FAYETTEVILLE — Evan Lee scored the game-winning run in the 10th inning Friday night after Georgia committed two errors on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Eric Cole, giving the 15th-ranked Razorbacks the 5-4 victory over the Bulldogs.

Lee, who reached earlier in the inning on a leadoff walk, scored from second after Georgia threw the ball away twice, securing the fourth conference series win for the Hogs.

Arkansas is now 28-8 on the season overall, winning three in a row, and are 10-4 in SEC play, holding a half-game lead in the Western Division over Mississippi State, which won its first game of the weekend earlier in the evening.

In the 10th inning, Lee was brought in to pinch hit for third baseman Jack Kenley, his second pinch-hit appearance in as many weekends. The freshman worked a full count before drawing the walk to put a runner on with no outs.

Cole followed and dropped a sacrifice bunt right to the pitcher and looked to be on his way to beating out the throw.

However, Georgia’s pitcher, Blake Cairnes, threw the ball over the first baseman’s head, allowing Cole and Lee to move up an extra base.

As the throw sailed to the backstop, Lee was held up at third, but the throw back into the infield from the right fielder went over the catcher’s head, allowing Lee to score the game-winning run.

Friday’s win marked Arkansas’ first extra-inning win of the season and third walk-off win. It’s also Arkansas’ fourth-straight series win over Georgia dating back to 2012.

Cole led all Razorback hitters with a 4-for-5 night at the plate, his first four hit game of his career. With the exception of his game-winning bunt single, three of his hits came with two outs.

In the game, Arkansas hitters went 11-for-20 (.550) and four of the five runs scored with two outs. It continues a trend for the Razorbacks as they are hitting .290 this year with two away in an inning.

Junior Luke Bonfield was 2-for-5 in the game with two RBIs and a home run in the seventh. His two-run blast was his second of the series and seventh of the year. At the time, it put Arkansas up 3-2 for its first lead of the game, but Georgia stormed back with a two-run ninth to send it to extras.

Sophomore Jake Reindl earned the win, his first of his career, after going scoreless over the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out one.

Moments That Mattered

Both starting pitchers threw well past the third inning with only five hits combined between both teams in the first three frames.

The first run of the game didn’t score until the fourth inning when Georgia’s Michael Curry hit a solo home run into the left field bullpen, his third of the series to take a 1-0 lead.

Arkansas responded in the bottom half with a run of its own after a Dominic Fletcher two-out RBI single to make it 1-1. It was Fletcher’s only hit of the night.

Arkansas starting pitcher Trevor Stephan tried to work through the fifth inning after scattering four hits and striking out five, but gave up a lead-off double to Tucker Bradley and then got two quick outs before Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn decided to go to the bullpen.

Stephan finished with 4.2 innings pitched and two runs given up with six strikeouts. Cannon Chadwick followed with 2.2 scoreless innings and one hit allowed to take the Hogs into the eighth inning.

The Razorbacks seemed to have the game in hand after taking the 3-2 lead in the seventh on the Bonfield home run and then getting an insurance run in the eighth when Jake Arledge singled home Jax Biggers for his only RBI of the night, making it 4-2.

However, Georgia scored twice in the ninth inning after a throwing error by Carson Shaddy on an attempted double play, making it 4-4.

Reindl, threw a perfect top of the 10th inning, getting some help from an inning-ending double play from Shaddy, to set up the dramatic finish in the bottom half from Lee.

Razorback Quotables

“He is a really good runner. He is a strong runner. He runs the bases extremely quick. He is probably the quickest guy running around the bases for us just because of effort and know how.” — Dave Van Horn on Evan Lee’s baserunning

“You know, they stayed positive. We stayed positive. You know we’re like ‘Hey, we’re here, we might as well win it.’ It was big for us to come back and win that game.” — Van Horn on his team’s ability to fight back

“It was crazy. Me and Tony (Vitello) were kind of looking at each other. My eyes were wide open, his eyes were wide open. We were kind of like deer in some headlights. All of the situations went through my head. If I get thrown out at the plate there’s one out and a runner on third, if I score all of these situations in a matter of like 5 seconds and then I was just like ‘go’. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but It happened.” — Evan Lee on scoring the game-winning run

“That’s baseball, there’s a bunch of things that can happen in the game of baseball. In that instance, we came through. Sometimes you lose those games, but then again we had that same situation and sometimes you win them. Baseball is day to day, and I’m glad we won today.” — Lee on the crazy ending to the game

“That was incredible. As a freshman too, he’s beyond his years. The composure, that was big time. It was big for the team. It shows how well prepared he is.” — Luke Bonfield on Evan Lee’s 10th-inning lead-off walk

Up Next

Arkansas and Georgia will finish its three-game series on Saturday with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and can be heard in its entirety on the Razorback Sports Network on the Radio with Phil Elson on the call.

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas ran away with a 14-4 victory over Georgia on Thursday night at Baum Stadium, blasting five home runs and getting another strong performance from pitcher Blaine Knight.

Arkansas won its ninth conference game of the season and 27th game of the year to remain in a tie for first in the SEC Western Division. It is the seventh straight win on opening night of a three game series and the Razorbacks have beat their opponents by a combined 46 runs over those seven games.

It was the second game this year that the Hogs hit five home runs and it all came from different parts of the lineup. Chad Spanberger started it off with a solo shot in the first inning. Then, Carson Shaddy and Luke Bonfield followed as part of a seven-run third inning. Jax Biggers’ long ball came in the fifth when he slugged his third home run of the year into the right field bullpen and Alex Gosser got in on the action with a solo shot to right field in the eighth, the first of his career.

Thursday marked the 14th game this year that Arkansas has notched more than one home run in a game and sixth with three or more. Arkansas continues to lead the league with 50 home runs, eclipsing its total of 49 from last season.

Knight gave up just three hits in six innings while striking out five and allowing only one run. It’s the fifth-straight win for Knight, all in conference play, and his fifth straight appearance of six or more innings and five or more strikeouts.

With the win, Knight stays undefeated in conference play (5-0) and moves his overall record to 6-1 with an ERA of 1.89.

Spanberger led the way, offensively, driving in three RBIs and scoring three runs on a 2-for-3 night at the plate. Since the Missouri series (March 24-26), the junior has hit safely in 12-of-13 games, and has eight multi-hit games during that span.

Bonfield drove in three RBIs of his own, all on the home run, on a 1-for-4 night. It’s his seventh multi-RBI game of the year and fourth game with three or more.

Moments That Mattered The Hogs wasted no time lighting up the scoreboard in the first inning when Spanberger hit his homer to left field from the first pitch he saw to make it 1-0. Georgia tied the game with its own home run from Michael Curry in the top of the second.

Spanberger drove in two more off of a double in the bottom of the second, making him responsible for the first three of Arkansas’ runs in the game. Spanberger has three or more RBIs in four out of the last five games dating back to the series opener against LSU.

Arkansas padded the lead in the third with seven runs in the third to make it 10-1, five off home runs from Shaddy and Bonfield. It was Shaddy’s eighth of the year, good for second on the team and Bonfield’s sixth.

Since being shut out by LSU in last week’s series finale, the Hog bats have come alive scoring 26 runs over the last two games while notching 27 hits, including 11 tonight against Georgia.

Razorback Quotables

“We got some guys that are big and strong, they’re confident and feed off each other a little bit. They work extremely hard with Coach (Tony) Vitello and Coach (Josh) Elander, offensively, every day. Guys are starting to get into a groove a little bit, they’re seeing the ball pretty good. It’s a big part of our offense. If we put up a few big innings a game, we have a good chance of winning.” – Head coach Dave Van Horn on the potent Hogs’ lineup from top to bottom

“Alex (Gosser) works hard every day and catches a lot of bullpens, takes batting practice. He’s been swinging it good in practice to the point where I’ve been considering DH’ing him. I also considered bringing him in in a couple of situations to pinch-hit. He’s earning his time at the plate. It was good to see him get a home run. I was just happy for him.” – Head coach Dave Van Horn on Alex Gosser’s first career home run

“It’s awesome. You can’t win without run support. It’s the SEC, you’re going to give up runs, you’re not going to shut everybody out. For me, them putting up runs like they’re doing is incredible.” – Blaine Knight on Arkansas’ run support

“We have a lot of mature hitters on the team who have been in the league for a while. It’s all about focusing on knowing how the pitcher is trying to pitch you.” – Luke Bonfield on the production of the lineup

Up Next

Arkansas and Georgia will continue with game two of the three-game series Friday as the Razorbacks try and win the series outright. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Baum Stadium. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and can be heard in its entirety on the Razorback Sports Network on the Radio with Phil Elson on the call.