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Razorbacks Finally Hold on Late and It Could Change Everything

Parker Coil retired three straight in the ninth to seal a win Arkansas has found ways to lose far too often this season.
Andy Hodges|
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz before game against Alabama.
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz before game against Alabama. | Arkansas Communications

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Arkansas Razorbacks

Parker Coil threw three pitches in the ninth inning Friday night. Well, a few more than three.

But when it was over and the Arkansas Razorbacks had walked off Alabama's field with a 7-5 victory that had no business being as nerve-wracking as it was.

Coil's calm finish that separated this game from the kind the Hogs have been losing lately.

That's the part worth sitting with for a minute.

Yes, Camden Kozeal hit a lead-off homer in the eighth on an 0-2 pitch. Yes, TJ Pompey crushed a two-run blast to break the game open after a critical error handed Arkansas a lead it hadn't sniffed all night.

Yes, Hunter Dietz was outstanding for six innings against one of the hottest teams in the SEC. All of that matters.

What's mattered most for this Arkansas team — in the wrong direction — has been the inability to close out games when the other team starts clawing back.

Friday night in Tuscaloosa, with a four-run lead and Alabama suddenly very much alive in the ninth, the Razorbacks finally held the line.

"We needed a win and a Friday night win," Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said.

Dietz Does His Job, Offense Struggles to Do Theirs

For the first seven innings, this looked like it was heading toward a familiar Arkansas loss.

The Hogs came in at 5-7 in SEC play against an Alabama team that had rattled off three straight conference series wins over Florida, Auburn and Oklahoma.

The Crimson Tide were 26-8 overall and hadn't lost at home in 18 games. Their starter, Tyler Fay, made sure the Razorbacks felt every bit of that momentum.

Fay held Arkansas to just one run across six innings of work, striking out four and getting help from his defense when it mattered most.

In the fifth inning with the game tied 1-1, Alabama executed a perfect relay throw from center field to cut down what would've been the go-ahead run at the plate.

Dietz kept the Hogs competitive despite the offensive quiet. Making his first career start in a series opener, the lefty gave up just two runs on a pair of solo home runs across six innings of work.

Over his last four starts, all against SEC opponents, Dietz has now logged 23⅔ innings with a 3.04 ERA.

That's a pitcher who's earned the trust Van Horn showed him by moving him into the series opener role.

But through seven frames, Arkansas trailed 3-1 and had done almost nothing to suggest a comeback was coming.

Eighth Changed Everything

Gabe Gaeckle had kept things manageable in the seventh, stranding two Alabama runners in scoring position after allowing a run to score on a groundout.

It wasn't pretty, but it kept the Razorbacks within striking distance.

Then the eighth inning arrived and everything changed at once.

Kozeal led off with that solo shot to left on an 0-2 pitch, cutting the deficit to 3-2. Two batters later, Zack Stewart delivered an RBI single to tie the game.

Van Horn replaced Stewart at first with pinch-runner Landon Schaefer and Kuhio Aloy — who hadn't recorded a hit since March 29 — doubled to left to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Alabama coach Rob Vaughn called on closer Hagan Banks to end the threat. Banks got what looked like an inning-ending groundball to shortstop.

Justin Lebron, considered a consensus Top 10 prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft, threw the ball wide of the bag. Schaefer scored. Aloy scored.

A two-run error turned a tie game into a 5-3 Arkansas lead in the span of one bad throw from one of the best shortstop prospects in the country.

Two pitches later Pompey — mired in a 1-for-16 slump coming in — hit a two-run home run to left to make it 7-3.

Just like that the Hogs had scored six runs in the inning and snapped what had been a completely dominant night for Alabama's pitching staff.

The Ninth: Where Arkansas Finally Held Line

There was a moment in the bottom of the ninth that felt all too familiar for anyone who's watched this team navigate SEC play.

Ethan McElvain had worked out of a runners-on-the-corners jam in the eighth with a pair of pop-ups and a strikeout.

Then he went right back out for the ninth and immediately put the first two Alabama batters on base again.

Schaefer misplayed a pair of fly balls in right field and suddenly the Crimson Tide had scored twice, trimming the lead to 7-5 with nobody out and the tying run standing at the plate.

For a team sitting at 6-7 in conference play that's found ways to let winnable games slip away, that ninth inning had the look and feel of another gut-punch road loss in the making.

It didn't happen.

Van Horn went to Coil, who came in and retired all three hitters he faced without hesitation. Torres flied out to center. Lemm grounded out to second. Hines struck out swinging.

The Hogs didn't give the Crimson Tide enough to finish the rally and walked off a field where the home team had won 18 straight.

That distinction matters right now more than the final score does. It's one thing to score six runs in the eighth against a team that's been mowing through the SEC.

It's another thing entirely to protect that lead when the other team starts making noise in the ninth and the weight of every close loss this season is pressing down on you.

The Razorbacks have been on the wrong end of that enough this year to know how fast a lead disappears.

Friday night they stared that feeling down and didn't flinch.

What Winning Opener Actually Means

It's been a while since Arkansas won a series opener on the road in SEC play.

Getting that first game, especially against a program as hot as Alabama was coming in, gives the Hogs something they haven't had much of lately in conference play: a series lead with something to protect.

Now the question is whether they can do exactly that. A win Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. on the SEC Network clinches the series and does real damage to Alabama's momentum while giving Arkansas a much-needed boost in the league standings.

Letting this one slip with a pair of losses would erase everything gained Friday and then some.

The Razorbacks can't let that happen. Not with where they're sitting in the SEC. Not after a win this hard to come by.

Pompey snapping out of a 1-for-16 slump with a go-ahead homer on the road. Dietz delivering again in a big spot.

Coil slamming the door when the ninth threatened to unravel. Those are the kinds of contributions that stack up into something meaningful if Arkansas can back it up Saturday.

The Hogs found a way Friday night in one of the louder, messier and more satisfying wins of their SEC season.

They may have needed that more than anything else.

Right now for this team, finding a way to win a game is exactly the point.

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Andy Hodges
ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.

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