Hogs fumble away shot at sweep

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A pleasant trip to Tuscaloosa ended on a sour note when Arkansas ended its threegame SEC baseball series with a 5-0 loss to Alabama on Saturday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

It wasn’t hard to pinpoint the Razorbacks’ problems Saturday as they fell short of sweeping Alabama (20-13, 8-4 SEC) on the Crimson Tide’s home field. The pitching wasn’t nearly as sharp as the first two games, the defense committed five errors and the offense contributed just five hits with only two runners getting as far as second base.

“The bottom line is we won the series, but it’s not a good feeling going home after you didn’t play well,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “If you get beat, you get beat. I didn’t really feel like we gave ourselves a chance.”

Arkansas’ defense made nearly every play over the first two days in Tuscaloosa, even on a slick infield during Thursday’s rain. It was a different story Saturday. Relief pitcher Brandon Moore had two throwing errors in the fifth inning, catcher Jake Wise fielded a bunt in the fifth inning but was charged with an error when no one covered first base and the throw sailed past the bag, and third baseman Jacob Mahan committed two fielding errors.

“Usually we seem to be pretty focused,” said Van Horn, whose team left Tuscaloosa in a second- place

Continued from Page 1C tie with the Crimson Tide in the SEC West standings and 23-9 overall. “I don’t know if we lost our focus today or we thought it was going to be easier than it was. That was disappointing. This is the SEC and everybody is good.”

Alabama starter Spencer Turnbull allowed 5 hits in seven innings, walked 2 and struck out 5. The 6-3, 220- pound junior also extended his scoreless innings streak to 292/3 before taking the rest of the day off.

For the first time in the series, Arkansas couldn’t match the pitching. Starter Randall Fant lasted just three innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs. He allowed a home run to Alabama catcher Brett Booth to open the second inning, for the Crimson Tide’s first earned run and first lead of the series. He gave up three hits and a run in the third and was saved from another run when center fielder Jacob Morris threw out Alabama’s Ben Moore at the plate to end the inning.

Alabama didn’t score another earned run.

“If we get beat, it should have been 2-0 or 2-1,” said Van Horn, whose team was shut out for the second time in 32 games. “They shouldn’t have had the runs they had. Give them credit, they put the pressure on us.”

The bottom line, though, is Arkansas found a way to win its second SEC road series this season with both coming against ranked teams. Arkansas swept then-No. 6 South Carolina on the road late last month and left Tuscaloosa with another series victory.

“I feel like when we go on the road, we elevate our game a lot more,” said designated hitter Joe Serrano, who was 2 for 4 with a double Saturday. “We find ways to win. First game, we didn’t score many runs; second game, we put it to them, and third game, we were a little flat.”