FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas and Illinois-Chicago baseball teams traded blows in the final two innings Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The seventh-ranked Razorbacks got the final swing and delivered a knockout punch.
Outfielder Chris Lanzilli hit a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Arkansas a 10-8 victory over the Flames. The Razorbacks (11-3) swept the four-game series and won their sixth straight game.
Lanzilli’s blast went over the wall near the 375-foot marker in left-center field. It ended a back-and-forth battle that saw the Razorbacks take the lead in the eighth inning on a Cayden Wallace grand slam before the Flames tied the game in the top of the ninth on a throwing error and a one-out single by Breck Nowik.
Lanzilli, a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, hit the Razorbacks’ first walk-off home run since Heston Kjerstad against South Alabama on March 8, 2020.
It was the second career walk-off home run for Lanzilli, who homered to give Wake Forest an Opening Day victory over Seton Hall on Feb. 14, 2020.
“It felt great,” said Lanzilli, who hit two of Arkansas’ nine home runs during the UIC series. “First of all, we won the game and battled back and forth. Cayden hit that one to give us energy and the lead. Then they come back, and to seal that win was something huge for us.”
Michael Turner led off the bottom of the ninth with a stand-up double against UIC right hander Tanner Shears. Lanzilli fell behind Shears, but fouled off a pitch before driving a 1-2 curveball for the winning runs.
The Flames (4-9) scored twice against Arkansas freshman Brady Tygart in the top of the ninth. Reliever Mark Adamiak stranded two UIC runners in scoring position when Garrett McCarthy flied out to center field.
“I’m so proud of the way we came back,” UIC coach Sean McDermott said in a video posted to the Flames’ Twitter page. “It didn’t end up going our way, but holy cow, that’s a big step in who we can be and what we’re about.”
The Flames’ ninth-inning rally nearly spoiled the Razorbacks’ rally in the eighth, when Wallace’s two-out grand slam put Arkansas ahead 8-6. It was Wallace’s second grand slam in two games and third home run of the series against the Flames.
“I knew I was going to get the job done,” Wallace said. “I was trying to barrel the baseball.”
Wallace had 6 RBI from the leadoff position Sunday. In 4 games since moving to the leadoff spot, the Greenbrier native is 6 for 18 with 3 home runs, 6 runs scored and 13 RBI.
“We felt like the end of our order had been getting on base a little bit and maybe he could get some RBI the second, third, fourth time through, and pick up a big hit late in the game. Maybe he could get us going early in the game as well,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said of the decision to move Wallace from the No. 2 spot in the order. “It’s just an experiment a little bit to see how it goes. He’s one of the best athletes, if not the best athlete on the team. He can run, he can steal a base. He looks like a three-hole hitter and a big leaguer physically, but there are a lot of guys in our league who look like that. I think he kind of likes it up there.”
The Razorbacks won despite allowing six runs during a sloppy fourth inning. The Flames had just one hit in the inning, which saw Arkansas go from a 2-0 lead to a 6-2 deficit.
Pitchers Jaxon Wiggins and Kole Ramage combined to walk five batters, hit a batter and throw a wild pitch in the inning, and first baseman Peyton Stovall committed an error that did not contribute to a run. All six runs were earned by UIC.
“It was disappointing because we had just punched in two and they were making us work for our runs today,” Van Horn said.
Wiggins walked three of the first four batters in the fourth inning, and threw a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Nagelbach to score UIC’s first run. The Flames tied the game when Cory Moore bunted home Cole Conn. Wiggins fielded the bunt and was just late with a flip to the catcher Turner on a play at the plate.
Wiggins took a no-decision in 3 1/3 innings. He allowed 5 runs on just 1 hit, walked 4, hit 2 batters and struck out 5.
“Usually he gets stronger,” Van Horn said. “Usually he gets through the first and the second, third, fourth and fifth are pretty good, especially command-wise. You walk a guy here and there, we get it; you’re throwing the ball…97 (mph) every pitch. When he hit a batter 0-2, that was rough there.
“He’s got to learn how to get through that. He’s one of those guys that if he can recover and just give up two that inning, he may go eight innings.”
Ramage inherited the bases loaded with one out after Wiggins hit Sean Dee with a pitch. Ramage struck out Conn, but walked Rayth Petersen with two outs to put UIC on top, 3-2. Bryan Rosario followed with a three-run double to give the Flames a 6-2 lead.
It was the second inning with at least six runs allowed by Arkansas this season. The Razorbacks gave up seven runs in the sixth inning of a 7-3 loss to Southeastern Louisiana on March 4.
Arkansas cut the deficit to 6-4 in the seventh. Braydon Webb walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third base on a Gregory single. Webb and Gregory scored on sacrifice flies by Wallace and Turner, who lead the team with 18 and 17 RBI, respectively.
“Our guys just kept fighting in the dugout and we felt like we were going to score,” Van Horn said. “It was really big to get those two runs in the seventh.”
The Razorbacks took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Gregory and Robert Moore each recorded bunt singles. Webb reached on an error to lead off the inning and scored on a Wallace groundout. Moore’s bunt scored Gregory from third base.
UIC right hander Chris Torres pitched 6 1/3 innings in his first career start. Torres allowed 3 earned runs, 8 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 4.
CORRECTION: Southeastern Louisiana scored seven runs during the sixth inning of the March 4 game.