AUBURN, Ala. – No. 18 Auburn lost game one of its three-game series against No. 3 Arkansas, 8-6, Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Auburn (31-15, 12-10 SEC) jumped out to a five-run lead through four innings, but Arkansas (35-11, 15-7 SEC) scored all 11 of its run in the fifth through eighth innings to overcome the deficit. The Razorbacks offense delivered three home runs on their way to the win.
"Those three-run homers are what wound up being the difference in this ballgame," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We had a couple of miscues defensively, and we just could not pass it on clean enough as a pitching staff after Barnett.
"Our offense kept competing and battling and did enough for us to have success in this ballgame, but those three run-homers led to a three-run win for Arkansas."
Mason Barnett was on the mound for the Tigers and evaded danger early to turn in a solid start. After surrendering a leadoff double to open the game, Barnett retired the next three batters to escape the inning unharmed. The junior ultimately worked four innings, allowing two run on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Auburn struck for two in the third inning to grab an early lead. After a Blake Rambusch single and a Cole Foster walk, Sonny DiChiara was intentionally walked to load the bases. Bobby Peirce then reached on an errant throw from the shortstop, which allowed Rambusch and Howell to score on the play.
The Tigers added three more in the fourth frame. Brooks Carlson led off the inning with a solo home run to right-center. Brody Moore followed with a single to right field and advanced to third on a single from Foster. Rambusch dropped down a safety squeeze to plate Moore before Howell capped off the scoring with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to put Auburn up 5-0.
Arkansas responded with two runs of their own in the top half of the fifth, but the Tigers answered right back in their turn at the dish. Moore launched a solo home run to put the Tigers out in front, 6-2. The senior's blast was his fourth of the year and left the yard at 104 miles per hour, traveling 392 feet.
The Razorbacks pushed across two more runs on a homer in the sixth before adding another four runs in the seventh to capture their first lead of the ballgame. Trailing 6-5, a three-run homer gave the visitors the lead for good.
Arkansas continued its late-game offensive output with a three-run homer in the eighth to put the Razorbacks up 11-6.
Nate LaRue and Foster led off the bottom half of the eighth with back-to-back doubles to decrease Arkansas' lead to five. Peirce later recorded an RBI single in the inning to move the score to 11-8, which proved to be final.
Rambusch, Moore, LaRue and Foster led the way for the Tigers offense with two hits each.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. C.T. at Plainsman Park.
Long ball leads No. 3 Arkansas past No. 18 Auburn
