Hogs come up short in late rally to Texas A&M 11-10

After the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks won both games of a doubleheader yesterday versus the Texas A&M Aggies, the Hogs fell short to the Aggies on Sunday afternoon 11-10 after attempting to mount another big comeback. After trailing 10-4 in the sixth inning, the Hogs came back to within one run, but a pair of strikeouts in the ninth ended another miraculous rally.

The Hogs were going for the sweep, but Lael Lockhart would be pulled after three innings as Arkansas used six pitchers during the game and gave up 11 hits. The Razorbacks recorded the same number of hits along with three more home runs to extend their total to 70 on the year, but they would also leave 11 on base in the game.

However, if there is a silver lining, at least the Hogs should still be No. 1 in the polls on Monday morning, and they still hold a one-game lead over the next closest team in the SEC West.

Texas A&M was able to get going early when Will Frizzell hit a home run off of starting pitcher Lael Lockhart in the first inning. Frizzell is the Aggies’ best hitter with a .343 average coming into the game and hit his 12th home run of the season.

Arkansas would quickly respond in the second. After the Aggies’ Nathan Dettmer walked three to load the bases, last night’s hero Cayden Wallace would deliver with a two-run double. Wallace hit a lazy curveball that fell into the left outfield beyond Logan Sortori’s grasp. Brady Slavens, who also played great yesterday, followed with his 45th RBI of the year, and the Hogs led 3-1.

However, in the next inning, Frizzell would hit another RBI with two outs to cut the lead, and Lockhart would be done not long after having given up five hits and two earned runs on 51 pitches. Ryan Costeiu would relieve him, but A&M would retake the lead. After a fielding error prevented a potential double play, Mikey Harrison sent the runners home for the 4-3 advantage.

Meanwhile, the Hogs continued to increase the pitch count against Dettmer. Robert Moore would smoke a low fastball to tie the game 4-4 after four.

Costeiu’s appearance would be brief after he hit a batter, and Dave Van Horn brought on Zach Morris who didn’t do any better. After two walks, the bases were loaded for Brett Minnich to hit a sacrifice fly RBI, and a second run would be brought in by Ty Coleman.

A&M appeared to blow the game open in the sixth inning. Frizzell got his third RBI of the game off of new pitcher Caden Monke, and Hunter Coleman blasted a ball to the Hog Pen to extend the lead to 10-4.

The Hogs had their work cut out for them. Matt Goodheart began the rally with a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 10-7.

Goodheart has hit three home runs in all three games in the series, and he now owns the team lead with 11.

Caleb Bolden would come in to pitch for the Hogs, but A&M would add one more which would prove to be the difference in the game.

However, the Razorbacks would put the pressure on with a walk and a hit by pitch in the seventh. Zach Gregory then got a slider and kept his hands inside on the pitch to keep it fair and pull the Hogs to within 11-10.

Neither team would score in the eighth, and the Hogs would have one last chance in the ninth still trailing by one. After getting two on, the Aggies would intentionally walk to load the bases with only one out. Unfortunately, the strike zone seemed to expand as Goodheart would strike out followed by Wallace to end the game.

Trevor Werner gets the win for Texas A&M. Costeiu gets the loss. Arkansas is now 30-6 overall and 11-4 in the SEC.

Up next, the Hogs play Grambling on Tuesday and take a roadtrip to South Carolina on Thursday.