Coming off a dramatic 15-inning win the night before, Arkansas scrounged together enough pitching to throw its fourth shutout of the season.

Three different players combined to keep Auburn off the scoreboard in the Razorbacks’ 8-0 win Saturday afternoon. In addition to clinching the series, the victory improved Arkansas to 24-8 overall and 8-4 in SEC play.

“We did everything really well today,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We pitched outstanding. … I couldn’t have asked for anything better from our pitching staff.”

Pitching on just three days rest after throwing 3 1/3 innings against UALR, freshman left-hander Patrick Wicklander made his first conference start and was sensational.

He had struggled out of the bullpen in his first couple of SEC appearances, allowing five earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, but threw five scoreless innings against the Tigers, scattering two hits and three walks while striking out six on 96 pitches.

“Wicklander gave us five solid innings, threw a lot of strikes,” Van Horn said. “He had a good fastball going and mixed in enough off-speed to keep them off-balanced.”

A two-run single by Heston Kjerstad gave the Razorbacks the lead in the third inning and then Trevor Ezell provided some breathing room by launching a three-run home run over the center field wall.

With a five-run lead, Arkansas could stick with Wicklander even when he ran into some trouble in the fifth. He put runners on second and third with a hit by pitch, walk and wild pitch, but bounced back to strike out Rankin Woley and escape the jam.

“If he could have given us four, that would be okay, but five was the magic number for us,” Van Horn said. “We felt like if we could keep it close or maybe have a lead after five that we could piece it together.”

Surprisingly, the Razorbacks needed just two pieces to get the job done.

When Wicklander finally ran out of gas, head coach Dave Van Horn brought in usual Game 3 starter Cody Scroggins, who 54 pitches in 2 2/3 innings Friday. He gave up a leadoff double to Edouard Julien before settling in and retiring the next three Tigers he faced.

Thanks to a three-run seventh inning highlighted by Dominic Fletcher’s RBI double and a single by Jacob Nesbit that drove in two runs, Arkansas didn’t have to stick with Scroggins very long.

Zebulon Vermillion, who threw only 12 pitches Friday, brought it home for the Razorbacks. He gave up two hits and one walk while striking out three and matching a career high with three innings to earn his first save of the season.

It was the second straight game Arkansas’ bullpen stepped up to the challenge created by Jacob Kostyshock’s injury.

During the Razorbacks’ four game losing streak, the bullpen gave up 23 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings for a 12.67 ERA. Over the last two games, though, that ERA dropped to 0.63 with one earned run in 14 1/3 innings.

Offensively, Arkansas also did a much better job of coming up with clutch hits Saturday, going 5 for 12 (.417) with runners in scoring position. It was just 4 for 28 (.143) in those situations during Friday’s doubleheader.

“I just thought we did a really good job altogether,” Van Horn said. “In the last 24 hours, I think this team grew up a lot, showed a lot of toughness and I’m really proud of them.”

The Razorbacks return to Fayetteville for a midweek matchup with Oral Roberts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before hitting the road again for another top-25 series against Vanderbilt.

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