ATHENS, Ga. Playing a doubleheader Monday due to rain earlier in the weekend, the Razorbacks dropped a pair of one-run games at No. 11 Georgia. The three-game series was Arkansas conference opener. With Mondays results, the team heads back to Fayetteville with a 16-5 overall record.
Up Next
Arkansas returns home this weekendMarch 16-18to host the Wooo Pig Classic at Bogle Park. Beginning with the non-conference event, the Razorbacks will play their next 13 games in Fayetteville including two SEC series against Missouri and Mississippi State.
Game 1: #11 Georgia 1, Arkansas 0 (9 innings)
In the opening game of Mondays doubleheader, the Razorbacks were held without a hit until a two-out triple by junior Haydi Bugarin. Playing in its first extra-inning game of the season, Arkansas put together a rally and loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the eight. With runners on first and second, senior Tori Cooper pushed a bunt past the charging infielders which doubled as the 100th hit of her career.
However, Georgia starter Brittany Gray retired the next three hitters to keep the game scoreless, cutting Arkansas scoring opportunity short with a ground ball to second for the third out. The Bulldog senior was matched by the strong performance by freshman Mary Haff.
Haff, in her first-career SEC start and facing the top scoring offense in the conference, held Georgia to five hits and a rununearnedin eight-plus innings of work. She gave up an infield single to the first hitter she faced but responded by retiring the next 16 UGA hitters. Haff registered nine strikeouts in the game including her 100th K of the season. After a lead-off hit and passed ball, Georgia had a runner on second in the top of the ninth and secured the win with an RBI single to center.
Game 2: #11 Georgia 5, Arkansas 4
The first two innings were scoreless but Georgia scored four runs off starter Autumn Storms in the bottom of the third frame, including a three-run shot to right. The home team tacked on an unearned run in the fourth inning to push their lead to 5-0 before the Arkansas bats got going.
Bugarin drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth and scored from first on an RBI double off the bat of senior Autumn Buczek for the Razorbacks first run of the weekend. With two runners on later in the inning, junior Ashley Diaz reachedand moved to secondon a throwing error that allowed Buczek to score and cut the Bulldogs lead to three.
Storms worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning on just nine pitches to get the offense back to the plate. The bats responded with a two-run shot to center field by Katie Warrick, her first home run of the season and the Razorbacks 26th big fly. The Razorbacks were within one when Georgia turned to Gray out of the bullpen to record the final six outs of the game.
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