Spanberger’s homer in 10th gives Hogs 6-4 win

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Slumping Chad Spanberger belted a 10th-inning home run as Arkansas defeated Texas A&M 6-4 Thursday night in their Southeastern Conference series opener at Blue Bell Park.

After the Aggies tied it in the bottom of the ninth, Spanberger’s 12th home run gave the Hogs their third extra-inning win of the season. He entered the game with only three hits in 21 at bats, one of those hits being a home run, before launching one over the Texas A&M video board in left field.

Jake Arledge’s two-out single preceded Spanberger’s opposite-field home run. Jake Reindl (3-1), despite blowing a save in the ninth inning, picked up the victory with a 1-2-3 10th, needing just 14 pitches.

Hunter Coleman drew a leadoff walk, Cole Bedford doubled and Jorge Gutierrez hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field in the A&M ninth.

“We told our guys once they scored, ‘Let’s get in the dugout. We still have a chance. We’re out of school. Let’s stay here all night and do whatever we have to do,”’ said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn. “We just wanted them to relax a little bit.”

Spanberger, he said, “had a great at-bat and on the sixth or seventh pitch of the at-bat, he hits one over the top of that scoreboard, which was pretty amazing.”

Arkansas starter Trevor Stephan settled for a no-decision despite 10 strikeouts with only one walk in 7 2/3 innings. It was his third-straight start of seven innings or more and 10 or more strikeouts. His only mistake came in the third inning, Braden Shewmake’s three-run homer giving the Aggies a 3-2 lead.

Arkansas outhit the Aggies 15-6, Jax Biggers with three hits and three runs batted in. He finished a triple short of the cycle, hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning. The shortstop has a team-high .333 batting average and .337 against SEC opponents.

Mitchell Kilkenny (3-3), A&M’s fourth pitcher of the night, took the loss.

Arkansas, 38-14 overall and 17-10 in the SEC, and A&M (35-19, 15-13) were to play again Friday night before closing the series and regular season in an 11 a.m. game today.