TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 1 Arkansas (30-4, 12-2 SEC) swatted three homers, including Peyton Holt’s two-out, game-tying solo shot in the top of the ninth, but lost, 4-3, in 10 innings against No. 25 Alabama (23-12, 5-9 SEC) Saturday evening.
The Razorbacks and Crimson Tide will close out the weekend series with a winner-take-all rubber game tomorrow afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, April 14, on SEC Network+.
Arkansas starter Mason Molina logged his first quality start of the year, spinning six innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. The junior left-hander lowered his season ERA to 3.32 in 43.1 innings over nine starts this season.
Alabama did its only damage against Molina with a pair of solo home runs, jumping out to an early two-run advantage over Arkansas. The Razorback offense, however, would respond in the fifth and sixth innings on solo blasts by Peyton Stovall, his fifth of the season, and Jared Sprague-Lott, his fifth of the year and second in as many nights, respectively.
Alabama scored the go-ahead run on a two-out double in the bottom of the eighth, breaking a 2-2 tie to take a one-run lead into the ninth. Crimson Tide closer Alton Davis II retired the first two he faced before Holt stepped up to the plate.
The Greenwood, Ark., native unloaded on the first pitch he saw, hammering the ball over the wall in left center to tie the game at three apiece in the top half of the ninth. Holt, who was making his first career start in left field, finished Saturday’s game with a team-leading three hits, including his first home run of the season, a run scored and an RBI.
In the bottom of the ninth, right fielder Kendall Diggs laid out to make a sensational diving catch on the warning track to rob Alabama infielder Justin Lebron of a game-winning hit and help force extra innings. Arkansas could not capitalize in the top of the 10th, however, as Davis retired the Razorbacks’ 9-1-2 hitters in order.
After a leadoff double, the Crimson Tide would score the game-winning run on a throwing error to pull out a 4-3 victory, snapping the Hogs’ 11-game winning streak and forcing tomorrow afternoon’s rubber game to decide the series.
Arkansas right-hander Brady Tygart, who is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 36.2 innings over eight starts this season, will toe the rubber and go up against Alabama lefty Zane Adams (2-2, 4.85 ERA) in Sunday’s series finale.
