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Razorbacks clinch series Saturday, doing for sweep over Tennessee

Will McEntire gets the start, Gage Wood finishes but both had rocky beginning that settled down and closed out win.

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  — No. 5 Arkansas (28-7, 10-4 SEC) continued its dominance of No. 16 Tennessee (23-12, 5-9 SEC), clinching another series win against the Volunteers with a 6-3 win on Saturday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Razorbacks, who have not dropped a regular-season weekend series against the Volunteers since 2005, have not lost a series to Tennessee in Fayetteville since 1996.

Under coach Dave Van Horn, Arkansas is now 29-14 overall against the Volunteers, including a commanding 14-5 record at home. Now they go for a sweep.

“We need to do everything we can to try to win that thing,” Van Horn said after the win. “We’ll just have to figure it out.”

Arkansas starter Will McEntire went toe-to-toe with Tennessee ace Chase Dollander and came out victorious. The Hogs’ veteran right-hander notched his third quality start of the season, twirling six innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts.

McEntire, who improved to 5-1 on the year with the win, allowed a leadoff home run to begin the ballgame but settled down after that, enabling the Razorback offense to quickly strike back.

“The conversations in the dugout were ‘Is he going to be able to start hitting some spots?’ Because if not, they’re going to score,” Van Horn said. “One of those guys got on on a walk. You know, if they hit you, they hit you. They’ve got guys that can hit. The wind’s blowing out and it should’ve been a hitters’ day, a hitters’ night.

“Then he just kind of flipped it.”

Tavian Josenberger’s 11-pitch walk to lead off the bottom of the first inning set the table for Jace Bohrofen’s fourth home run in as many games.

The Arkansas captain turned on a 3-1 pitch and jacked a two-run shot to right center to put Arkansas ahead, 2-1. His no-doubter extended the Razorbacks’ nation-leading home run streak to 31 consecutive games.

Bohrofen finished the game 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBI, raising his team-leading season slash line to .413/.541/.771 on the year. The Oklahoma City, Okla., native has swatted 10 homers and driven in 32 runs this season.

The Hogs’ maintained their one-run lead until the fifth when Ben McLaughlin singled home Caleb Cali from second. Tennessee clawed back with a solo homer in the top half of the sixth, but Arkansas dropped the hammer in the seventh.

A three-run inning put the Razorbacks firmly in control of the game. John Bolton, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, came around to score on an error on an attempted pickoff at third before Kendall Diggs’ RBI single brought home Peyton Stovall, extending Arkansas’ advantage to 5-2.

Cali’s two-out RBI single through the right side later in the inning helped the Razorbacks tack on one more, providing Arkansas closer Gage Wood with a four-run cushion.

Wood, who entered in relief of McEntire to start the seventh, locked down the final three innings of Saturday night’s 6-3 win. The true freshman allowed one run and struck out a career-high six to secure his team-leading third save.

Arkansas looks to complete its second sweep against Tennessee in Fayetteville in as many tries in tomorrow’s series finale at Baum-Walker Stadium.

First pitch in game three between the Razorbacks, who swept the last weekend series in Fayetteville in 2019, and Volunteers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday on SEC Network+.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-35
Sat, Nov 16vs Texas11:00 AM
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana TechTBD
ESPN+/SECN+
Sat, Nov 30@ MissouriTBD
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (18)8-02521
2.Conway (6)8-02302
3.Greenwood (2)8-02103
4.Little Rock Parkview7-11714
5.Bentonville5-31416
6.Benton7-11265
7.Fayetteville6-21008
8.Pulaski Academy6-2757
9.Rogers5-3459
10.Shiloh Christian6-24010
Others receiving votes: Marion 13, Valley View 9, Joe T Robinson 8, Mountain Home 4, Cabot 3, Elkins 3.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (20)8-01241
2.Conway (6)8-01052
3.Bentonville5-3753
4.Fayetteville6-2455
5.Pulaski Academy6-2354
Others receiving votes: Rogers 5.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (26)8-01301
2.Benton7-11022
3.Shiloh Christian6-2713
4.Marion7-1524
5.Mountain Home7-131
Others receiving votes: Little Rock Catholic 4.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (23)7-11271
2.Joe T Robinson7-1902
3.Valley View (3)8-0803
4.Hot Springs Lakeside7-1484
5.Farmington7-130
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 4, Maumelle 4, Morrilton 3, Greenbrier 2, Harding Academy 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (19)8-01161
2.Arkadelphia (5)6-2792
3.Little Rock Mills (1)8-0703
4.Warren6-2404
5.Malvern (1)8-0315
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 22, Southside Batesville 11, Mena 8, Bauxite 7, DeWitt 4, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
4.Bismarck (15)8-01054
5.Fordyce (4)8-0765
Prescott (3)7-1531t
1.Osceola (2)6-149
3.Mayflower (1)8-036
Others receiving votes: Booneville (1) 31, Rivercrest 19, Mansfield 14, Charleston 4, Rison 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (21)8-01211
2.Conway Christian (4)8-01042
3.Des Arc7-1663
4.Bigelow (1)6-2455
5.Murfreesboro6-230
Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 10, Mineral Springs 6, Junction City 5, Cross County 1, Mount Ida 1, Poyen 1
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (25)5-0761
2.Midland (1)7-0502
3.Cedar Ridge7-1253
Others receiving votes: Rector 5.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.