April 5, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -
Brian Fletcher and Ryan Jenkins both went 2-for-4 with Fletcher scoring two runs and Jenkins driving in two but it was not enough to bring home a victory as Auburn fell at Arkansas, 5-4, on Saturday at Baum Stadium.
Arkansas (17-12, 3-7 SEC) capitalized on a pair of throwing errors by the Auburn defense to score two unearned runs in the bottom of the third to take a 2-1 lead.
"(Starter) Cory (Luckie) was really good. He threw the ball really well for us and pitched his heart out," Auburn Head Coach Tom Slater said. "It's unfortunate that with those two errors in the third inning, we gave them two runs."
Auburn would tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth on Jenkins' RBI single that scored Joseph Sanders (2-for-4), only to have Arkansas reclaim the lead at 3-2 in the sixth on an RBI single.
Auburn answered again with a run in the seventh as Jenkins drove in his sixth RBI in his last five starts with a single to score Fletcher from second, evening the score at 3-3.
Arkansas put two on the board in the seventh on a sac fly and a RBI single, knocking out Luckie (3-3) after 6.2 innings. Luckie allowed all five Arkansas runs, with two of them unearned, on six hits and two walks.
"Just about everything was working for Cory today," Slater said. "He attacked the strike zone and really pitched well enough for us to win."
Kevin Patterson's (1-for-4) two-out RBI single to left in the top of the eighth brought Auburn to within a run at 5-4, but it was as close as Auburn would get.
Stephen Richards picked up his first save of the season by throwing the final two innings, entering with one on in the eighth but allowing just two hits, striking out four.
Justin Wells (2-0) earned the win for Arkansas, lasting into the seventh inning and allowing four runs on six hits and a walk, striking out five.
Fletcher had kept it a one-run game in the bottom of the fourth when he robbed Ryan Cisterna of a sure home run when he timed his jump perfectly at the wall and brought one back in from beyond the fence.
Matt Hall (1-for-3, SF, RBI) extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a two-out single in the seventh.
Fletcher also extended his hitting streak to nine games with his leadoff double in the third. He later came around to score on Hall's sacrifice fly that made it 1-0 Auburn in the third.
The two teams close out the series on Sunday at 1pm CT with Fr. RHP Bradley Hendrix (1-0, 3.82) going on the mound for Auburn and So. LHP Dallas Keuchel (2-1, 3.19) for Arkansas.