The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (41-12, 18-10 SEC) dropped Game 1 on Thursday to the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers (41-13, 16-12 SEC) in a 10-7 loss at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
Starter Zach Root was less-than-stellar in 3.2 innings pitched. He was tagged with seven hits, four earned runs and racked up four strikeouts and two walks on 68 pitches.
Offensively, the Diamond Hogs finished 15-for-40 at the plate, but left 12 runners on base. Logan Maxwell recorded three hits, while Charles Davalan, Kuhio Aloy, Reese Robinett and Justin Thomas Jr. each had two knocks.
Out of the bullpen, Gabe Gaeckle retired seven of his first nine batters before Tennessee finally figured him out. He ended up allowing four hits and three earned runs in his 2.2 innings pitched.
RECAP
First Inning:
Arkansas starter Zach Root needed just eight pitches to work through the top of Tennessee's order, working in a strikeout and two groundouts to complete the 1-2-3 frame.
The Razorbacks recorded two hits — singles by Charles Davalan and Logan Maxwell — but a groundball double play and strikeout prevented Arkansas from scoring.
Second Inning:
Tennessee scored the first run of the game to leadoff the second, a solo homerun to left field. The Volunteers followed that up with a single, but Root got his first out with a looking punchout. The southpaw got a lineout and another K to finish things off.
Cam Kozeal got ahead 3-1 in the Hogs' half of the frame, but grounded out. Ryder Helfrick singled up the middle and Brent Iredale moved Helfrick to third with a single of his own. Reese Robinett walked to load the bases. Justin Thomas Jr. struck out on three pitches to bring up Davalan, who doubled home two runs to give Arkansas a 2-1 lead.
Third Inning:
Root surrendered a single to start the third, but a failed bunt attempt resulted in a foulout. After another single to give the Vols runners on the corners, Tennessee grounded into a frame-ending double play.
Besides a Maxwell walk, the Hogs didn't get much going in the third offensively.
Fourth Inning:
Arkansas ran into some trouble in the fourth. After a groundout to start, Root got tagged with a single and then a walk. A strikeout and walk later, the Vols brought home two runs with a single past Wehiwa Aloy, to lead 3-2. Tennessee then led 4-2 after another single, which chased Root out of the game for Gabe Gaeckle, who got a swing and miss to get out of the jam.
Helfrick led off with a groundout, then Iredale got plunked with a pitch to give the Hogs a baserunner. After a Robinett walk and a Thomas fielder's choice groundout, Davalan grounded out.
Fifth Inning:
Gaeckle worked around a walk in the fifth behind two strikeouts to bring Arkansas' offense up, which scored a run on a Kuhio Aloyu double to make it 4-3, Vols.
Sixth Inning:
Other than a one-out single, Gaeckle again made easy work of the Volunteers to push the game along. The Razorbacks got a leadoff man via an Iredale walk, but after a flyout and then a stolen base by Iredale, Thomas lined out and Davalan struck out looking on a close call pitch.
Seventh Inning:
The seventh was a disaster for Arkansas' pitching staff. A leadoff single scored off a two-run blast, which was followed up by another homer. Some more shenanigans took place before the Hogs finally escaped down 7-3.
Arkansas attempted to storm back in the bottom of the seventh with two outs, getting two men in scoring position thanks to a Kuhio Aloy single and Kozeal double. An Iredale lineout stranded the runners.
Eighth Inning:
Ben Bybee entered the game for Arkansas in the eighth and struckout two, walked two and got a lineout for the final out. It was a bit of a circus defensively in the bottom of the eighth after Robinett and Thomas singled to start things off.
After that, an error on a Davalan lineout resulted in both Robinett and Thomas getting into scoring position with one out. With his first hit of the game, Wehiwa Aloy drove in both runners to make it 7-5, Tennessee.
Maxwell continued the comeback attempt with a single to right, which advanced Wehiwa to third base. Kuhio Aloy reached first on a fielder's choice groundout, which was enough to add another run to Arkansas' total. With the Hogs down 7-6, Kozeal popped up to end the inning.
Ninth Inning:
With the game hanging in the balance, Arkansas handed the ball to lefty Hunter Dietz from the pen. That decision didn't pan out, because after a leadoff single, Tennessee blasted a two-run shot to left field for some huge insurance runs. Another hard-hit single forced a pitching change to Christian Foutch, who struck out the first batter he faced.
However, a single and subsequent error by Maxwell in right field allowed the runner on first to come all the way home, which increased Tennessee's lead to 10-6. Foutch drew the final two outs with a flyball and groundball.
A questionable strike three call retired Helfrick to lead off the bottom of the ninth, then Iredale grounded out to shortstop. Robinett snuck one through the infield for a two-out single, and he came around to score on a Thomas left-field single. The game came to an end on a Davalan groundout.
