A David Perno pep talking was coming.

Arkansas’ 10-1 lead through five innings Saturday at Baum Stadium had the Bulldog coach preparing his speech. It would’ve alluded to the 20-3 loss Georgia suffered at Baum Stadium in 2001 and how the Bulldogs bounced back to win the SEC Championship later that year.

He’ll have to save the speech for a later date. It wasn’t necessary after Georgia erupted for 12 unanswered runs to rally back for a 15-11 win that evened the three-game series at a game apiece. The rubber match is scheduled today for 12: 05 p. m.

“ I was getting all set for [the speech ], ” Perno said. “ We made some changes to get some people at-bats and then all of sudden our guys just kind of rallied. A lot of credit to everybody in that dugout. They did a tremendous job of never backing down. ”

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The victory marked the biggest Bulldog comeback since they overcame a 9-0 deficit against South Carolina in the 2006 SEC Tournament. They went on to win 16-10. In contrast, the collapse was Arkansas’ biggest since it ceded a 7-0 lead at Florida on March 19, 2006 — losing 8-7 to the Gators.

Aaron Murphree’s SEC-leading 13 th home run staked Arkansas to a seemingly unassailable lead when the fifth inning concluded. The senior’s two-run blast to straight-away center field was Arkansas’ third home run of the day. Andy Wilkins and Logan Forsythe respectively launched tworun shots in the first and fourth frames.

The 10-1 lead proved tenuous after Georgia (7-7, 1-1 ) broke back for four runs in its half of the sixth. After a seven-run seventh, it was no more. The fateful seventh saw Georgia bat around while clouting six of its 19 hits. Three of its extrabase hits came in the seventh, including Bryce Massanari’s tworun home run.

“ That’s what the SEC is all about, ” said starting Arkansas pitcher Shaun Seibert. “ No lead is safe. Whether you’re up 20-2 or 2-0, you’ve still got to go out there and make pitches because those guys can hit and so can the rest of the guys that we’re going to face. We just have to take this and learn from it. ”

Seibert’s two earned runs through five innings put the 19 thranked Razorbacks (12-4, 1-1 ) in position to win. The 78 pitches were the most the right hander’s thrown since coming back from Tommy John surgery. The procedure was performed last March.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn planned on relieving Seibert with sophomore Mike Bolsinger, but a sour stomach prevented the right hander’s appearance. The trio of Dallas Keuchel, Travis Hill and Justin Wells came on instead and were roughed up for a combined 10 earned runs on 12 hits, with Hill taking the loss.

“ We couldn’t stop them, ” Van Horn said of Georgia’s offensive landslide. “ One of the pitchers [Bolsinger ] that we were hoping was going to be able to pitch was sick, throwing up in the dugout, so we had to go to a different pitcher. That kind of threw us off a little bit.

“ It was just disappointing. You come and swing the bats as good as we did early, they swung it equally well or even better at the end of the game. ”

Van Horn pointed to a sixth-inning Forsythe error that led to three unearned runs. It was the usually surehanded third baseman’s first fielding error since 2006. His season-high four hits helped offset the gaffe.

“ Give them credit, ” Van Horn said. “ They took advantage of having the opportunity for four outs in the sixth inning and scored three extra runs. ”

Van Horn has tasked 6-7 freshman James Mahler with trying to clinch the series. The right hander will be making his second start of the year today. He allowed four runs on four hits to Arizona State in his last outing on March 11.