Not a subscriber? Subscribe for free for 30 days w/code HAWGS30
NEW USERS | RETURNING USERS

HawgBeat's coverage of the Diamond Hogs' Road to Omaha is brought to you by CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers, which has locations in Fayetteville and Russellville.

FAYETTEVILLE — A disastrous inning doomed Arkansas early in its SEC opener Friday night.

Alabama sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs in the second inning of its 16-1 win over the Razorbacks at Baum-Walker Stadium.

It’s the third straight loss for Arkansas, which started the season 12-0 to become the unanimous No. 1 team in college baseball. It’s also the first time the Razorbacks have lost their first conference game since 2016.

“If it could have gone wrong, it went wrong,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “There was a lot of close pitches that didn’t go our way, but bottom line, we didn’t get it done on the mound early in the game and offensively we didn’t do a whole lot as well.”

The Crimson Tide threatened to break through in the first, but starter Peyton Pallette managed to work around back-to-back one-out walks. He wasn’t able to replicate that in the second inning, though.

After a leadoff walk, Alabama got singles by Andrew Pinckney and Jim Jarvis, the second of which was an RBI to start the scoring. Pallette was pulled when he plunked Caden Rose to load the bases, failing to record an out in the second.

In an uncharacteristic start, only 16 of the right-hander’s 41 pitches were strikes and - despite being one of the nation’s leaders in strikeouts per nine innings - he failed to record a strikeout. When the dust settled, he was charged with four earned runs on two hits and three walks in one inning.

“Everything was up and cutting the ball, moving and cutting out of the zone,” Van Horn said. “I hadn’t seen it from him, hadn’t seen it from him in the fall. Just was behind everybody 3-1 it seemed like. Just couldn’t get it done, couldn’t throw the ball over the plate.”

Only one of those runs had scored when Pallette left the game. The other three came with Blake Adams on the mound, as he walked in a pair of runs and gave up an RBI ground out to Sam Praytor.

The Crimson Tide were far from done with the sophomore. Drew Williamson crushed a two-run double off the top of the wall in center that was a few feet away from going over the fence and then - after an RBI single by Zane Denton - Owen Diodati did get one over the fence for a two-run bomb off Adams.

The 10th run of the inning scored when Cullen Smith threw wildly to first on Rose’s infield single, allowing Pinckney to come all the way around from first.

That was all Alabama needed, but it tacked on another six runs over the final three innings for good measure. Rose and Jackson Tate each hit solo home runs, while Pinckney hit a two-run homer.

“The ball was carrying really well tonight,” Van Horn said. “The balls that left the yard were up in the zone. They just did a good job. It doesn’t surprise me they hit four home runs, the way the game went. They’ve got a good team, a good offense and they proved it tonight.”