Hogs explode in 10th inning to blow away LSU opening series

BATON ROUGE, La. — It was a pitchers’ duel for nine innings.

Neither Arkansas or LSU could do more than end things in a 1-1 tie, but that changed in the 10th inning.

The Razorbacks got into the Tigers’ bullpen and in the 10th inning, Dave Van Horn pinch-hit Reese Robinette, a freshman who hasn’t played much this season, and he delivered big time.

He launched a three-run home run against LSU’s top reliever Christian Little. The three-run shot marked the second home run of Robinett’s young career and gave the Hogs a 4-1 lead before they added a run later in the frame on a sacrifice fly from Brady Slavens and broke things open with a grand slam by Kendall Diggs. Tavian Josenberger went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Peyton Stovall added a pair of hits and an RBI out of the No. 2 batter.

Tigers starter Paul Skenes struck out 12 and gave up one run the Hogs worked to get in the fourth inning. Hunter Hollan and Hagen Smith made it look like that might just be enough.

It wasn’t.

LSU got a homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game.

That brought up an interesting extra inning the Razorbacks pretty much settled in the top of the inning with the offensive explosion.

The Tigers got a two-run homer from Dylan Crews, but it was just one of the few mistakes Smith made with a dominating sinker that kept LSU off balance most of the day.

The Razorbacks now have a 15-game winning streak and the two teams will wrap up the series tomorrow with a doubleheader that was scheduled today based on forecasted bad weather on Sunday.

It will be a pair of 9-inning games unless there’s aother pitcher’s duel. The first game will get started at 1 p.m. and be available on streaming only. The nightcap will be later and televised on the SEC Network.

You can hear the games on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.