The University of Arkansas baseball team made the most of its eight hits in beating Ole Miss 6-4 on Saturday at Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss.
The No. 5 Razorbacks went 5 for 15 with runners on base, getting two-out, run-scoring singles by Tavian Josenberger and Peyton Stovall in the seventh inning and Kendall Diggs’ RBI single in the eighth inning.
Arkansas’ clutch hitting was in contrast to Ole Miss’ 7-4 victory in Friday’s nightcap of a doubleheader when the Razorbacks were 3 of 19 with runners on base and left 11 stranded.
“The timely hitting was big today,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn. “Punching runs in.”
Freshman right-hander Gage Wood went the final three innings and didn’t allow a run in earning his second save.
“We were hoping that Gage could take us to the house, so to speak, and he did it,” Van Horn said. “Two great plays in the outfield in the ninth helped out, but Gage just kept getting after it and throwing strikes, and being able to throw that off-speed pitch, even behind in the count, was big.”
Arkansas left fielder Jared Wegner made a diving catch on a sinking liner by leadoff hitter Will Funriss in the ninth inning. Then after Ethan Lege’s single brought the tying run to the plate, center fielder Tavian Josenberger ran down a drive in the gap by John Kramer.
Wood struck out Peyton Chatagnier swinging to end the game.
“I wouldn’t have done it without them, honestly,” Wood said of the defensive support. “[The Rebels] weren’t backing down easy. They put up a fight.
“But our defense, they came to play and that’s a big reason we ended up getting this series win.”
Arkansas (25-6, 8-4 SEC) took the series two games to one after winning Friday’s opener 11-2.
The Razorbacks, who also took two of three games at Ole Miss in 2021, won back-to-back road series against the Rebels for the first time since 2008 and 2010.
“This is a tough place to play, tough place to win,” Van Horn said. “We’re super excited about it honestly.
“We get to fly home most of the time, but this was the only one, and rightly so, that’s a bus trip. It’s about five-and-a-half hours, so it’s going to make the ride home a lot better for everybody.”
The defending national champion Rebels (18-13, 2-10) are last in the SEC West.
“We just didn’t make enough pitches, we didn’t make enough plays,” Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco said on the Rebels’ postgame radio show. “They made pitches and got off the field and didn’t allow us to have the big inning. That’s how you win the baseball game.
“We did that to them last night. They did it to us today.”
Arkansas junior right-hander Will McEntire, whose status for the series had been uncertain as he recovered from the flu, started and went 4 2/3 innings.
Van Horn said the coaches didn’t decide until Friday to start McEntire in the finale. He held the Rebels to 5 hits and 2 runs with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks on 60 pitches.
“He fought as long as he could,” Van Horn said. “Really proud of him.”
Arkansas scored two runs in the seventh inning to take a 5-3 lead after the Rebels tied it 3-3 in the fifth.
“It didn’t deflate us,” Van Horn said. “We just knew that we had four innings to go and we needed to find a way to win the game. It was just big that we kept scoring.”
Caleb Cali hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Josenberger’s single to put the Razorbacks ahead 4-3. Josenberger, breaking for second base on a steal attempt, came around to score to make it 5-3 on Stovall’s single and an error by right fielder TJ McCants.
“We did enough to score runs at the time we needed them,” said Cali, who was 2 of 3, including a home run off Ole Miss freshman starter TJ Quinn that put Arkansas ahead 1-0 in the third inning. “We got some big hits in big spots.”
After Jacob Gonzalez’s RBI single pulled Ole Miss within 5-4 in the seventh inning, the Razorbacks made it 6-4 in the eighth when Jace Bohrofen hit a leadoff double and scored on Diggs’ single.
“Mentally, I think that really helped Gage,” Van Horn said. “I would think he had just a little more bounce in his step going out there in the eighth with a two-run lead, and then also again in the ninth.”
Stovall and Bohrofen both went 2 for 4.
The Rebels tied it 1-1 in the fourth inning on Anthony Calaraco’s RBI double.
Arkansas went ahead 3-1 with two runs in the fifth inning. Cali drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, went to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Stovall then singled to score John Bolton, who had reached on an error.
Ole Miss got a two-run home run by Gonzalez with two outs in the fifth inning on the first batter Arkansas reliever Dylan Carter faced after he replaced McEntire.
“The guy is one of the best players in the country. He’s going to be a first-round draft choice,” Van Horn said of Gonzalez, the Rebels’ shortstop. “We felt like we were living on the edge with him, and he was on McEntire we felt like. And Mac was tired, so we pulled him.
“[Carter’s] pitch that left the yard was supposed to be a fastball on the outside corner out. It ended up being in the middle in. He just missed his spot on the wrong side. And a good hitter will make you pay for it, and that’s what he did.”
Carter (5-0) went 1 1/3 innings before Wood came in.
“Dylan went back out there, got us through that sixth inning,” Van Horn said. “Those ended up being three really big outs.”
The Razorbacks have a half-game lead in the SEC West over No. 1 LSU (26-5, 7-4), which had its series finale at South Carolina rained out Saturday.
“Baseball’s a funny game, man,” Van Horn said. “It’ll hurt you. It’ll humble you. It’ll make you happy.
“It’s just a lot of emotions. [The Rebels] are struggling. We really just fought them.
“I’m sure they felt like over in their dugout that this was going to be their weekend to turn it all around, and they probably will turn it around.
“I’m just glad we got our couple of wins at a minimum, and we’re getting out of here.”