AUBURN, Ala. – No. 11 Auburn jumped out to an early two-run lead but ultimately dropped a 3-2 game to No. 15 Arkansas Friday night at Plainsman Park.
With Auburn leading 2-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick hit a solo home run to cut into the team’s deficit before coming back around two innings later and hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer that proved to be the difference in the ballgame.
“You just know as you go through the ballgame you want to extend it one more time,” head coach Butch Thompson said of the team’s early lead. “The more I reflect on it, it just felt like a Friday night ballgame.
“Credit to those guys,” Thompson added of Arkansas. “I do think we competed offensively. We scratched and competed hard. They got a bunch of strikeouts because that was pretty good stuff. I wish we could’ve come back or expanded in the middle innings to give us a better chance, but it didn’t happen. We wound up just on the short end of this one.”
Starting pitching continued to be the story for Auburn as sophomore lefty Jake Marciano held the Razorbacks to one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched. The start marked Marciano’s fifth quality outing of the season, including his third start of allowing one run or less in 7.0 innings of work.
Auburn (21-9, 5-6 SEC) took advantage of an Arkansas fielding miscue in the first inning, starting the scoring on a RBI single from Chris Rembert after Bristol Carter reached on a leadoff error.
The Razorbacks (20-12, 5-6 SEC) threatened to answer in the top of the second, loading the bases with one out on a pair of hits and a walk. However, Marciano escaped the inning unscathed with a flyout to shallow center field and ground ball to second.
“The focus for me was on the batter, just making sure I made my pitches and almost competed even more than I needed to make sure that run didn't come in,” Marciano said of escaping the second inning. “Right there, I was just trying to mix my pitches well, make sure they went to the location I wanted and really trust my defense.”
Ethin Bingaman picked up where he left off in game one as he drove in Eric Guevara after a leadoff double in the second. Guevara’s double was his fourth hit of the series and Bingaman’s RBI was also his fourth.
After escaping the bases-loaded jam in the second, Marciano retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced in the third through fifth innings.
Arkansas got on the scoreboard on a solo home run from Helfrick to start the sixth, but Marciano responded by retiring the last six batters he faced to end his outing.
Jett Johnston (0-1) entered in relief of Marciano to start the eighth, and Nolan Souza hit a one-out single before Helfrick’s go-ahead home run.
Similar to Marciano, Johnston also responded by retiring the last five batters he faced, but Arkansas’ pitching combination of Hunter Dietz (3-2) and Ethan McElvain held the Tigers scoreless and to just three hits in the last seven frames. The duo struck out 14 and didn’t issue a walk in the game.
Auburn has only had to use four pitchers through two games in the series, setting the Tigers up nicely for Saturday’s finale.
“Yeah, it's huge that tomorrow we have our entire staff (ready),” Marciano said. “We can really go out there and have confidence that we're going to win.”
The rubber game between the Tigers and Razorbacks is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.