Hogs settle for share of SEC West title
ATHENS, Ga. — The tying run for Arkansas was thrown out at home in the ninth inning Saturday to close out a 3-2 win by Georgia, which prevented the Razorbacks from winning the Southeastern Conference West division title outright.
No. 6 Arkansas (37-17, 18-12) took the lead on two separate occasions in the game with both runs driven in by junior catcher Grant Koch in the second and fourth innings. The Razorbacks managed only four baserunners over the final four-plus innings with two coming in the ninth inning.
No. 5 Ole Miss (42-14, 18-12) lost, 3-0, on Friday at Alabama (27-29, 8-22). The loss kept the Hogs’ one-game lead in the SEC West safe heading into the final day of the regular season.
The Rebels defeated the Crimson Tide, 10-8, on Saturday to secure a share of the SEC West title. Ole Miss won two of three games against Arkansas in Oxford, Miss., in March to take the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed in this week’s 2018 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The Hogs are seeded No. 4.
Freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad led off the ninth inning Saturday with a double to right-center field. He attempted to tag from third base on a fly ball by sophomore center fielder Dominic Fletcher to shallow left field with two outs. The successful throw and tag gave the win to No. 13 Georgia.
The defeat is the Razorbacks’ fifth series loss of the conference season, all on the road. Arkansas won the first game on the road at No.
1 Florida (41-14, 20-9), Ole Miss, LSU (33-23,
15-15) and Georgia before losing the next two in each series. The Hogs were swept in three games at Mississippi State (30-24, 14-15).
Arkansas finished the regular season without a road series victory and the third-least road wins in the SEC.
L.J. Talley gave Georgia a walk-off victory in the 10th inning on Friday. The Bulldogs outlasted the Razorbacks after a two-hour weather delay for an 8-7 victory. A combined
11 runs were scored between the two teams before thunderstorms moved into the area in the fifth inning.
Arkansas starter Kacey Murphy battled through giving up five runs in the first two innings and held Georgia scoreless until the weather forced him out of the game. He retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced and left the game with his team up, 6-5, with 72 pitches thrown.
Murphy finished with four strikeouts and only one walk over four innings, while fac-
ing 19 batters in his 12th start of the year. Friday night was Murphy’s first outing of four innings or less since March 7.
After the rain cleared, Georgia scored two runs in the fifth inning off the first Hog pitcher out of the bullpen, Cody Scroggins. A two-run home run by Michael Curry gave the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead. Scroggins was relieved by junior Barrett Loseke (2-2) before the start of the sixth inning after just one inning of work.
Loseke held down the Georgia offense for the next four frames, helping to send the game into extras. He only gave up two singles in those four innings, but gave up a leadoff double to Keegan McGovern in the 10th, which eventually led to the game-winning run.
The Razorbacks totaled 10 hits Saturday with eight players recording at least one run. Junior Eric Cole led all Razorbacks going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
The defeat is the Razorbacks fifth series loss of the conference season and fourth of their last five games decided by two runs or less. However, Thursday’s win over Georgia solidified their top-four seeding going into the 2018 SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, Alabama, earning them a bye straight into the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
Kole Ramage started Saturday’s game, throwing 4 2/3 innings in his longest outing of the season. He scattered six hits and gave up just two earned runs, while walking one and tying a season high with five strikeouts.
Usual starter Isaiah Campbell was questionable going into the game after suffering a foot injury prior to the series. He gave up just one hit and struck out three batters in three innings of relief.
In the sixth inning, Georgia’s Michael Curry hit the go-ahead home run off Evan Lee (4-3) in the sixth inning.
Arkansas only managed six hits in the game, with Koch coming away with the only multi-hit game
The share of the SEC West title is Arkansas’ first since 2011 and fifth in school history. Four of the program’s titles have been won under head coach Dave Van Horn.