Diamond Hogs blow four-run lead in ninth, suffer sweep at Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — The Arkansas Razorbacks entered Saturday’s game at Foley Field in a desperate situation, trying to salvage a win from the Georgia Bulldogs, who entered the sixth week of league play last in the SEC East.
Not only did the Diamond Hogs fail to accomplish their mission, losing 9-8 in walk-off fashion, but it came with a costlier price. Center fielder Tavian Josenberger sustained a hamstring injury running out a groundout to first base in the the fourth inning, and he did not return to the game.
"It’s a concern," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. "Those usually take some time, so I’m going to say it’s going to take some time."
Also jammed into an action-packed Saturday was Van Horn’s first ejection since April 9, 2017, the first multi-homer game of the season by a Razorback player and a blown four-run lead in the ninth inning.
Freshman right-handers Christian Foutch and Ben Bybee had been fairly effective for Arkansas through half of the SEC slate, but the leverage got a whole lot loftier Saturday.
After Foutch recorded four outs against as many batters to get through the eighth inning, he allowed all three he faced to reach in the ninth. Bybee promptly surrendered a game-tying grand slam to left fielder Connor Tate and a walk-off blast to first baseman Parks Harber on the next pitch.
"The plan today was Hagen Smith to (Gage) Wood to Foutch," Van Horn said, "but the issue was we needed three innings out of Wood and we only got (five) outs — (52) pitches, five outs — so it put a lot of stress on Foutch having to throw more pitches than we were planning. I think he just obviously got a little tired there at the end and what happened after that, happened."
Saturday’s affair began much differently than the first two meetings, as both starting pitchers threw effectively for the duration of their outings.
Georgia lefty Liam Sullivan appeared to have the upper hand on fellow southpaw Hagen Smith, facing the minimum 11 Razorbacks before losing a no-hit bid with two outs in the fourth.
At that point, the Bulldogs owned a 2-0 lead, thanks to a two-run homer off the bat of freshman phenom Charlie Condon in the bottom of the third. Smith paid for a 3-1 hanging fastball and the five-pitch walk he issued just before it with a 474-foot blast that left the bat at 111 mph.
The same formula worked for the Razorbacks in the top of the fifth, as right fielder Kendall Diggs walked to bring the tying run to the plate. Third baseman Caleb Cali belted Sullivan’s 1-1 offering 426 feet to left to tie it. Two batters later, catcher Hudson Polk established his team’s first lead since the early innings of Thursday’s contest with his first bomb since Feb. 18 against TCU at the College Baseball Showdown.
Armed with the lead, Smith took the bump for the last time in the fifth and promptly struck out the side, bringing his total to eight on the day. He had some words for the Georgia dugout on his way off the field, smiling and nodding his head after 96 pitches.
"He competed hard," Van Horn said. "I thought he finished strong. There was a lot of chirping going on between both teams there."
Wood, who had earned consecutive nine-out saves in the past two series, got the call for the sixth inning. After walking the leadoff man, a tapper back to him could have possibly erased that runner, but he threw it into center field, setting the Bulldogs up with runners at the corners and nobody out. Shortstop Sebastian Murillo’s sacrifice bunt knotted the score at 3-3.
Arkansas finally chased Sullivan in the seventh, when Diggs drew his third walk of the afternoon to lead it off. Trouble ensued for right-hander Kyle Greenler, who induced a pair of weakly hit balls that resulted in infield singles. Polk put his team back on top with a sacrifice fly, and shortstop John Bolton’s sac bunt plated another run with an unsuccessful throw home to make it 5-3.
The rally ended with two looking strikeouts, and home plate umpire Christopher Griffith ejected Van Horn for arguing balls and strikes.
"All I know is it was low," Van Horn said, "and it looked like it was low and away. It was kind of a shocking call to us on the other side. We couldn’t believe it."
Georgia halved the deficit with a two-out RBI single off the bat of Tate in the home half of the seventh, and Wood’s second walk was all pitching coach Matt Hobbs needed to see. The acting skipper turned to Foutch, who struck out third baseman Will David to end the scoring threat.
Among the two straight losses, the Josenberger injury and the Van Horn ejection, the Razorbacks had enough tinder to ignite another big inning in the eighth.
Diggs doubled to put himself and designated hitter Ben McLaughlin in scoring position, and Cali unloaded on righty Nolan Crisp’s second pitch of the game, launching it 427 feet the other way. With that, the junior college transfer drove in his third, fourth and fifth runs of the day, became the team leader in home runs and RBIs during the month of April and gave the Hogs an 8-4 cushion.
"It felt good in the moment," Cali said. "Right now, it doesn't feel so great."
The Bulldogs put the pressure on the Razorback bullpen that was out of pitchers accustomed to high-leverage situations, and plated five runs before the visiting freshmen could record an out.
"I think the best way to process it is just forget it," Cali said. "You forget it and move on."
The Diamond Hogs’ road trip is scheduled to continue at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with a stop in Springfield, Missouri, to take on the Missouri State Bears before returning home for a three-game set against Texas A&M. The midweek contest will stream concurrently on ESPN3 and ESPN Plus.
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