BATON ROUGE, La. — Even though the series opener between No. 5 Arkansas and No. 1 LSU began at noon rather than 7 p.m., it did not lose any of its character as a textbook Friday SEC game during regulation.
Dueling aces Hunter Hollan and Paul Skenes put on a clinic for the ages, combining to pitch more than 12 innings of one-run ball, in astounding contrast with the 9-3 final score in favor of the Razorbacks.
Their first run came in the fourth inning, after Skenes had carved them up in order the first time through the lineup. Center fielder Tavian Josenberger, the only Arkansas hitter who was not one of the Tiger ace’s 12 strikeout victims, one-hopped the right field fence with a double to break up the perfect game and the no-hitter. He took third base on a wild pitch and completed his trip around the bases thanks to second baseman Peyton Stovall’s sacrifice fly.
After surrendering the run, Skenes proceeded to punch out five of the next six Hogs, jacking his total up to double digits. He pitched himself into a jam, issuing his fifth, sixth and seventh walks of the season, but he rang up first baseman Brady Slavens for the second time to escape unharmed.
"Skenes was everything as advertised," Van Horn said. "I’ve never seen a better arm at this level. It’d unbelievable."
Skenes had Hollan’s number in more categories, but the Arkansas southpaw won the most important battle. His zero runs were the cherry on top of a 5 ⅓-inning performance in which he allowed just four baserunners.
"I saw a tweet this morning that said we're seven days away from the pitching matchup of the year, and it was (Chase) Dollander versus Skenes," Hollan said. "That kind of got the fire in the butt a little bit, knowing that social media-wise, people don't really know me. Just go in and compete in the zone. We had a really good scouting report and stuck to it, and it paid off."
The Tigers stranded their first two — an infield single and a walk — at first base, but first baseman Tre’ Morgan’s two-out triple in the fourth put the pressure on. He tried to tie the game on a not-so-wild pitch, but catcher Parker Rowland got the ball back to the plate in plenty of time for Hollan to tag him out.
"Rowland didn’t just sprint over to the ball and turn and panic and throw," Van Horn said. "He knew he had time, made a perfect throw to Hollan and he didn’t even get to the plate, so big play."
The fourth runner came in the form of a leadoff single in the sixth inning. Hollan collected his seventh strikeout of the contest and turned the ball over to Hagen Smith after 87 pitches. The Razorback “wild card” fanned perhaps the two most fearsome LSU hitters in center fielder Dylan Crews and third baseman Tommy White, preserving the 1-0 lead.
Multiple Tigers reached base in the seventh inning, marking the first time all afternoon such a feat had occurred, but another baserunning error sucked the life out of Alex Box Stadium. Rowland caught left fielder Brayden Jobert wandering too far off first base after his single, ending the threat.
The Razorback players recognized the size of Jobert's lead and called for the backpick play, Van Horn said.
"We might have struck the guy out two pitches later, but he also might’ve hit a double, so that was a big momentum killer at the time," Van Horn said.
Skenes’ outing ended mercifully after 105 pitches, but Arkansas did not have an answer for reliever Chase Shores in the eighth. LSU, however, did have something for Smith.
Five outs shy of a shutout, nine-hole hitter Brady Neal took the Razorback sophomore deep the other way to tie the game. Consecutive singles and a two-out walk kept the pressure high, but Smith got Morgan to foul out, leaving the bases loaded.
Stovall led the ninth off with a single, but it was just a minor hiccup in another scoreless frame for Shores. Smith returned the favor in the home half, notching his fourth, fifth and sixth punchouts to send the contest to extra innings.
An eight-spot in the top of the 10th blew the game wide open. With the game still knotted and a pair of runners on, freshman pinch hitter Reese Robinett stepped to the plate against LSU right-hander Christian Little. He took the Vanderbilt transfer 421 feet to left-center field, giving the Hogs the three runs they needed to secure their 15th straight win.
Robinett was the first left-handed option off the bench for Arkansas, Van Horn said.
"I just felt like he could drive in a run for us," Van Horn said. "Fortunately he ran into one and he hit hard and the wind took it and he hit it a long way."
In case it were not enough, Slavens tacked on a sac fly, and designated hitter Kendall Diggs doubled the lead with a 390-foot grand slam.
"We have a four-run lead, game's not over," Van Horn said. "Two outs, two strikes, and he hits the ball in the seats, and all of a sudden we've got an eight-run lead. It gave us a chance to maybe sit someone down in the bullpen that we're going to use tomorrow."
Smith had plenty of room to shake off Crews’ two-run homer in the bottom of the frame, wrapping up a 4 ⅔-inning relief appearance that featured five hits, three runs, three walks, eight strikeouts and his fourth win of the season.
"His stuff was really, really good," Van Horn said. "His fastball was good, and he was locating it, but he had really good offspeed. He was throwing that slider, and they were struggling with it."
Arkansas and LSU will wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday. Game two of the series is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on the SEC Network, and the finale is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
Box score
- 100%
- DUAL
- ATH
- WR
- S
- SDE
- ILB
- WR
- ATH
- SDE
- OT
