FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 2 Arkansas baseball team rallied from a seven-run deficit and defeated Texas Tech 9-8 on Tuesday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott scored the winning run from third base on pinch hitter Nolan Souza's sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. The Red Raiders committed two errors and hit a batter to start the inning.
Arkansas (31-5) extended its home win streak to 24 games.
The Razorbacks rallied from what is believed to be their largest deficit to win a game since a 13-10 victory at Louisiana Tech in 2017 when Arkansas was down 10-1. No official record exists.
Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks' 22nd-year coach, called it a "really good win" given Arkansas' offensive struggles during a series loss at No. 14 Alabama last weekend.
"I'm just proud of our guys," Van Horn said. "They rallied and kept going and found a way to win against a team that can really hit."
Trailing 7-0 through 3 1/2 innings against the Red Raiders (26-12), Arkansas scored once in the bottom of the fourth and had a six-run fifth to tie the game 7-7.
"The dugout was good even when we were getting it handed to us, honestly," Van Horn said. "We didn't feel like the game was over."
Austin Green homered against Will McEntire to lead off the seventh to put Texas Tech ahead 8-7, but Arkansas tied the game again, 8-8, when Peyton Stovall beat out a double-play ball that allowed pinch runner Ty Wilmsmeyer to score from third base in the eighth. Jayson Jones doubled to lead off the inning and Wilmsmeyer went to third on a wild pitch.
Sprague-Lott reached on an error by Texas Tech third baseman Cade McGee to lead off the ninth, then Wehiwa Aloy reached when pitcher Parker Hutyra slipped trying to throw out Sprague-Lott at second base. Ben McLaughlin was hit by a 1-2 pitch to load the bases.
Texas Tech brought an outfielder in to create a five-man infield against Souza. The freshman fell behind 0-2, but drew two consecutive balls to even the count. He lifted a 2-2 pitch to right field and Sprague-Lott scored easily from third.
"If the wind hadn't have been blowing in, it might have went out of the park," Van Horn said.
Souza was mobbed at first base teammates who ripped off his jersey and doused him with a water cooler.
"When I found out that I was going to get to hit in that spot to get to walk off the game, I was just super excited," Souza said.
The Red Raiders, who entered the game ranked seventh nationally in scoring (9.8 runs per game) and eighth in batting average (.324), scored six runs against Arkansas sophomore right-hander Ben Bybee in the second inning to go ahead 6-0.
"We really didn't give them anything," Van Horn said. "They just got after Bybee. Bottom line, they hit everything he threw in the second inning."
Bybee allowed six hits in seven at-bats before he gave way to classmate Christian Foutch. Foutch allowed a two-out, two-run double by Green, then stranded runners at second and third base with a strikeout.
The inning also included an important defensive play when Sprague-Lott forced out a runner at home plate for the second out. Sprague-Lott's momentum was going toward the plate after he made a good pick on a low bouncing ball.
Bybee looked good during a 1-2-3 first inning and had the six-hole hitter McGee behind 0-2 with one out in the second. But McGee fouled off three consecutive two-out pitches before he belted a home run to left field in the sixth pitch of the at-bat to give Texas Tech a 2-0 lead.
Four consecutive singles by TJ Pompey, Tracer Lopez, Dylan Maxcey and Gavin Kash followed before Bybee was replaced. Maxcey and Kash had RBI hits to push the Red Raiders’ lead to 4-0.
Foutch and Gage Wood combined to strand a runner at third base in the third inning, and Wood allowed a two-out infield single by Green in the fourth to put Texas Tech ahead 7-0. Green, the clean-up hitter, went 5 for 5 with 2 runs and 4 RBI.
Arkansas got on the board in the fifth on Jack Wagner's RBI single to plate Sprague-Lott, who walked twice and scored both times.
Jones doubled and Will Edmunson walked against Texas Tech left-handed starter Zach Erdman in the fifth, then the Razorbacks roughed his replacement, lefty Hudson Luce.
Peyton Holt (single), Aloy (double), McLaughlin (home run) and former Texas Tech catcher Hudson White (double) had RBI hits in the inning. Edmunson scored when Sprague-Lott hit into a double play with the bases loaded.
McLaughlin's 377-foot homer to left field pulled the Razorbacks within 7-6 and White's double past third base tied the game.
Texas Tech out-hit Arkansas 13-10, but the Razorbacks slowed the Red Raiders in the later innings. Ten of Texas Tech's hits were recorded by the fourth.
The Razorbacks' bullpen of Foutch, Wood, Parker Coil, McEntire and Gabe Gaeckle held the Raiders to 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk in 7 2/3 innings. Arkansas pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
Gaeckle earned his second win with 1 2/3 innings of relief. He stranded an inherited base runner at second base in the eighth inning and worked around a one-out single and stolen base in the ninth.
"We're a good ball club," Gaeckle said. "The offense did their job and the bullpen came in and kept putting up zeros. Ultimately, it worked out."
The ninth included a great running catch by Wilmsmeyer, a defensive replacement at the start of the inning. With Will Burns at second base, Wilmsmeyer covered a lot of ground to take away what looked like a possible extra-base hit off the bat of Drew Woodcox.
"He got a great jump on that ball, a great read and ran it down," Van Horn said. "A lot of guys contributed to the win tonight. It was good to see."
Erdman allowed 3 runs, 5 hits and 1 walk in his 4-plus innings. Hutyra, who entered for the ninth inning, suffered his first loss by surrendering an unearned run.
Why Arkansas won
The Razorbacks didn't panic when down seven runs early. Arkansas chipped away at the lead with more patient at-bats in the middle innings.
Erdman, the Texas Tech starter, retired the Razorbacks in 33 pitches through the first three innings, but exited with no outs in the fifth with a pitch count of 61.
Player of the Game: Arkansas LF Jayson Jones
Jones went 2 for 4 and had a pair of leadoff doubles in the fifth and eighth innings. The Razorbacks scored seven of their runs in those innings.
Up next
Arkansas and Texas Tech will conclude their two-game series Wednesday at 4 p.m.