Ninth-inning single lifts Razorbacks past Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Last week, Arkansas couldn’t score when they had to against Florida and Charlotte.

Tuesday night was a different story. The Razorbacks did most of their damage against Memphis on Tuesday night with two outs in an 8-7 win at AutoZone Park.

They avoided what could have been an ugly loss before the weekend series against No. 4 Ole Miss in Oxford.

Carson Shaddy’s go-ahead RBI single on a full count in the top of the ninth inning was Arkansas’ seventh hit when down to its final out and improved it to 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

In four games last week, the Razorbacks were just 4-for-37 (.108) in those situations.

With a two-run single in the fourth inning, Shaddy finished with three RBIs and was one of three Razorbacks with multiple RBI hits. The others were Jax Biggers and Casey Martin, with Biggers hitting a solo home run to start Arkansas’ scoring in the third.

Making his first career start, Jake Reindl struggled in 2 2/3 innings. Although he struck out five, he gave up five runs (four earned). It didn’t help his ERA, either, as it ballooned to a team-worst 6.92.

Bryce Bonnin tried, but couldn’t stop the bleeding, retiring only 2 of 6 batters faced, Dave Van Horn turned to junior Barrett Loseke.

Loseke went 4-1/3 innings, gave up a run and Jackson Rutledge took over in the eighth.

Inheriting runners on the corners, Loseke gave up a game-tying single to Tyler Webb. He settled in and earned the victory by pitching the final 1 1/3 innings.

Despite having twice as many losses as wins and being 0-4 against SEC teams (including three top-10 teams) this year, Memphis’ SEC losses have been by a combined five runs.

The Razorbacks have a day off before beginning its series in Oxford, Miss., on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and all three games will be streamed on SEC Network-plus.