Hogs manage to turn huge lead in exciting game down to last out

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Leave it to this Arkansas team to turn a huge early lead into a nail-biter at the end. That’s exactly what the Razorbacks did in an 8-7 win over Texas A&M to complete a key weekend sweep.

The win got the Hogs a step closer to locking down a host spot for an NCAA Regional game, but nothing there will be locked up until after the SEC Tournament that starts May 23 in Hoover, Alabama.

In between, the Hogs have to take care of business next weekend at Mississippi State, then South Carolina at Baum-Walker Stadium, then finishing the regular season on the road at Vanderbilt.

“We’ve put ourselves in position to not panic, so to speak, down the stretch,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said later. Getting the sweep over the Aggies was big setting up for postseason after being swept on the road against Georgia last weekend.

The game got off to a really slow start and it took a push bunt by John Bolton up the first base line to get the first hit of the game. Then A&M’s fielding issues kicked in again. A wild pickoff attempt allowed him to take second and he moved to third on a wild pitch. Right fielder Kendall Diggs, who saw Bolton move to the other corner of the infield over the course of his at-bat, drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

“(I) saw the first baseman was back and I thought, ‘Might as well try it,’” Bolton said, “I got it down. That’s how it works out.”

The Hogs got three straight singles with two outs in the third, riding three straight singles to a second run and a chance for more. Center fielder Jace Bohrofen drove in third baseman Caleb Cali, and designated hitter Ben McLaughlin kept the line moving for left fielder Hunter Grimes. A long fly ball headed for the Hog Pen died on the warning track to end the inning.

Cody Adcock started the game and lasted four innings, giving up just one hit, but walked three and managed to keep himself in trouble at times, but Bolton made some big plays at shortstop and got him out of the trouble.

“Every time somebody hits a ground ball to my right I know this guy has got me,” Adcock said.

The Hogs went back to the small-ball thing that worked most of the weekend and manufactured a run in the fourth.

It was the fifth inning when it looked for all the world the Hogs were going to blow the game open, putting five runs on the board. Two walks, three hits and two errors keyed that big explosion and it was 8-0 with visions of a run-rule win that would give everybody home a little early.

They ended up using nearly everybody available pitch the rest of the way with drama until the ninth inning. The Aggies scored three in the sixth, two in the seventh and solo runs in the eighth and ninth innings.

“I was proud of our guys for hanging in there,” Van Horn said, “hanging in there and winning the game and sweeping an SEC series, which is really hard to do.”

The Razorbacks’ next four games will come away from Baum-Walker Stadium, beginning with the annual midweek game at North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The contest against Lipscomb will not be broadcast or streamed on TV.