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Auburn made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, but Arkansas secured a critical rubber match Sunday afternoon.
Representing the tying run, Blake Rambusch grounded into just his second double play of the season to seal a 7-4 series-clinching win for the Razorbacks at Plainsman Park.
The play capped a victory that preserves Arkansas’ two-game lead in the SEC West with a 16-8 conference mark, as Sunday’s other results left LSU and Texas A&M at 14-10.
“It was really big to take two out of three,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It's big for our confidence. It's big for just winning on the road. I'm sure it helped our RPI a little bit.”
Getting that final out didn’t come easy for the Razorbacks.
After retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced to get through three scoreless innings, Will McEntire surrendered a leadoff double to Brody Moore, who crushed his 2-1 pitch to one of the deepest parts of the park in left-center.
The right-hander bounced back to get an easy fly out, but a pinch-hit single by the light-hitting Mason Land put runners on the corners and chased him from the game.
With closer Brady Tygart not available after pitching in the previous two games, Arkansas turned to its other top bullpen arm in Evan Taylor.
He promptly got Cole Foster to hit a ground ball to short, only for Jalen Battles to boot it. A run would have scored regardless, but the error meant the top of the order was coming up with just one out.
Given a second chance on a grounder by Rambusch, the Tigers’ speedy leadoff man, Battles flawlessly started a double play that Robert Moore turned and Brady Slavens caught just before the runner got to first.
“I guarantee you, in his mind, he's thinking, 'Please hit me a ball. Hit it to me,’” Van Horn said. “If you're an infielder, and you're thinking, 'Don't hit it to me,' you better go play outfield. That's the way I look at it.
“I told the team after the game, that's what I was hoping, (that) they would hit one. I'm thinking, 'Hit Battles one more. He's not gonna miss this one.' Ball left the bat and it was headed to him, I was feeling pretty good.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Sunday’s win…
Hogs Chase Gonzalez Early
Despite being their Game 3 starter, Joseph Gonzalez has been the Tigers’ top pitcher for much of the season.
Since moving into the rotation last month, the sophomore right-hander has gone at least six innings in each start, with his last four going at least seven. That changed Sunday.
The Razorbacks jumped on him for five earned runs on nine hits — including three doubles and one home run — and he didn’t strike out a single batter in 2 2/3 innings. It was a very uncharacteristic outing by Gonzalez, who entered the game with a 2.30 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.
