Hogs Throw Away Lead, Fall to Auburn, Even Road Series
AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas threw away a golden opportunity Saturday evening.
Literally.
With the Razorbacks tied at Auburn, 3-3, in the eighth inning, freshman relief pitcher Brady Tygart fielded a bunt and sailed the throw to the backstop, giving the Tigers an easy run.
"It wasn't a very good bunt," Dave Van Horn said later. "(Tygart) rushed it."
Razorbacks designated hitter Kendall Diggs slides headfirst across home plate during Saturday afternoon's game with Auburn. (Auburn Athletics)
They added another one on a sacrifice fly, then retired the Hogs in other in the ninth for a 5-3 win to tie the SEC West series Saturday.
You got the idea after the game Van Horn simply wanted to put this one in the rear-view mirror as fast as possible.
"The breaks of the game," he said, summing up the Hogs hitting the ball hard but not getting runs from it. "We had chances to score some runs and didn't."
The Hogs got on the board first with two outs in the second inning. Senior center fielder Braydon Webb snuck a ball through the left side of the infield, scoring freshman designated hitter Kendall Diggs.
The Tigers tied it before the second was over, as designated hitter Brooks Carlson took Arkansas freshman left-hander Hagen Smith deep to lead things off.
Arkansas starter Hagen Smith delivers a pitch against Auburn on Saturday afternoon. (Auburn Athletics)
First baseman Sonny DiChiara did the same in the third, giving Auburn a 2-1 lead.
Arkansas leveled the score again in the fifth after sophomore third baseman Cayden Wallace doubled and came home on a pair of productive groundouts.
Graduate catcher Michael Turner moved him to third, and junior second baseman Robert Moore drove him in.
Neither starting pitcher made it through five innings.
Auburn turned to the bullpen with two outs in the fifth, and the Razorbacks elected to go with senior righty Zebulon Vermillion after four.
Smith walked three batters and struck out four, and he allowed just one more hit on top of the solo homers, but no additional runs.
Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore takes a lead off first base against Auburn on Saturday afternoon. (Auburn Athletics)
"He didn't have very good stuff," Van Horn said. "He looked tired and he just escaped a little bit in the game."
Vermillion cruised through the fifth and sixth with ease, retiring half of the six hitters he faced on strikes, but he ran into trouble in the seventh.
With one out, he surrendered another solo homer, which tied the game at 3-3. Freshman righty Brady Tygart relieved him, striking out both Tigers he saw to preserve the deadlock.
After his third strikeout to start the eighth, things started to go awry for Tygart.
Ahead in the count 0-2, he walked a batter, then allowed a single to put runners on the corners.
Arkansas' Brady Slavens at the plate against Auburn on Saturday afternoon.(Auburn Athletics)
Pinch hitter Mason Land bunted a ball back to Tygart, and he botched the throw to the plate, allowing the go-ahead run to score and two runners to move into scoring position.
Junior lefty Zack Morris let one of those runners cross the plate on a sacrifice fly, but it hardly mattered because the Razorbacks went down quietly in the ninth.
The Arkansas-Auburn rubber match is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday. Sophomore righty Jaxon Wiggins is expected to start opposite Tiger right-hander Joseph Gonzalez.
The game will stream live on the SEC Network+.
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