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FAYETTEVILLE — With the bases loaded and his team clinging to a one-run lead, Brady Tygart retired Ole Miss’ best hitter for a third time to preserve a victory for Arkansas on Sunday.
Having struck him out with a runner in scoring position twice before, the Razorbacks’ closer got slugger Tim Elko to fly out harmlessly to center to strand the bases loaded and end their 4-3 win over the Rebels at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It was a big Game 3 victory for Arkansas, which avoided its third series loss in four weekend by snapping its two-game losing streak in rubber matches and pushed its lead in the SEC West to two games.
“Bottom line, man, we got a win,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “That was our ultimate goal today, was to win the series.”
Arkansas won in walk-off fashion the night before and Sunday’s game went down to the wire, as well.
Having already thrown two scoreless innings, Tygart walked the bases loaded with a couple of outs mixed in to bring up Elko — who entered the day hitting .316 with 17 home runs and 53 home runs, the latter two of which were tied for the SEC lead and second in the league.
Considering the stakes at hand and the fact that it was Tygart’s second time facing Elko in the game, Van Horn admitted it was a nervous dugout. He had Kole Ramage and Zebulon Vermillion warming up in the bullpen, especially considering he had long sailed past his intended pitch count of 50-55.
“We had even talked earlier, before the inning started, if Elko got up, were we going to leave him (in),” Van Horn said. “There’s no way we could have taken him out there. We didn’t feel like he was pitching that bad.”
In the seventh inning, Tygart struck out Elko by getting him to swing and miss at three straight curveballs, stranding the tying run on second. He had to mix things up a little bit in the ninth and it paid off.
“When we had him down 0-2, we threw a fastball,” Van Horn said. “It must have been a little high, or a little outside or both, but it was by him it looked like — like he was pretty much sitting on something off-speed. I think that pitch really helped, even though it wasn’t a strike.”
Tygart eventually induced a fly ball to center that Braydon Webb easily caught for the final out. That came on a slider, the same pitch he used to strike him out in the ninth inning Saturday.
Overall, Elko went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts against Tygart, but 5 for 9 with a double, home run, two walks and three RBIs against all other Arkansas pitchers on the weekend.
“I'm just still believing in myself,” Tygart said. “I don't really care who’s in the box. I know what my stuff does. I know I can get anybody out.”
Van Horn was visibly frustrated that he even had to face the Ole Miss slugger again. He told reporters that he felt Tygart was getting “squeezed big time” and let home plate umpire Brian deBrauwere hear about it after the final out.
In his eyes, only two of the three walks that loaded the bases in the ninth were legitimate.
“It says he walked four there,” Van Horn said while looking at a box score. “I don’t know if I’m buying that. I’m going to look at some information. I just know what I’ve been told by people. I’m off to the side… But it was something else.”
Despite the questionable strike zone, the Razorbacks kept a positive outlook, even when pitching coach Matt Hobbs used a mound visit to talk to Tygart and the infield in the final inning.
“When Coach Hobbs went out to the mound there in the ninth, he came back and told me a couple of the guys were kind of laughing, like they thought it was almost laughable the strike zone that was going on there,” Van Horn said. “And they said, ‘Hey, don’t worry. We got it. We’ll be fine.’ That’s the kind of attitude we want.”
Tygart earned his seventh save of the season Sunday after picking up his second victory Saturday. In the two outings, he totaled five scoreless innings in which he allowed one hit and six walks while striking out seven.
“I thought he did a better job staying under control today better than ever because today he didn’t get any calls really,” Van Horn said. “It was a bunch of either strikes or what we call 50-50 calls, and he didn’t get any of them. He held his composure and finished it.”
Putting together such a big weekend was extra special for Tygart, who was never offered by the Rebels despite growing up an hour away from Oxford in Hernando, Miss.
“They were one of the Mississippi schools I wanted to offer me and they didn’t offer me,” Tygart said. “So I definitely had a bit more of an edge seeing them powder blues.”
Here are several other key takeaways from the rubber match victory…
Live by the Long Ball
Arkansas scored 12 runs over the three-game series and all of them came via the home run. In all, the Razorbacks hit six home runs, with four being two-run shots and the other two including a solo bomb and Kendall Diggs’ three-run walk-off.
On Sunday, a pair of two-run blasts happened to be all Arkansas needed.
The first came with two outs in the third following a bloop double by Cayden Wallace earlier in the inning. He hit Derek Diamond’s 1-1 pitch hard, with an exit velocity of 101 mph, but he also hit it high in the air with a 36.1-degree launch angle.
