LSU clinched the series on Saturday when Arkansas allowed the Tigers an RBI walk off single in the bottom of the 9th. The Razorbacks had opportunities to take the lead in the 8th and 9th innings, but couldn't get runners on 3rd base home.
The Hogs never let the Sunday game come under question. Blake Baxendale boomed a grand slam in the 1st inning, then in the fifth, Arkansas scored four more on a Baxendale double followed by a 2-run home run from Eric Fisher. At that point the Hogs held a 9-2 lead and it was never in doubt after that.
Arkansas is now 7-8 at the midway point of the SEC schedule. They host Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday before resuming conference play against Vanderbilt in a really big home series starting on Friday in Fayetteville.
Brian Anderson is riding a 13-game hitting streak, which is cool.
From UA on the Sunday game:
The No. 24 Arkansas baseball team (22-15, 7-8 SEC) used a career day at the plate from Freshman Blake Baxendale and cruised to a 10-4 victory over No. 8 LSU (27-9-1, 8-6-1) Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Baxendale carried the team at the plate with a grand slam in the first inning for his first career home run, before adding a run-scoring double in the fifth inning for a career-high five RBI day.
The Razorbacks jumped all over the Tigers in the first inning, as a pair of hits and a walk loaded the bases for Baxendale who crushed a grand slam down the left field line on the second pitch of the at bat. The grand slam was the second of the year for Arkansas and gave the Razorbacks a 4-0 first-inning lead.
After LSU cut the lead in half in the second inning, the Arkansas bats would not be denied, manufacturing a run in the fourth inning and breaking out with four more in the fifth. Baxendale was again center stage in the rally, lining a double down the left field for his career-high fifth RBI of the game, before Eric Fisher continued his torrid stretch with his third home run in as many games to give the Razorbacks a 9-2 lead.
LSU pushed across single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, before Arkansas reached double digits in the run column when Andrew Benintendi lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to send Bobby Wernes home and give the Razorbacks a 10-4 victory.
Chris Oliver (4-3) earned his third win in his last four starts, throwing 7.0 innings and giving up four runs on four hits, while walking seven and striking out one. Zach Jackson came on in relief and worked 2.0 perfect innings with two strikeouts to close the deal.
Arkansas returns home Tuesday evening to host Stephen F. Austin for the first of nine straight games at Baum Stadium. First pitch against the Lumberjacks is set for 6:35 p.m.
From UA on the Saturday game:
The No. 24 Arkansas baseball team (21-15, 6-8 SEC) battled back from an early four-run deficit Saturday afternoon, but No. 8 LSU (27-8-1, 8-5-1 SEC) used a ninth-inning single to secure a 5-4 walk-off victory at Alex Box Stadium.
Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, LSU worked a leadoff walk and captured the victory when Mark Laird singled down the left field line to send Jake Fraley racing home for the winning run. Michael Gunn (1-1) surrendered his first earned run of the year on the play and the Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the weekend series.
Starting pitcher Jalen Beeks turned in another gutsy performance, lasting 8.0 innings and giving up seven hits and three earned runs. He walked just one and tallied seven strikeouts.
Trailing 4-0 heading to the fifth inning, Eric Fisher provided a spark with a leadoff solo home run right center for his second home run in as many day to get the Razorbacks on the board. Arkansas would add one more run in the inning when Joe Serrano lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to cut the LSU lead to 4-2.
The Razorbacks continued to chip away at the lead over the next two inning, pushing a run across in the sixth on a Fisher sacrifice fly, and Arkansas finally tied things up in the seventh with a double steal and throwing error to bring Clark Eagan racing home and make it 4-4.
Arkansas would leave 10 runners on in the game, including three over the final two innings and LSU picked up the walk-off victory.
From UA on the Friday game:
The No. 24 Arkansas baseball team gave up four early runs Friday evening and never fully recovered, falling 5-3 to No. 8 LSU at Alex Box Stadium.
After giving up four runs in the first three innings, three of which were earned, Trey Killian settled in on the mound and tossed his SEC-leading third complete game of the year, allowing five hits and striking out three.
Joe Serrano provided the first hit of the game for the Razorbacks in the fourth inning, lining a double to straight-away center, but Arkansas came up empty after back-to-back strikeouts.
Eric Fisher took matters into his hands in the fifth inning when led off with a solo home run to right center, his third long ball of the year to put the Razorbacks on the board.
Brian Anderson came up big in the eighth inning, stepping in with two runners on and lining a double to the gap in right-center to plate two runs and cut the LSU lead to 5-3. Anderson’s double extended his hitting streak to 11 games.