Hogs take two of three from Tigers

Arkansas wins road series over Auburn

arkansasrazorbacks.com AUBURN, Ala. – Another SEC weekend series belongs to the Razorbacks as Arkansas (36-12, 16-8 SEC) took two out of three against the Auburn Tigers (32-16, 13-11 SEC).

Arkansas 11, Auburn 8

Three homers, including a pair of three-run blasts, carried No. 4 Arkansas from a five-run deficit to an 11-8 come-from-behind win over No. 19 Auburn in Friday night’s series opener at Plainsman Park.

With the win, the Hogs extended their lead over the Tigers in the SEC West to three games. Arkansas remains two games ahead of second-place No. 13 Texas A& M (29-15, 13-9 SEC) and No. 20 LSU (31-14, 13-9 SEC) in the division.

A shaky start to Friday night’s contest put Arkansas at an early fiverun disadvantage. Auburn busted up starter Connor Noland for five runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks, knocking out the Razorback ace after just four innings.

The Hogs were far from finished, however, beginning their comeback with two runs in the top of the fifth. Cayden Wallace’s infield single and Brady Slavens’ sacrifice fly to center closed Arkansas’ deficit to three.

Auburn added a run back in the bottom half of the frame via the long ball, but Arkansas’ rally was just getting started. Jace Bohforen’s two-run homer in the top of the sixth made it a 6-4 ballgame before the Razorbacks jumped ahead for good with four runs in the seventh.

Michael Turner scored on an error to bring Arkansas within one until Kendall Diggs stepped up to the plate with two on and nobody out. The true freshman crushed a go-ahead three-run home run to right field, catapulting the Hogs to their first lead of the night.

Robert Moore’s three-run blast in the eighth was the final blow as Arkansas opened an 11-6 lead to swing the game’s momentum entirely. Moore finished the night as one of four Razorbacks, including Wallace, Turner and Brady Slavens, with multiple hits and one of three with multiple RBI in the win.

The Razorback bullpen was strong in relief of Noland, combining for five innings of three-run ball to allow Arkansas to mount its comeback. Kole Ramage (1.0 IP, 1 SO), Evan Taylor (2.1 IP, 2 SO) and Brady Tygart (1.2 IP, 4 SO) did the heavy lifting to lock down the Hogs’ 11-8 series-opening win on the road.

Auburn 5, Arkansas 3

Moore’s multi-RBI effort was not enough to power Arkansas past Auburn in a 5-3 loss on Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

Arkansas jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, going ahead by one on Braydon Webb’s RBI single in the top of the second. Kendall Diggs scored from second on Webb’s base knock through the left side.

Auburn returned fire in the bottom half of the frame, however, launching a leadoff homer to even the ballgame at one apiece. The Tigers took Razorback starter Hagen Smith yard again in the third inning to open their first lead of the day.

Moore’s first of two runs batted in on the afternoon came in the top of the fifth.

The Razorback second baseman grounded out to second base, scoring Wallace in the process to knot things up at two.

Arkansas regained the lead in the top of the seventh on Moore’s second RBI of the game, his team-leading 11th multi-RBI performance of the year. Wallace scored on Moore’s sacrifice fly to center to give the Hogs another one-run advantage.

Just like their first lead, the Hogs’ second lead would not hold up. Auburn’s third solo home run of the afternoon came in the bottom of the seventh and evened the game at three.

Auburn proceeded to put the game away for good in the bottom of the eighth by breaking through for two more runs against the Arkansas bullpen. The Razorbacks went down in order in the ninth to seal their 5-3 defeat.

Arkansas 7, Auburn 4

Arkansas overpowered Auburn , 7-4, in Sunday’s rubber game at Plainsman Park to secure a massive road series victory and strengthen its position atop the SEC West standings.

With the win, Arkansas maintains a two-game lead ahead of No. 20 LSU (32-15, 14-10 SEC) and No. 13 Texas A& M (30-16, 14-10 SEC) in the SEC Western Division with six conference games left to play in the season.

Razorback starter Jaxon

Continued on Page 14

Photo courtesy of the Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas’ Jaxon Wiggins (right) had six strikeouts to go with Braydon Webb’s 3 RBIs to power the #4 Razorbacks to a series win at #19 Auburn Sunday. RAZORBACKS (cont.)

Wiggins was phenomenal over his five innings on Sunday afternoon, striking out six while limiting a potent Tiger offense to three runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks.

Arkansas’ offense gave the hard-throwing right-hander plenty of run support, putting up five runs in the first three frames.

Braydon Webb’s three-run homer was the biggest part of Arkansas’ early offensive explosion. The Razorback outfielder blasted a no-doubter to left center in the top of the third, extending the Hogs’ lead to 5-2.

Webb finished the game with two hits, three runs scored, three runs batted in and a walk. His homer was his team-leading 12th of the season, and his three RBI marked his team-leading 11th multi-RBI effort of the year.

Handed a 6-3 lead, Will McEntire took over for Wiggins in the bottom of the sixth and proceeded to shut down Auburn for the next 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander emerged out of the bullpen for the first time this season and was dominant, striking out four and walking none while allowing just one run on three hits.

When Auburn put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, Evan Taylor was called upon to extinguish the threat. The left-hander entered in relief and did exactly that, inducing a game-ending double play to preserve Arkansas’ 7-4 win and earn his second save of the season.

In addition to Webb, Cayden Wallace and Jalen Battles also turned in multi-hit, multi-RBI performances

series-clinching win.

Wallace collected two doubles and two RBI, and Battles drove home a pair of runners to help power Arkansas to its 36th win of the season.

The Razorbacks return to Baum-Walker Stadium this weekend for the final home series of the 2022 campaign. Arkansas hosts Vanderbilt (31-15, 12-12 SEC) in a three-game set beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13, on SEC Network+.

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