NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks blew a six-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 10-8 loss at the No. 12 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday at Hawkins Field.
Arkansas led 8-2 going into the bottom of the eighth and head coach Dave Van horn elected to turn from lefty Zack Morris — who had thrown three scoreless innings — and bring on freshman righty Gage Wood.
Wood was charged five runs across six batters faced and Cody Adcock relieved Wood to face just two batters, both of whom scored on a three-run homer from pinch hitter Troy LaNeve, who hit the bomb on freshman Parker Coil's first pitch in relief.
Brady Tygart struck out seven across four innings in the start and he allowed just two runs on two pitches that were hit for a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the third.
With a win, Arkansas would've secured the SEC regular season title, but now it will have to wait to try and clinch the title on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT in Nashville.
HawgBeat provided live inning-by-inning updates from Friday's action:
Starting Lineups
Arkansas
1. CF Tavian Josenberger (S)
2. RF Jace Bohrofen (L)
3. LF Jared Wegner (R)
4. DH Kendall Diggs (L)
5. 3B Caleb Cali (R)
6. 1B Brady Slavens (L)
7. 2B Peyton Holt (R)
8. C Parker Rowland (S)
9. SS John Bolton (R)
SP: Brady Tygart (R)
Vanderbilt
1. CF Enrique Bradfield Jr. (L)
2. 3B Davis Diaz (R)
3. RF RJ Schreck (L)
4. 1B Parker Noland (L)
5. C Jack Bulger (R)
6. DH Troy LaNeve (L)
7. 2B RJ Austin (R)
8. SS Jonathan Vastine (L)
9. LF T.J. McKenzie (R)
SP: Devin Futrell (L)
Top 1
After Tavian Josenberger struck out to start the frame, Jace Bohrofen smacked a solo homer to right that put Arkansas up 1-0 early.
Jared Wegner drew a four-pitch walk and he was moved to second via a Kendall Diggs single. Caleb Cali double down the left field line and Wegner scored while Diggs was thrown out at the plate. Cali came around courtesy of an RBI single from Slavens that made it 3-0 after the first half inning.
Bottom 1
Brady Tygart retired the Commodores in order and added a pair of strikeouts to his name while doing so.
Top 2
Futrell bounced back well from giving up three in the first by facing just three batters in the top of the second.
Bottom 2
Tygart began the frame by forcing a groundout to short and he closed it with back-to-back strikeouts to face the minimum again.
Top 3
Another 1-2-3 frame from Futrell took 16 pitches to bring his game total to 55 pitches through three innings.
Bottom 3
Tygart earned a pair of quick outs, but T.J. McKenzie drove a 1-1 pitch deep to left for his first home run of the season to make the Arkansas lead 3-1.
Five pitches after McKenzie's home run, Enrique Bradfield Jr. went back-to-back with a solo blast of his own to left. A foul out to Brady Slavens at first ended the frame after the VandyBoys plated a pair of runs.
Top 4
Brady Slavens drove a one-out ground-rule double to the wall in right field and Slavens scored courtesy of an RBI double off the monster in left from Peyton Holt.
Futrell gained back-to-back strikeouts against Parker Rowland and John Bolton to strand Holt.
Bottom 4
Tygart came back out to throw in the fourth and he went three up, three down and earned his sixth and seventh strikeouts in the process.
Top 5
Futrell looked sharp once again and retired the 1, 2, 3 hitters for the Razorbacks in order. The Vanderbilt lefty earned his seventh and eighth strikeouts in the frame.
Bottom 5
Left-hander Zack Morris came on in relief of Tygart to start the frame. He started his outing with back-to-back strikeouts and then took care of a bunt that came right back to him for the third out.
Top 6
Caleb Cali singled through the right side with one out and he was moved to third via a Slavens single to right. Peyton Holt absolutely crushed a three-run bomb to left to put Arkansas ahead 7-2.
A throwing error by the shortstop allowed John Bolton to reach first with two outs, but he was stranded after Josenberger flied out.
Bottom 6
Morris retired the Commodores in order and picked up two more strikeouts in his second inning of work.
Top 7
Vanderbilt brought on RHP Bryce Cunningham in relief of Futrell to start the seventh. He needed just nine pitches to retire the Razorbacks in order.
Bottom 7
Morris issued a four-pitch walk with two outs, but he bounced back with his sixth strikeout of the night to strand the runner.
Top 8
After Cali and Slavens both grounded out to second, Holt was plunked to give the Razorbacks a two-out base runner. Parker Rowland drew a walk and Holt scored via an RBI single from John Bolton.
Tavian Josenberger drew a walk to load the bases, but Jace Bohrofen fouled out to leave the bases loaded.
Bottom 8
Freshman RHP Gage Wood came on in relief of Zack Morris to start the frame.
Wood faced a bases loaded, no outs situation after giving up a leadoff single, a walk and a bunt single.
Vanderbilt plated a run via an RBI sacrifice fly from Bradfield. On the play, Bolton and Holt collided in shallow center and Bolton exited the game with an apparent injury. Harold Coll took over for Bolton at shortstop.
Davis Diaz lined a one-out single to right that loaded the bases and Wood then hit RJ Schreck with a pitch to score Vanderbilt's fourth run. Arkansas then turned to RHP Cody Adcock in relief of Wood.
Adcock walked in a run on the first batter he faced to make it an 8-5 game. Jack Bulger then drove a two-run single to left to make the Razorback lead just one run.
Van Horn quickly pulled Adcock and turned to freshman LHP Parker Coil with one out and two on. Coil's first pitch was driven for a three-run homer from Troy LaNeve to put Vanderbilt ahead by a pair of runs.
Coil bounced back with back-to-back outs to follow up the home run and end the dreadful frame.
Top 9
The Commodores brought on RHP Nick Maldonado for the top of the ninth.
Kendall Diggs drove a one-out pitch to center field and Bradfield stole a homer from Diggs for the second out.
Caleb Cali singled to left and advanced to second on a defensive indifference to give Brady Slavens a runner in scoring position. Another indifference put Cali on third, but it didn't matter as Slavens struck out swinging to end the game.
