The No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks dropped their fourth straight game with an 8-4 loss to the Missouri State Bears at Hammons Field on Tuesday evening in Springfield, Missouri.
After taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning, the Razorbacks gave up six runs in the bottom of the third and could never crawl out of the hole. Senior left-hander Zack Morris gave up five of the six runs in the frame.
Former Arkansas commit Trey Ziegenbein faced the minimum across the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to keep the Diamond Hogs lineup quiet.
Arkansas showed signs of life by plating two runs in the top of the seventh inning, one of which came via an RBI triple from Peyton Holt, but it was too little, too late.
HawgBeat provided live inning-by-inning updates throughout the contest. Here's how it went:
Starting Lineups
Arkansas
1. Kendall Diggs RF
2. Jace Bohrofen CF
3. Caleb Cali 3B
4. Ben McLaughlin 1B
5. Brady Slavens LF
6. Jayson Jones DH
7. Peyton Holt 2B
8. Hudson Polk C
9. John Bolton SS
P - RHP Cody Adcock
Missouri State
1. Nick Rodriguez SS
2. Spencer Nivens CF
3. Mason Hull 2B
4. Zack Stewart RF
5. Cody Kelly 1B
6. Taeg Gollert LF
7. Cam Cratic DH
8. Anthony Socci C
9. Jake McCutcheon 3B
P - RHP Tyler Tscherter
Top 1
Kendall Diggs led the inning off with a five-pitch walk, but Caleb Cali hit into a 4-3 double play to end the frame.
Bottom 1
Nick Rodriguez led the frame off with a solo home run to right field to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Cody Adcock bounced back by retiring the next three batters, two of which were sat down on strikes.
Top 2
Ben McLaughlin led the inning off with a double to left and Brady Slavens brought him home on an RBI single through the left side on the next at bat.
Slavens scored via Hudson Polk reaching and an error on the second baseman that allowed the run to score and give Arkansas a 2-1 lead after the frame.
Bottom 2
A leadoff single was followed by a double from Taeg Gollert that gave the Bears a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. A one-out walk from Adcock loaded the bases, but a 4-6-3 double play got him out of trouble.
Top 3
After leading the frame off with back-to-back singles, the next three Diamond Hogs went down in order.
Bottom 3
LHP Zack Morris came on in relief of Adcock to start the frame.
With runners on the corners and one out, Zack Stewart blooped an RBI single into left to tie the game at 2-2. The next at bat resulted in a two-RBI double for Gollert that put the Bears up by a pair of runs. After giving up an RBI single to Cam Cratic, Morris' day was done as Van Horn turned to RHP Austin Ledbetter.
Anthony Socci was the first batter Ledbetter faced and he took the Arkansas righty deep to right for a two-run shot that put the Bears ahead 7-2 after three.
Top 4
Missouri State brought RHP Trey Ziegenbein on in relief to start the frame. He used just 11 pitches to retire the Arkansas batters in order.
Bottom 4
Ledbetter loaded the bases after giving up a leadoff single and two walks and LHP Parker Coil came on in relief with one out.
A sacrifice fly from Cody Kelly to shallow center scored Rodriguez and put Missouri State up 8-2 after four innings.
Top 5
Arkansas was retired in order for the second inning in a row by Zeigenbein, who is a former Razorback baseball commit.
Bottom 5
Coil worked around a pair of one-out base runners and got out of it when Rodriguez lined into a 6-5 double play.
Top 6
Ziegenbein worked his third straight 1-2-3 inning to keep the Razorback lineup quiet.
Bottom 6
Coil worked the first 1-2-3 inning for an Arkansas pitcher on the evening during the bottom of the sixth.
Top 7
Missouri State brought on RHP Scott Youngbrandt to start the frame. Jayson Jones snapped a streak of 10 straight Razorbacks retired with an infield single, and he scored on Peyton Holt's RBI triple. The second baseman scored the fourth run on pinch hitter Harold Coll's RBI groundout, and the Bears went back to the bullpen after Kendall Diggs reached on a catcher's interference.
RHP Reed Metz inherited a runner with two outs, but he escaped with a fielder's choice, leaving the mound with an 8-4 lead.
Bottom 7
Freshman RHP Ben Bybee came on in relief to start the frame and he worked a 1-2-3 inning to keep the momentum going.
Top 8
Metz sat the Razorbacks down in order and earned a strikeout in the frame.
Bottom 8
Bybee issued a one-out walk but bounced back with by earning a strikeout and a hard line out to right to strand the runner.
Top 9
Metz hit Peyton Holt with a pitch with one out, but he bounced back by retiring Parker Rowland and Harold Coll to close the game down and secure a Missouri State win.
