five-minute half inning following a one hour half inning.
Eric Cole reached with two outs when the first baseman tossed wildly to the pitcher covering. It was the first error of the game for Alabama. Jax Biggers was out on a tapper in front of first base.
Alabama 6, Arkansas 4, End 3rd Inning
Alabama scored five runs without a hit. There were seven walks and one error to take the lead. There were three wild pitches to score runs. Arkansas went through four pitchers. Jordan McFarland's error allowed Joe Breaux to reach to open the inning against Kole Ramage. Chandler Avant and Sam Praytor walked to load the bases. That ended Ramage's day with Jackson Rutledge relieving. Three wild pitches by Rutledge plated Breaux, Avant and Praytor. Chandler Taylor walked after a long foul ball that left the stadium. Catcher Grant Koch had blocked six pitches in the dirt before the three wild ones got past him. When Kyle Kaufman walked, Dave Van Horn turned to Jacob Kostyshock. The Hogs committed two errors to allow another run. The play started as a fielder's choice with McFarland throwing to second. Jax Biggers threw the ball away trying for the return throw to Kostyshock at first. The ball bounced to second baseman Casey Martin, who bounced a throw at the plate for the second error. Kostyshock walked Jett Manning and Cobie Vance to end his day. Caleb Bolden relieved and walked in a run. A bouncer to Jack Kenley at third ended the frame.
Casey Martin opened the Arkansas third with a deep homer to left, his 10th. Grant Koch was stranded after a two-out walk. Arkansas leads in hits, 7-1, but three errors and eight walks have helped the Tide.
Arkansas 3, Alabama 1, End 2nd Inning
Isaiah Campbell is struggling with his control. He walked the first two batters of the inning before getting a pop out to left field. Wes Johnson went to the mound for a visit and there is activity in the Arkansas bull pen. Kole Ramage is up first. Campbell walked his third batter of the inning and that brought out Dave Van Horn for a pitching change. Ramage came on to record back-to-back strikeouts to strand three. He got Cobbie Vance to end the frame with a 3-2 curve ball. He threw six straight breaking pitches to Vance.
The Hogs scored three runs on five singles to take the lead. The inning started with four straight singles from Heston Kjerstad, Grant Koch, Dominic Fletcher and Jordan McFarland and a sacrifice fly by Jack Kenley. Kjerstad scored from second when Fletcher lined it off the glove of the leaping third baseman. Koch tagged and scored on Kenley's fly to center. It turned into a double play when McFarland was caught trying to tag and move to second. Fletcher moved to third. That ended the day for Alabama starter Garret Rukes. Kyle Cameron (1-1, 2.90 ERA) relieves. Eric Cole greeted him with a single to left to drive home Fletcher.
Alabama 1, Arkansas 0, End 1st inning
For the second straight game, Alabama leadoff man Cobbie Vance homered. He drove a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left as Isaiah Campbell struggled with his breaking pitch. Campbell found that pitch as the inning progressed to record three straight ground outs.
Arkansas did not score despite Eric Cole cranking a leadoff double. Jax Biggers' sacrfice bunt moved Cole to third. Casey Martin popped up to the shortstop in shallow center and Luke Bonfield tapped out to the pitcher.
Pregame
It is the third consecutive great day for a baseball game. Temperatures will be in the mid to upper 70s today and it is sunny. The wind is a little different, about 10-15 mph out of the southeast, so it could blow out to right field a little more than usual.
Arkansas has made a slight tweak to the batting order today, moving Jax Biggers back near the top in the two-hole. Other notables: Eric Cole will lead off, Luke Bonfield will hit cleanup, Heston Kjerstad fifth and Dominic Fletcher seventh.
Alabama will throw left-hander Garret Rukes, who has a 2.18 ERA this season. Right-hander Isaiah Campbell with start for the Razorbacks.
Michael Phillips will be today's home plate umpire.
Arkansas is going for the series sweep today after wins of 7-3 and 7-4 in the first two games. The Razorbacks enter today one-half game ahead of Ole Miss in the SEC West standings, and would move to a full game ahead of the Rebels with a win. A loss would leave Arkansas and Ole Miss tied atop the division for the second consecutive week.
Ole Miss won two of three against LSU at home this weekend.