The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (43-12, 20-10 SEC) finished the regular season with a series win Saturday over the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers (41-15, 16-14 SEC) with an 8-4 win at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
Starter Gage Wood struck out seven batters in three innings, but also allowed seven hits, two earned runs and a walk on 76 pitches thrown. With the outing, Wood's season ERA increased to 5.59.
Arkansas used a five-run third inning to take a 6-2 lead, generated by Ryder Helfrick's moonshot grand slam. As a whole, the Diamond Hogs finished 7-for-31 at the plate with 12 strikeouts and nine walks. Helfrick, Wehiwa Aloy and Logan Maxwell each recorded two hits against the Volunteers.
After a 2.1-inning, two-run bullpen outing by Landon Beidelschies, veteran Will McEntire closed the victory out with 3.2 innings of shutdown baseball. On 39 pitches, McEntire struck out four batters, walked none and didn't give up a hit.
RECAP
First Inning:
Pumping 96 MPH fastballs, Arkansas starter Gage Wood's no-hitter was immediately broken up by a Gavin Kilen single. 2-hole Andrew Fischer worked a nine-pitch at-bat that resulted in a single, and the Volunteers had runners on the corners. A first-pitch infield hit at Wehiwa Aloy gave Tennessee a 1-0 lead.
Wood got behind 2-1 to the next batter, but after a quick mound visit by catcher Ryder Helfrick, the right-hander collected three straight strikeouts to escape the jam.
Tegan Kuhns took the mound for Tennessee and got leadoff batter Charles Davalan to swing into a groundout. Wehiwa Aloy, who had struggled all weekend, doubled to left field. Logan Maxwell walked to give Arkansas two base runners. Following a mound visit, Kuhio Aloy lined out to move Wehiwa Aloy to third base.
Helfrick smacked a ball in the 6-hole, but Tennessee's shortstop couldn't throw out Helfrick at first. That tied the game and allowed Maxwell to advance to third base, but Cam Kozeal struck out to end the inning.
Second Inning:
Levi Clark ran the count full against Wood to start the second, but fell to strikes looking for out No. 1. Wood gave up back-to-back singles, struckout Kilen, then allowed an RBI double to give Tennessee a 2-1 lead. A groundout got Wood out of the frame.
Brent Iredale worked the count full, but struck out looking on a nice frontdoor cutter. Reese Robinett flied out on the second pitch of his at-bat and Justin Thomas Jr. struck out swinging for the final out.
Third Inning:
Wood retired the first batter on a flyout to center field before retiring Dean Curley on strikes with a full-count fastball down the middle. Tennessee singled to break up the clean frame, then a full-count walk gave the Vols two baserunners. Wood finally closed the door with his seventh striikeout of the day.
Davalan smoked a 108 MPH single to right field to leadoff the bottom of the third. After a couple pickoff attempts, Kuhns was called for a balk to advance Davalan to second. A routine groundball by Wehiwa Aloy went right under the glove of Curley at second, which allowed Davalan to score. Tied 2-2, Wehiwa successfully stole second. Maxwell walked for the second time to give the Hogs two baserunners.
Kuhio Aloy took four pitches to load the bases with a free pass, which forced a pitching change to Austin Breedlove. With no outs and a new pitcher in, Ryder Helfrick pulled a 46-degree moonshot bomb over the left-field wall for a grand slam, and Arkansas led 6-2.
Dylan Loy entered the game for Tennessee. After a flyout by Kozeal, Iredale walked in a full count. Iredale stole second and Thomas walked in a full count to flip the lineup over. Davalan grounded out to finally end the inning.
Fourth Inning:
Landon Beidelschies replaced Wood out of the bullpen. With a little bit of a mechanics change to his windup, the southpaw struck his first two batters out before picking up a walk. A lineout capped off a hitless frame.
Leading off the bottom of the fourth was Wehiwa Aloy, who homered in a full count to make it 7-2, Hogs. Maxwell followed suit with a single, which forced a pitching change to Brayden Krenzel. The freshman used a deceptive changeup to strikeout Kuhio Aloy and Helfrick, but walked Kozeal. Iredale lined out to end the inning.
Fifth Inning:
Beidelschies needed only three pitches to get his first out, but a single gave the Vols a base runner. Wehiwa Aloy made a sweet play on the run to throw out the next batter, then Beidelschies walked Clark. In a tough at-bat, Beidelschies got the strikeout to get out of the jam.
In the Hogs' half, Robinett walked to leadoff. Thomas struck out and Davalan walked to give Arkansas two men on base. After a Wehiwa Aloy fielder's choice groundout, Maxwell singled to left to drive in a run. Kuhio Aloy struck out with the Razorbacks up 8-2.
Sixth Inning:
Tennessee worked a leadoff walk off Beidelschies to begin the sixth. A flyout by Kilen brought up Andrew Fischer, who homered to right center to make it 8-4, Hogs. Arkansas then made a pitching change to Will McEntire. The veteran righty forced a groundball out on his first pitch and finished the frame with a strikeout.
Helfrick and Kozeal struck out and grounded out, respectively, before Iredale walked. That prompted a change to Brandon Arvidson, who didn't need to do much, as Iredale was caught stealing at second.
Seventh Inning:
McEntire used a groundout, strikeout and lineout to complete a 1-2-3 frame in the seventh. The Razorbacks also went down in-order behind two strikeouts and a popup.
Eighth Inning:
Big Willy Mac continued dominating in the eighth, notching a strikeout against Cannon Peebles before swiss-cheesing through a pinch-hitter for a strikeout. A flyout completed another 1-2-3 frame.
Arvidson matched McEntire's effort with his second straight clean frame, which included two strikeouts and a lineout.
Ninth Inning:
Kendall Diggs replaced Maxwell in right field for the ninth, which featured a McEntire-Fischer matchup to start off. The count went full, but McEntire bested the red-hot hitter with a flyout. A groundout and flyout finished the Game 3 and series win for the Hogs.
