Alabama walks off No. 1 Arkansas in extra innings
The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (30-3, 12-1 SEC) suffered their first setback since March 23 in walk-off fashion Saturday with a 4-3 loss to the No. 25 Alabama Crimson Tide (22-12, 4-9 SEC) in 10 innings at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Arkansas' Peyton Holt tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run in the top of the ninth that helped send it to extra innings, but the Crimson Tide walked things off after a leadoff double in the bottom of the tenth from Alabama's Kade Snell was followed by the game-winning run scoring via an error by Razorback reliever Jake Faherty.
"Tough loss, but we played hard," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said postgame. "We still have a chance to win the series."
The Razorbacks struggled at the plate for most of the night, as they were just 6-for-37 at the plate as a team and they had zero hits with runners on base. Only three batters — Peyton Holt (three hits), Peyton Stovall (two hits) and Jared Sprague-Lott (one hit) had hits in the game. All three hit home runs.
"Losing in any way sucks," Holt said. "We did everything we could to fight back. We made some unreal plays to keep us in the game. It hurts. I don’t know if I’d rather get walked off with a home run or the error. They both would have hurt. But next time, we just have to go back out there tomorrow and win the series.”
Junior left-hander Mason Molina gave up just two earned runs on two leadoff solo homers in the second and third innings. The Texas Tech transfer held the Crimson Tide scoreless in the other four innings he pitched, and he struck out six while walking none in six total innings.
"I thought Mason Molina did a really good job tonight giving us an opportunity," Van Horn said. "He gave up a couple solo homers, but he pitched really well maneuvering through a really good lineup."
After a scoreless and hitless first inning, Alabama's Will Hodo led the bottom half of the second off with a solo homer to right to open the scoring. After Molina gave up a double to right and a bunt single following the homer, Razorback pitching coach Matt Hobbs made a mound visit to his junior lefty.
Following the chat, Molina responded by retiring three batters in a row, two of which went down on strikes to strand the two runners.
Arkansas had two runners on and two outs after a Stovall double and Wehiwa Aloy walk, and then Alabama catcher Mac Guscette had to exit the game due to injury. Crimson Tide starter Greg Farone stranded the runners with a strikeout following the injury timeout.
Alabama's Gage Miller hit his 14th homer of the season to leadoff the bottom of the third inning to make it a 2-0 lead for the home team. Again, Molina limited the damage to just the leadoff bomb as he retired three of the next four to end the frame.
The Razorbacks saw just their second non-contact out of the game come in the top of the fourth when catcher Ryder Helfrick struck out swinging. Holt, who played left field Saturday, was stranded after hitting his second two-out single of the game.
Molina worked his first 1-2-3 frame since the bottom half of the first inning for a drama-less bottom of the fourth. Arkansas rewarded him with a two-out 366-foot solo homer to right field from Stovall that cut the Crimson Tide lead in half to make it 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, which was a second straight three up, three down frame for Molina.
With Farone at just 75 pitches, Alabama elected to bring right-handed reliever Tyler Fay on in the top of the sixth and Sprague-Lott hit his second homer in as many days to lead things off against Fay and tie the game at 2-2. That was all going in the frame for the Hogs, but it was a big swing.
In the bottom of the sixth, Molina retired three of the four he faced as he worked around a one-out single to bring his outing to an end after 101 pitches through six innings.
Arkansas went down in order in the top of the seventh to bring on sophomore right-hander Christian Foutch on in relief in the bottom of the inning. Foutch issued two straight one-out free passes before benefitting from an inning-ending double play.
Fay retired three more in a two in the top of the eighth to make it seven straight by that point for the Crimson Tide reliever. Foutch then ran into trouble with a pair of two-out base runners in the bottom half to bring on left-hander Stone Hewlett.
Former Ole Miss Rebel and current Alabama centerfielder TJ McCants hit a double down the right field line off Hewlett to put the Crimson Tide ahead 3-2 with just three outs remaining for the Hogs.
Alabama closer Alton Davis II entered the game to start the top of the ninth, and he picked up two quick outs to get the crowd to their feet just for Holt to send a game-tying solo shot to left-center that made it 3-3.
"I was just going up there trying to hit a fastball," Holt said. "Saw the slider and just stayed with the approach. Stayed through it and it played out."
Sophomore righty Gage Wood took the mound in the bottom of the ninth and worked around back-to-back one-out hit batsmen to send the game to extras.
After Arkansas went down in order against Davis in the top of the tenth, Wood gave up a leadoff double to Snell that chased Wood and brought right-hander Jake Faherty on in relief. McCants hit a dribbler that Faherty couldn't field in time and Snell scored to walk the Hogs off the field.
Up next, the Razorbacks and Crimson Tide will face off in a rubber match starting at 1 p.m. CT Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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