Arkansas' stay at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., was a short one with a 9-6 loss to Kentucky on Thursday.

Arkansas starter Hagen Smith (9-1) struggled and was tagged with his first loss of the season. Smith worked 2.0 innings allowing a pair of hits and runs, both unearned, walked one and struck out four while throwing 36 pitches. The Hogs trailed 2-0 after the first inning and never were able to catch up. Dave Van Horn talked about the importance of the tournament. The top four seeds all lost on Wednesday.

“I wouldn’t say it’s not important. It’s more important to some teams than others… but we need to have a tournament," Van Horn said. “The message is this is where we wanted to be? It’s time to take a step forward and make a move.”

Arkansas replaced Smith to start the third inning with Gage Wood, who has been one of the more dependable pitchers in recent weeks. Wood allowed six hits, four runs and struck out three in 2.2 innings of work.

Ryan Nicholson touched Wood with a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth. Ryan Waldschmidt hit a solo shot in the top of the fifth. After two singles, Nick Lopez singled to center field to plate two more runners for a 6-0.

In the sixth, Arkansas had success against Jackson Nove, who replaced starter Trey Pooser (5-1) who got the win. Pooser allowed three hits in five innings. The Razorbacks got three hits against Nove in just the top of the sixth. With one out, both Peyton Stovall and Jared Sprague-Lott singled. Ben McLaughlin walked to load the bases. Wehiwa Aloy grounded out to shortstop, but his grounder allowed Stovall to score. Peyton Holt then stepped to the plate and sent a 3-run blast over the fence in left field pulling his team to within 6-4. Arkansas finished with nine hits compared to 10 for the Wildcats, but stranded eight runners to just four for Kentucky.

“I think we’re right where we need to be," Holt said of the offense. "We’re swinging it well and we just gotta get those timely hits.”

Van Horn also touched on the offense as now the Hogs prepare for a regional at Baum-Walker Stadium.

“We left a lot of runners on base the last two days," Van Horn said. "In our big inning we need another hit. We gotta get better and get more production up and down the lineup.”

Kentucky touched reliever Brady Tygart for three runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 9-4 lead. The big shot was the second home run of the day for Waldschmidt. This one plated two runs.

Mason Molina finished up the game for the Hogs and allowed just one hit while striking out three and keeping Kentucky off the scoreboard.

“I thought Molina threw really well the last two outings," Van Horn said. "Tygart was really good for an inning.”

Holt hit his second home run of the day in the top of the eighth with a solo shot over the fence in left field. Sprague-Lott finished up the scoring with a solo shot in the top of the ninth.

Arkansas (43-14) will now return home and see what seed they are as they host a regional. The Hogs are certain to be a Top 8 national seed thus earning home until the College World Series if they are fortunate enough to win the regional and super regional. The Hogs enter postseason having lost four of its last five games.