BATON ROUGE, La. — No. 7 Arkansas (41-11, 18-9 SEC) avoided a sweep with a 7-4 win in the series finale against No. 3 LSU (40-12, 17-8 SEC) Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium to clinch its eighth consecutive 18-win SEC campaign.
By clinching their 18th SEC win of the season, the Razorbacks became the first team since LSU with eight consecutive campaigns of 18 or more SEC wins.
The Tigers accomplished the feat in 10 consecutive seasons from 1996-2005.
After dropping the first two games of the weekend series in Baton Rouge, Arkansas responded with a resilient win in Sunday’s series finale.
The six Razorback pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts while limiting the Tigers to just four runs.
Starter Landon Beidelschies struck out four in two innings of work before giving way to the bullpen. Dylan Carter (2.0 IP, 2 SO), Christian Foutch (1.2 IP, 3 SO), Cole Gibler (1.1 IP, 3 SO), Aiden Jimenez (1.1 IP, 1 R, 2 SO) and Parker Coil (0.2 IP, SO) teamed up in relief to twirl seven innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts to hold off third-ranked LSU in the finale.
Carter earned his sixth victory of the season, tying him with ace Zach Root for the team lead, while Coil, making his first appearance on the mound since March 23 due to an injury, logged his second career save to secure the Hogs’ 7-4 win.
After falling behind early, Arkansas used a four-spot in the top of the third to open a 4-2 lead and never looked back. A sacrifice fly by Wehiwa Aloy followed by Ryder Helfrick’s game-tying RBI double set the table for Cam Kozeal, who would put the Razorbacks up with his go-ahead two-run single up the middle with two strikes and two outs in the inning.
When LSU responded with a run in the bottom half of the third, Reese Robinett collected his first of two RBI of the game in the top of the fifth on a groundout to extend Arkansas’ advantage to 5-3.
The Tigers would once again close their deficit to a run in the eighth, but the Razorback had another rally left in them in the top of the ninth inning.
Three consecutive walks to start the frame loaded the bases, and the Hogs took advantage. Brent Iredale drew a one-out walk to push Arkansas’ edge to 6-4 before Robinett tallied his second RBI on a single to right to extend the lead to three.
LSU put a pair of runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Coil emerged from the bullpen with one out in the frame and extinguished the threat. The left-hander needed only six pitches to record a strikeout and the game-ending lineout.
Arkansas will close out the 2025 regular season against Tennessee next weekend inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch in the final SEC series of the year is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12, on ESPN2.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
