Georgia turned one huge inning, sparked by catcher Fernando Gonzalez’s three-run home run, into the game-changing sequence in a 6-5 win over No. 5 University of Arkansas on Thursday night at Athens, Ga.
Gonzalez’s home run on a first pitch off Hunter Hollan (6-2) capped a five-run third inning that erased the Razorbacks’ 2-0 lead.
Arkansas (30-8, 11-5 SEC), trailing 6-2 through four innings, stranded 11 runners, including five in the final two innings in a failed comeback attempt against the Bulldogs (21-17, 5-11), the last-place team in the SEC East.
Arkansas dropped back to a one-game lead over LSU in the SEC West. The Razorbacks went 3 for 18 (.167) with runners in scoring position, and the struggles in that situation were highlighted when they lost out on huge opportunities in the eighth and ninth innings.
“I guess you can credit their pitching staff for doing a good job, but we didn’t look like our normal selves tonight,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.
“Obviously we had some times where we missed the opportunity to score some runs,” said Arkansas third baseman Caleb Cali, who drove in two runs. “But it’s how the game goes sometimes. I think we’ve done a good job all year of making those hits matter for the most part, but tonight it just didn’t fall our way here and there.”
Kendall Diggs’ one-out double, which hit high off the wall in left-center field, scored Jace Bohrofen to pull the Hogs within 6-5 in the ninth. Ben McLaughlin was hit by a pitch to put the go-ahead run on base, but submariner right-hander Dalton Rhadans came on to retire Cali and Brady Slavens on pop ups to notch his second save.
Arkansas had its four-game conference winning streak snapped and lost a weekend opener for just the second time in 10 series. The Razorbacks also went without a home run for the second consecutive game after hitting one in 32 games in a row.
Trailing 6-3 entering the eighth, the first four Razorbacks reached base against erratic left-hander Colin Cardwell. Diggs walked and McLaughlin was hit by a pitch. After Cali’s RBI single made it 6-4, Slavens was hit by a Leighton Finley pitch to load the bases.
Finley, a 6-5 freshman right-hander, rallied to strike out Hudson Polk swinging, Harold Coll looking on a 3-2 count and Tavian Josenberger swinging to frustrate the Hogs.
“We found a way to hang on,” Georgia Coach Scott Stricklin said. “It’s never easy in this league. When you’re playing a top-five team in the country, you’ve got to finish them off.
“We gave them some opportunities and we certainly made it nerve-wracking. You’ve got the bases loaded, 6-4, nobody out and Leighton Finley strikes out the side.”
Hollan was off his game, giving up 7 hits and issuing a season-high 5 walks, with two of them coming around to score. He allowed 6 runs, 5 of earned, on 99 pitches through 5 innings.
Georgia freshman Kolten Smith, making his fifth start, gave the Bulldogs a solid outing, giving up a pair of runs in four innings and retiring 10 of the last 12 batters he faced. Lefty Luke Wagner (2-2), who entered with a 7.79 ERA, got the win with three innings of one-run relief.
The Arkansas defense was at times sublime and at other times sloppy and costly. Second baseman Peyton Stovall made a good pick on a sharp hop near the bag to start an inning-ending double play in the second, and Diggs jumped to the top of the right field wall to bring back a potential home run in the third.
However, shortstop John Bolton bobbled a tailor-made double play ball in the first and mishandled a routine grounder that would have been the last out of the fourth, leading to a run on Parks Harber’s two-out single.
The Bulldogs scored their second run in their big inning on Polk’s passed ball on ball four to Sebastian Murillo.
Gonzalez launched the next pitch well over the left field wall for his three-run shot, his third home run of the season and his first in conference play.
Hollan gave the Razorbacks two more innings but the damage was done.
“He was wild,” Van Horn said. “He walked five. He was pitching behind in the count. He’s got to pitch ahead. … And we didn’t play good defense behind him.”
Georgia freshman Kolten Smith got ahead of the first five Arkansas batters but struggled to put them away. Josenberger fought back from 1-2 to draw a walk. Stovall lined an 0-2 pitch into the gap in right-center field to drive in a run. Then with two outs, McLaughlin stroked an 0-2 offering into right to bring Stovall home.
After the 28-pitch inning, Smith had a six-pitch second and kept his team in the game.
“The plan was Kolten for four and Luke for three,” Stricklin said. “[We] said, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’ And they did it. They were outstanding.”