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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 — Two errors on one play in the middle of Saturday’s game swung the momentum in favor of Georgia and Arkansas never recovered.

Despite being one of the top defensive teams in the country, the Razorbacks turned Josh McAllister’s fifth-inning swinging bunt into a Little League-home run that tied the game. The Bulldogs eventually won 7-3 to even the series at Baum-Walker Stadium.

With a runner on third and two outs, McAllister hit a little dribbler down the third base line that was placed perfectly for Georgia. It brought in a run to cut Arkansas’ lead in half and that should have been the end of it, but starter Peyton Pallette barehanded it and threw wildly to first, even though there was no play to be made.

McAllister took two bases on the throwing error because the Razorbacks had vacated third base. He slid in safely well ahead of a relay throw by Robert Moore, which sailed into the seats. That error gave him an extra bag, completing his trip around the bases on a ball that didn’t get off the infield grass and tying the game 3-3.

“It was just a bad play all the way around,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Bottom line, Pallette makes a pretty good pitch, jams the guy, he hits it up the third base line and he should’ve just fielded the ball and gotten back up on the mound and tried to get the last out.”

It remained that score until the seventh. Cole Tate drew a full-count walk to lead off the inning and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Fernando Gonzalez.

That prompted Van Horn to replace Ryan Costeiu with Zack Morris and the left-hander gave up a two-run home run to Ben Anderson on the first pitch he threw, giving Georgia a 5-3 lead.

“It was down the middle, in,” Van Horn said. “The guy just hammered it. It was supposed to be down and away. It was just (Morris) didn’t locate the pitch.”

The Bulldogs ended up tacking on a couple of insurance runs in the ninth inning.

Early Lead

Arkansas got off to a solid start Saturday night, jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the first three innings and chasing Georgia starter Jonathan Cannon after just 2 2/3 innings.

However, it probably could have scored more. Zack Gregory led off the game with a single, stole second and moved to third on a ground out.

Instead of playing it safe, Arkansas pushed the envelope. When Cayden Wallace lined out to shallow center, Gregory tagged up and tried to score. Anderson, the center fielder, came charging in to make the catch and then made a perfect throw to get him at the plate.

The first two Razorbacks reached base in the second inning thanks to a leadoff walk by Brady Slavens and double by Christian Franklin, but they managed just one run on a sacrifice fly by Moore.