No. 1 Arkansas walks off No. 8 LSU in extra innings
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (22-3, 7-1 SEC) walked off the No. 8 LSU Tigers (20-8, 2-6 SEC) to secure a 4-3 win in 10 innings in front of a season-high 11,156 fans Friday evening at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With drama at an all-time high and a runner on first base in the bottom of the 10th inning, Arkansas catcher Hudson White lined an RBI double down the line in left field to score Will Edmunson and walk the reigning national champions off the field.
"I just felt like White had swung the bat well all night," head coach Dave Van Horn said postgame. "He lined out to short. I felt good about him getting a hit. I didn’t know he was going to hit a double. But I like the matchup there."
It was just a great game. I’m really proud of the team, the way they fought. I thought our young pitchers did a great job
LSU ace right-hander Luke Holman entered the contest with a 0.78 ERA and just eight walks on the season. Those numbers look a little more inflated afterwards, as he gave up three earned runs on five hits while walking five batters and striking out five.
Left-handed reliever Griffin Herring silenced the Arkansas bats for 4.2 innings of scoreless relief after Holman, as Herring struck out eight batters and walked none. It was right-hander Thatcher Hurd that gave up the walk-off hit.
Arkansas starter Mason Molina tossed five innings in the start and gave up three earned runs on seven hits while striking out seven and walking three.
"That’s a tough lineup to go through, bunch of power-hitting right-handers, throwing a lefty at them," Van Horn said. "He gave us a chance. It wasn’t his best outing but it was a good outing."
The trio of Christian Foutch, Gabe Gaeckle and Stone Hewlett allowed just two Tigers to reach base over the final five innings of relief.
Arkansas did leave 10 runners on base at the plate, and it was just 2-16 at the plate with runners in scoring position. The Hogs made up for it by striking out 12 LSU hitters and giving up just two hits with runners in scoring position.
"It’s really hard to win in this league," Van Horn said. "Every win that you can get early takes a lot of pressure off yourself the second half. LSU is a really good team. But we just found way tonight."
After giving up a leadoff single on his second pitch of the game, Molina benefited from a beautiful 5-4-3 double play off the bat of LSU slugger Tommy White on the very next pitch. The left-hander closed the perfect frame with a four-pitch strikeout.
Peyton Stovall led the bottom half of the first with a 106 mile per hour double to left on Holman's first pitch, but the LSU ace retired the next three in a row to strand Stovall.
The second inning went nearly identical for both pitchers, as Molina and Holman both issued a walk and gave up a single, and then both managed to work around the baserunners and strand a pair each.
Molina once again ran into traffic on the bases in the top of the third, and the Tigers capitalized with a two-out, two-run single to left field from Josh Pearson that made it a 2-0 game. The Hogs and Molina were lucky to limit the damage at two, as the left-hander picked up his fifth punchout to close the frame after allowing just the two runs.
Arkansas looked to be in prime position to respond after putting the first two runners on base in the bottom half of the fourth, but Holman retired three batters in a row to strand two more Razorbacks and keep the Tigers' lead at 2-0.
The Tigers went down in order in the top of the fourth, and the Hogs finally got to Holman in the bottom half. Ty Wilmsmeyer's RBI double to right got the Razorbacks on the board, and Arkansas then picked up two more RBI swings in a row from Stovall and Ben McLaughlin put the Hogs ahead 3-2 after four innings.
With his pitch count at 98 and a runner on first with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Holman was pulled from the game for Herring, who retired two in a row to strand the runner.
After Molina allowed the first three LSU batters to reach and load the bases in the top of the sixth, Van Horn turned to right-hander Christian Foutch. The hard-throwing sophomore saw the Tigers tie the game at 3-3 with an RBI sacrifice fly, but he limited the damage to that after inducing an inning-ending double play.
Herring put together a dominant frame in the bottom of the sixth by striking out the side against the Razorbacks' lineup. Foutch followed suit with a 1-2-3 top of the seventh that was equally as dominant, minus the three strikeouts.
"He’s been working on a few things," Van Horn said of Foutch. "Changed the grip. Got a little more sink. He got him a double-play ball and a couple ground balls, and that’s a little bit of what’s going on. He’s throwing strikes in the upper 90s. It was really good to see, because we need him. He’s a tough kid. He’s going to throw 101 one day. Might be next week."
Arkansas threatened with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a big out at home on a sacrifice bunt from Jared Sprague-Lott allowed Herring and the Tigers to keep the game tied after seven innings of play.
Electric freshman right-hander Gabe Gaeckle relieved Foutch to start the top of the eighth, and Gaeckle went 1-2-3 in the frame. Herring was once again perfect with two more strikeouts in a three up, three down bottom of the eighth.
Gaeckle worked around a two-out single to face one more than the minimum in a high-intensity top of the ninth.
Arkansas led the bottom of the ninth off with a double to left from Stovall, but Herring once again delivered by retiring the next three in a row to send the game to extra innings.
After Gaeckle picked up two outs — and gave up a single — the Hogs turned to left-on-left specialists Stone Hewlett, who picked up the third out with a strikeout to send it to the bottom of the 10th.
LSU turned to Hurd in the bottom of the 10th and he saw Edmunson reach via a one-out error, and White walked the game off by lacing an RBI double down the left field line to send the home fans into a frenzy and the home team onto the field for a celebration.
"When I stepped up to the plate, I was just looking for something up and over the plate," White said. "And that’s what I got. I was able to put a swing on it. Will (Edmunson) is a really good baserunner and he was able to score.”
The Razorbacks and Tigers will meet for Game 3 of the series Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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