Freshman left-hander Zane Adams shut down Arkansas for eight innings and the 17th-ranked Alabama baseball team handed the No. 1 Razorbacks their first series loss of the season Sunday.
The Crimson Tide defeated Arkansas 5-0 in front of an announced attendance of 3,959 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Alabama (24-12, 6-9 SEC) took the series with back-to-back wins on the heels of a five-game losing streak.
Arkansas (30-5, 12-3) was shut out for the first time and lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
“You know that it’s not going to go your way every weekend,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “This game can eat you up a little bit, so we’ve just got to move on and got to get better.”
Ian Petrutz’s two-out single in the third inning was the only run Alabama needed, and it was the game’s only run for a while. The Crimson Tide added some insurance in the seventh with Bryce Eblin’s two-run home run against Arkansas reliever Koty Frank. Alabama scored twice more against Will McEntire in the eighth.
Adams (3-2) entered the game with a 4.85 ERA and 1.58 WHIP and had not thrown more than 73 pitches in a single outing. He threw 97 pitches against the Razorbacks, including 63 for strikes.
“God bless, was he awesome today,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. “It was really electric stuff, tons of strikes, unbelievable composure. If we’re sitting there with a seven- or eight-run lead it’s a little easier for him to go send it the way he did, but man he’s clinging to a 1-0 lead there for a lot of innings until we can finally break through and extend it.
“I just can’t say enough about the way he competed….He just competed his tail off for us today and was outstanding.”
Arkansas, which struggled offensively for almost the entirety of the series, had trouble stringing anything together against Adams. He held the Razorbacks to 4 hits and 1 walk and struck out 5.
Alabama pitching held Arkansas to 8 runs and 15 hits in 28 innings during the series. Three of those runs came during the first inning of the series opener Friday.
“We struggled this weekend, obviously, really from about [the middle of the game] Friday, but we still had a chance to win yesterday,” Van Horn said. “Today, not so much, but we had a chance to win when guys aren’t really producing. This weekend was more about timely hitting. We didn’t get too many of them and that’s kind of what cost us.”
Adams had three innings of 10 pitches or less and got some help defensively with a double play when the Razorbacks got a leadoff base runner in the second inning.
Arkansas only had one good scoring chance against Adams after Jared Sprague-Lott doubled off the left-field wall with two outs in the sixth. Ben McLaughlin followed with a single through the left side of the infield, but Sprague-Lott hesitated on his way toward third base and was held on what could have been a game-tying hit.
“He had no chance to score, really, when he stopped and tried to start again,” Van Horn said. “That was a little mistake there, in my opinion.”
Runners were stranded on the corners when Wehiwa Aloy flied out in the next at-bat. Arkansas stranded five base runners against Adams.
“He threw a lot of strikes and kept some guys off balance,” Van Horn said. “We let some good pitches go by and swung at bad pitches and got ourselves out a lot. Give him credit; he was ahead in the count and we just didn't get him early.”
Vaughn said the entire dugout lobbied for Adams to pitch the ninth inning. Instead, Alton Davis recorded the final three outs.
“I tried my best,” Adams said, “pleaded my case.”
While the Razorbacks struggled to get base runners, the Crimson Tide had runners in every inning but the sixth against Frank. Arkansas turned double plays behind starter Brady Tygart in the first and second innings, and Tygart limited Alabama to 1 run despite dealing with runners in all 5 innings of his 87-pitch start.
“That defense takes tons of runs off the board,” Vaughn said. “We were able to just keep coming offensively and finally break through a little bit.”
Tygart allowed 5 hits and 2 walks, hit 1 batter and struck out 3. He hit Gage Miller with a pitch in the fifth and Miller advanced on a pair of wild pitches, but Tygart preserved a 1-0 score when he struck out Justin Lebron to end the inning.
“He was able to get us through five just down a run,” Van Horn said. “That’s all you can ask. He did his job.”
Alabama’s two runs against McEntire followed a leadoff double by Kade Snell and an infield single by TJ McCants in the eighth inning. Snell scored on Mac Guscette’s sacrifice fly and McCants came home after he stole third base and catcher Ryder Helfrick threw the ball away.
McEntire, who had been lights out in relief roles, allowed 5 runs (4 earned) over 2 2/3 innings at Alabama.
Why Arkansas lost
You can't win games if you don't score runs. The Razorbacks' hitters had a bad three-day stay in Tuscaloosa, capped by their worst performance of the year.
Player of the Game: Alabama LHP Zane Adams
Adams, a Houston-area freshman who was ranked the No. 205 draft prospect by Baseball America last year, was efficient and got a lot of outs on contact early in counts.
Arkansas only once had multiple base runners against him simultaneously and that was because of a squandered scoring chance in the sixth inning.
“Zane could have signed and been playing pro ball somewhere…and he made the decision that he wanted to be a part of this,” Vaughn said. “I sure as heck hope games like today confirm that decision for him. Not only is he going to get paid a heck of a lot more money when he does enter the draft, but you don’t pass on games like today. That atmosphere against that team in this environment, what an awesome job by him.”
Poll impact
Arkansas will fall from atop the college baseball standings after a five-week run at No. 1, but likely won't fall far. The Razorbacks' 30 wins are tied for second nationally.
After a dominant sweep of No. 6 Vanderbilt, Texas A&M is the most likely candidate to top the college baseball polls Monday, with Arkansas, Tennessee and Oregon State likely to be 2-3-4 in some order.
Clemson, ranked second coming into the week, lost a home series to North Carolina State and a midweek game to South Carolina-Upstate.
“Arkansas is elite. That’s a really good ball club over there,” Vaughn said. “Pitching and defense, there’s a reason they’re the No. 1 team in the country coming in."
Up next
Arkansas is scheduled to return home for the first of a two-game midweek series against Texas Tech on Tuesday at 7 p.m.