FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. With the help of three home runs and strong pitching, the 15th-ranked Razorback baseball team cruised past 25th-ranked Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon, winning 7-1 in its regular season home finale.
The win for Arkansas helps claim its 12th series of the year and fifth in conference play. Its the first series win since the Hogs swept Georgia (April 13-15) and moves their overall record to 37-14, 16-10 in SEC play.
Arkansas 1-6 hitters recorded at least one hit in the game on Sunday, part of a 10-hit outburst that brought home the seven runs. The six-hole hitter Carson Shaddy came away with top marks, going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, his third three-hit game of the year.
Even with the wide array of hits up and down the lineup, the home run ball was all Arkansas really needed as Grant Koch, Dominic Fletcher, and Chad Spanberger all went deep to up the Hogs season total to 66 home runs. Kochs two-run blast in the first inning was what got the Hogs off and running. It was his second home run of the series and fourth in the last seven games to give him 13 for the year.
Koch finished the series 4-for-10 (.400) with three RBIs, two home runs and two runs scored. Since the double-header against Ole Miss (April 28), the Fayetteville native is hitting .320 with four of his eight hits in the form of a home run.
On the mound, senior Dominic Taccolini got the start and the victory, his fourth of the year. Taccolini only threw 4.2 innings in his first action in nearly a month, but gave up just one run, a home run to Julian Infante in the second, and three hits with one walk on 72 pitches.
Sophomore Jake Reindl relieved Taccolini in the middle of the fifth with Vanderbilt threatening with two men on base and two outs. Reindl was able to escape the inning on one pitch and then finished the remainder of the game to earn his third save of the year.
Reindl threw 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and tied a career-high with six strikeouts in what was a good bounce back performance from his Friday night appearance.
Arkansas travels to College Station, Texas to face Texas A&M for its final series of the regular season starting Thursday.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI