Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' Game 3 loss to Mississippi State

FAYETTEVILLE — It took 12 innings, but Mississippi State finally got the big hit that had eluded Arkansas for much of Sunday’s game and salvaged a Game 3 victory.

Two-out RBI singles by Luke Hancock and Logan Tanner broke a tie that had lasted since the sixth to lift the Bulldogs to a 5-3 win over the Razorbacks at Baum-Walker Stadium.

While Arkansas had already clinched the series with wins in the first two games, the loss snapped an eight-game winning streak over Mississippi State and prevented a second SEC sweep in the first three weekends of conference play.

Those game winning hits in the 12th were set up by a pair of free passes, as Kole Ramage plunked Tanner Leggett with one out and then threw four straight balls to walk Kamren James with two outs.

Despite having three different relievers warmed up in the bullpen, Dave Van Horn stuck with Ramage — who has now appeared in four of Arkansas’ five losses this season — and the super senior promptly gave up the game-deciding hits in a span of back-to-back pitches.

“I don’t know what to tell you on that,” Van Horn said of the decision to stick with Ramage. “Yeah, we had guys warming up, but he was the guy. He needed to get those guys out.”

For Arkansas, it was a disappointing finish to what had been an uncharacteristic Game 3 of a series. Both starting pitchers were effective — aside from each giving up two solo home runs — for five innings and the bullpens combined to give up just two runs over the next six innings.

The Razorbacks squandered a couple of chances to end it before Ramage unraveled in the 12th, though. In fact, it looked like they might have won the game in the inning before.

With runners on first and second and only one out, Peyton Stovall crushed a line drive that seemed destined to give him his first hit of the weekend in walk-off fashion, but the first baseman, Hancock, snagged it and doubled up Jalen Battles at second to end the inning.

“Kind of the luck of the game in the 11th,” Van Horn said. “We line into a double play when it looks like when it leaves the bat it’s for sure a base hit. We thought it was going to rise a little bit, but it didn’t and the first baseman made a nice play.”

That was the third time in a span of four innings that Arkansas stranded the winning run in scoring position.

In the eighth, the Razorbacks got a leadoff single from Michael Turner and used a sacrifice bunt to move him to second, but Robert Moore popped out in the infield and Braydon Webb struck out looking.

With a chance to walk it off in the ninth, Arkansas actually loaded the bases with one out. However, Mississippi State brought in Jackson Fristoe out of the bullpen and he struck out Stovall and Turner to send the game to extras.

“I thought we put ourselves in position to win three or four times,” Van Horn said. “We just didn’t drive in a run. You’ve got to give credit to their pitchers for that. … It’s just disappointing we couldn’t get that thing done maybe in the ninth.”

Here are some other key takeaways from Sunday’s series finale…

Phenomenal Outing by Tygart

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the loss was the fact that a phenomenal relief outing by Brady Tygart went for naught.

The freshman right-hander entered the game at the beginning of the eighth inning and proceeded to strike out the first six batters he faced, which included the heart of the Mississippi State lineup.

“His breaking ball was working for him,” Van Horn said. “His curveball was really good. He actually threw a slider — got a strikeout on a slider — and his velocity was really good. … He was throwing a lot of strikes and getting them out. That’s what he does.”