No. 8 Arkansas (42-12, 19-10) rocked No. 17 Tennessee (41-14, 16-13 SEC) and ace Liam Doyle, the likely SEC Pitcher of the Year, for eight runs to even the series with an 8-6 win Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With the win, the Razorbacks secured a top four seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. As a result, Arkansas earned a bye and will not play until the quarterfinal round on either Thursday or Friday at The Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala.
Arkansas can clinch its sixth 20-win SEC season in program history with a victory in tomorrow’s regular season finale. First pitch in game three between the Hogs and Volunteers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 17, on SEC Network.
The Razorbacks homered three times and scored eight runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks against Doyle in Friday night’s win to even the series at a game apiece. The Volunteer left-hander, who entered the game with a 2.17 ERA and .145 batting average against over 74.2 innings of work on the season, allowed a season high in both hits and runs.
Arkansas did all its damage early in the ballgame, scoring three runs in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth and two more in the fifth against Doyle. Brent Iredale’s 13th home run of the season put the Razorbacks ahead in the second before Ryder Helfrick and Logan Maxwell each socked solo home runs in the third and fourth, respectively.
The home run barrage helped Arkansas build a comfortable lead and take pressure off the pitching staff. Right-hander Aiden Jimenez, making his first start of the season on the mound, allowed four runs on seven hits in his 2.1 innings of work before turning the ball over to the bullpen, which fired 6.2 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts.
Cole Gibler, who earned his second win, did most of the heavy lifting in relief, twirling 3.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts to settle the game down and give Arkansas an opportunity to extend its lead. The Razorback offense did exactly that in the fifth inning, tacking on two runs with two hits and an error to grow its advantage from 6-4 to 8-4.
Tennessee cut its deficit to two in the top of the seventh with a two-out, two-run home run, but Parker Coil (1.1 IP, 2 R, 2 SO) would escape further damage and hand the ball over to Christian Foutch for the game’s final two innings. The hard-throwing right-hander locked down Arkansas’ 8-6 series-evening win with his team-leading fourth save of the year.
Led by Charles Davalan’s three-hit night, five Razorbacks carded multi-hit performances. Maxwell and Iredale each had two base knocks, while Cam Kozeal and Justin Thomas Jr. also chipped in with multi-hit games in Friday night’s win.
Gage Wood will toe the rubber in tomorrow’s series finale at Baum-Walker Stadium. Arkansas has not lost a series against Tennessee since the 2005 season and has not lost a series against Tennessee in Fayetteville since 2001.
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