FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas relied on a familiar formula Saturday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Right-hander Will McEntire gave the sixth-ranked Razorbacks a six-inning start before right-hander Gage Wood pitched three scoreless innings in relief.
The duo led Arkansas to a 6-3 victory over 12th-ranked Tennessee to win the series. The Razorbacks will go for a sweep Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.
It was the fourth time in SEC play — and the second consecutive game against the Volunteers — that Arkansas paired a six-inning start with three innings of relief.
McEntire, who earned his first win since March 18, allowed 2 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks, struck out 5 and threw 55 of 86 pitches for strikes.
Wood allowed 1 hit and struck out 6 during his 60-pitch outing. The Vols’ only run against him came with two outs in the ninth inning when Tears walked and scored on three wild pitches.
“Will, he fought and gave us some innings,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “The next thing you know, he gave us six innings. Once we got to the point where we needed nine outs, we thought we’d go with Gage because he’s been throwing the ball pretty good. He’s pretty confident and he did it for us.”
Arkansas (28-7, 10-4 SEC) won its third consecutive series and took a one-game lead over LSU atop the SEC West near the midway point of league play.
Tennessee (23-12, 5-9), last year’s SEC champion and this year’s favorite to win the SEC East, dropped its third consecutive series. The Vols have won the series finale the past two weeks against LSU and Florida to avoid sweeps.
The Razorbacks handed Tennessee junior right-hander Chase Dollander his fourth loss. Dollander, who is projected to be the second pitcher selected in this year’s MLB Draft, allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
Dollander allowed 2 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 8 during his 93-pitch start.
“He’s got electric stuff, but we got his pitch count up and that was the goal,” Van Horn said. “It started when the very first hitter of the game [Tavian] Josenberger saw 11 pitches…and got us off to a good start.”
Josenberger was on base when Jace Bohrofen hit a 447-foot home run to right-center field on a 96 mph fastball from Dollander in the bottom of the first inning to give Arkansas a 2-1 lead. It was the fourth consecutive game with a home run for Bohrofen, who has homered 10 times and is batting .413.
“Our coaching staff did a great job of just really preparing us for what we were going to see today,” Bohrofen said. “Seeing [top pitching prospect Paul Skenes of LSU] three weeks ago definitely helped us prepare to hit a high fastball like that. He did a really good job out there tonight.”
The Razorbacks added a run against Dollander in the fifth inning when designated hitter Ben McLaughlin singled to score Caleb Cali, who reached on a two-base error by Tennessee left fielder Jared Dickey.
Dollander exited the game trailing 3-1.
“I’m still looking forward to that outing where we push the limit on the pitch count with him a little bit, but to me, the starter's job is…to come out of the game and give us a chance to win,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. “He certainly put us in a position to do that.”
Arkansas stranded five base runners during the fifth and sixth innings, and Tennessee first baseman Blake Burke homered against McEntire to lead off the sixth to pull the Vols within 3-2.
Tennessee put the tying run on base in the sixth when pinch hitter Kavares Tears singled with one out, but the inning ended with a double play. Arkansas catcher Parker Rowland threw out Tears after Zane Denton struck out on a 3-2 pitch low in the zone.
“Anytime you get a double play…like that it’s a huge momentum shift,” McEntire said. “You get the momentum on your side and you take that to the dugout and the offense does its thing.”
Arkansas scored three runs against Tennessee right-hander Camden Sewell in the seventh inning. John Bolton was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and scored when Sewell threw an errant pick-off throw to third base. Kendall Diggs and Cali also had two-out RBI hits in the inning to extend the Razorbacks’ lead to 6-2.
Sewell’s throw to third came on a double move from first to third base. With Bohrofen at the plate and Peyton Stovall on first base, Sewell was unsuccessful in four consecutive pick-off attempts to first.
“We try something there because when it’s not going well you can’t just sit still,” Vitello said.
McEntire settled in after allowing a lead-off home run to Dickey that gave Tennessee a 1-0 lead. It was Dickey’s second consecutive lead-off homer, but the Vols have scored only three other runs in two games against the Razorbacks.
Tennessee out-hit Arkansas 7-4. Both teams stranded seven base runners.
“The first two innings I didn't really have my stuff, and as the game went on I started finding it more and more,” McEntire said. “You’ve just got to battle through those times when you don't have it, and once you find it, it gets a lot easier.”
The Razorbacks have a chance to sweep a series for the first time since March 17-19 against Auburn.
“It feels good, but it’s like I told the team, let’s not just be all happy about this,” Van Horn said of having a 2-0 series lead. “I didn’t even mention that we’d won the series because…we have another game tomorrow and we need to do everything we can to try to win that thing.”