FAYETTEVILLE — On a weird day of baseball, it’s appropriate that a two-run sacrifice fly was the difference in Arkansas’ 12-7 loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

Strong winds made things adventurous and Parker Bates’ seventh-inning fly ball was no different, as it carried Dominic Fletcher all the way to the center field warning track and allowed both runners in scoring position to score.

“I kind of caught it on the run and used the fence to stop me before I turned around to throw,” Fletcher said. “I was throwing into the wind, kind of tough to get it back in real quick.”

That play gave the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead and was actually set up by a Jacob Nesbit throwing error. After snagging a sharp grounder by Mason Mallard, he tried to turn a double play instead of going to first for the sure out and his throw sailed into the outfield.

One run scored on that play to give Louisiana Tech the lead and the Bates sacrifice fly made it a three-run game. It was a tough inning for the Razorbacks because they had just tied the game in the previous half inning.

“We made a little run and looked like things were going to maybe flip to our side,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It seemed like every time that we were about ready to gram some momentum, obviously they’d get a big hit.”

Arkansas got one run back in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Zack Plunkett, but the inning ended on a sour note when it loaded the bases with one out and couldn’t bring any of them home. Nesbit struck out and then Casey Martin flew out to end the threat.

The Razorbacks couldn’t capitalize on Fletcher’s two-out double in the eighth inning, either, and then Mason Robinson got a ball up into the wind for a three-run homer in the ninth that put the game out of reach.

It was Louisiana Tech’s third home run of the game and the second that brought scored three runs. Most of them likely would have been fly outs on a normal day, but 30-40 mile per hour winds carried them way out of Baum-Walker Stadium.

“I told them solo home runs aren’t going to win the game today, three-run homers will,” Van Horn said. “That’s really what happened against us. We gave up a couple of those.”

Most of Arkansas’ damage came in the second inning when Plunkett hit a wind-aided line drive home run and then Martin hit a line drive to the base of the wall.

Two runs were going to score on Martin’s hit regardless, but Louisiana Tech thought it would be a ground-rule double because it seemed to get stuck at the base of the wall. However, it wasn’t called and he never stopped running until he crossed home plate for the Hogs’ first inside-the-park home run since 2017.

“I looked at Coach and he kept wheeling me to keep going,” Martin said. “I guess what the rule is, you have to put your hands up immediately instead of going for it and then putting your hands up. That kind of counteracted that play there.”

The most bizarre play of the day, though, had no impact on the result and came after the game was already in hand.

On the first pitch following Robinson’s ninth-inning home run, freshman right-hander Jacob Burton hit Chris Clayton in the helmet with a pitch. Without hesitation, home plate umpire Wes Hamilton tossed Burton and tempers flared with a few Louisiana Tech players came out of the dugout.

Van Horn immediately ran out of the bullpen to protest the ejection and check on Clayton, so it didn’t escalate from there.

“He didn’t mean to hit him,” Van Horn said. “It was supposed to be a fastball on the inner half, but obviously, it wasn’t supposed to hit him.”

With the loss, Arkansas (11-2) is starting at a Sunday rubber match for the first time this season. The Razorbacks were 4-5 in those games last season, including a perfect 4-0 mark at home.

“Good teams win on Sunday,” Fletcher said. “It’s going to happen plenty of times this year, probably, that it’s 1-1 going into Sunday. Good teams find a way to win that third game.”

First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m., with Arkansas right-hander Cody Scroggins (0-0, 7.88 ERA) facing Louisiana Tech left-hander Logan Bailey (1-1, 9.42 ERA) on the mound. The game will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning it can be watched on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.

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