A fly ball by Dominic Fletcher to left field was not deep enough as Heston Kjerstad was thrown out at home trying to score on the sacrifice attempt, ending the game and giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 victory in the 2018 regular-season finale.

Arkansas (37-17, 18-12 SEC) took the lead on two separate occasions in the game with both runs being driven in by junior catcher Grant Koch in the second and fourth innings.

Unfortunately, the Hog bats went silent over the final four and a half innings, getting only four baserunners, two coming in the ninth inning.

The defeat is the Razorbacks fifth series loss of the conference season and fourth of their last five games decided by two runs or less.

However, Thursday’s win over Georgia solidified their top-four seeding going into the 2018 SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, Alabama, earning them a bye straight into the double-elimination portion of the tournament.

Even with the series loss, Arkansas is also guaranteed at least a share of the SEC Western Division title, depending on the final score of the Ole Miss-Alabama game, which is still in progress.

The division title will be the first for Arkansas since 2011 and fifth in school history. Four of those division titles have come under head coach Dave Van Horn.

The Pitching

The first two games of Arkansas’ series with Georgia were slugfests as both teams combined for 31 runs. Saturday’s finale did not follow suit as the pitching staffs for both teams kept hits and walks low.

Georgia starter Kevin Smith held the Hogs to two runs over seven innings, while striking out 11.

Arkansas was not able to go with its usual game three starter, but still got a strong 4.2 inning outing from freshman Kole Ramage, his longest of the season.

Ramage scattered six hits and gave up just two earned runs, while walking one and tying a season high with five strikeouts.

Redshirt sophomore right-hander Isaiah Campbell, who has been Arkansas’ game three starter for most of the season, came in at the start of the sixth inning and looked sharp for three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out three.

Campbell was questionable going into the game, suffering a foot injury prior to the series, but looked healthy out of the bullpen, keeping the deficit at one for the remainder of the game.

In the sixth inning, Georgia’s Michael Curry was able to hit the go-ahead home run off Arkansas pitcher Evan Lee, one of two homers hit in the game for the Bulldogs and sixth of the series.

The Hitting

Offensively, Arkansas only managed six hits in the game, with Koch coming away with the only multi-hit game. It was his 13^th multi-hit game and ninth multi-RBI game this season.

Casey Martin, Luke Bonfield, Carson Shaddy, and Kjerstad all had one hit as well with Kjerstad and Shaddy notching doubles.

Kjerstad’s double came in lead-off fashion in the top of the ninth inning and he was able to advance to third in the next at-bat on a wild pitch, but was not able to be driven in on a game-tying base hit.

Up Next

Arkansas will play its first game of the 2018 SEC Tournament on Wednesday with its opponent still to be determined as the rest of the day’s games play out as well as the single-elimination games from the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.

The game will be televised on the SEC Network with a first pitch time still to be determined.

The loss snaps Arkansas’ four-game winning streak and is its first extra-inning loss of the season.

With one game remaining in the regular-season, Alabama’s 3-0 win over Ole Miss allowed the Hogs to clinch at least a tie for the SEC West will still be up for grabs going into the final day as the Hogs’ lead is one game with one to play.

Friday’s game between the Razorbacks and Bulldogs was a bit of a roller coaster early on.

A combined 11 runs were scored between the two teams before thunderstorms moved into the area in the fifth and forced everyone off the field for more than two hours.

Arkansas starting pitcher Kacey Murphy battled through giving up five runs in the first two innings and had held Georgia scoreless going into the fifth before the weather forced him out of the game.

Murphy had retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced and left the game with his team up 6-5, but even at only 72 pitches, the weather delay was too long to allow him to come back.

Murphy finished with four strikeouts and only one walk over four innings, while facing 19 batters in his 12th start of the year.

Friday night was Murphy’s first outing of four innings or less since March 7.

After the rain cleared, Georgia went on to score two in the fifth off the first Hog pitcher out of the bullpen, Cody Scroggins. A two-run home run by Michael Curry gave the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead.

Scroggins was relieved by junior Barrett Loseke before the start of the sixth inning after just one inning of work.

Loseke held down the Georgia offense for the next four frames, helping to send the game into extras.

Loseke only gave up two singles in those four innings, but gave up a lead-off double to Keegan McGovern to lead off the 10th, which eventually led to the game-winning run.

Offensively, the Razorbacks totaled 10 hits with eight players recording at least one. Junior Eric Cole led all Razorbacks going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

It’s his 10th game this year with three or more hits and 20th multi-hit game of the year.

Cole came through with RBI singles in the second and third innings to keep the Hogs going in the back-and-forth battle early on.

His hit in the third, at the time, provided the go-ahead run for the Hogs to make it 6-5, but it was the last lead Arkansas held for the remainder of the game.

Freshman Heston Kjerstad hit his 11th homer of the year in the top of the first inning, a two-run line drive home run down the right-field line.

It’s his first home run since May 6 and puts him alone at second on the team just one behind Cole.

He later added a third RBI on a groundout that tied the game at 7-7 in the eighth. Kjerstad has eight hits in his last six games, including seven RBIs.

Up Next

Arkansas and Georgia will finish the 2018 regular season with a rubber match on Saturday at Foley Field.

First pitch is set for 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Dave Neal (PxP) and Mike Rooney (Analyst) will have the call for the national audience.