By Otis Kirk
Arkansas had a magical rally past Texas A&M Thursday, but couldn't repeat it on Saturday with the Aggies hanging on for a 5-4 win in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.
The Aggies advance to Sunday's championship game against the Florida and Vanderbilt winner. The loss was Arkansas' first in Hoover (Ala.), but since the tournament went to a single-elimination format in the semifinals the Hogs were eliminated. Arkansas didn't go down without a fight on Saturday. Dave Van Horn talked about the Hogs playing three tight games and winning two of them.
"First off, congratulations to A&M," Van Horn said. "They pitched great today. Both teams played very good defense for the most part, and yeah, was just one of those games, really frustrating for us, especially on the offensive side. It's like their pitchers did a great job against our top five hitters, and that ended up being the difference in the game.
"You move down past that, and 6 through 9, they fought pretty well, and they got that rally going there in the top of the ninth, but great tournament. Just we played three tight games, all 5-4. Feel very fortunate to win two of them. You hate to lose and leave, but now it's time for us to switch gears mentally and regroup a little bit and build up a little strength and get ready for next weekend."
Trailing 5-1 after eight innings, Arkansas scored three runs in the top of the ninth and had two runners on base when the game ended. Caleb Cali started off the ninth with a single and then Peyton Holt was hit by a pitch. Hudson Polk, batting for the first time after Parker Rowland was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, struck out. John Bolton, playing for the first time in the SEC Tournament, then shot a double down the line in right field that plated both Cali and Holt.
Tavian Josenberger then added his second hit in a row with a single to left field that moved Bolton to third. Kendall Diggs, the hero in Thursday's walk-off win over the Aggies, then hit a grounder to third base off reliever Troy Wansing who just entered the game. Trevor Werner threw to Jack Moss at first base who dropped the throw allowing Bolton to score. However, Wansing then settled in to strike out both Jace Bohrofen and Jared Wegner to end the game. Van Horn talked about the ninth inning as he saw it from the dugout.
"Well, there was a lot that went on in the ninth," Van Horn said. "We almost batted around. I'll tell you about the last two outs. We swung at some bad pitches. Had two of our best hitters up there, and that was probably the most disappointing part to me about that inning. I loved that inning. I loved the way we rallied. John Bolton's at-bat, fouling off pitches and smoking one opposite field down the line, just did a great job there fighting to get to the next pitch.
"Obviously we needed another hit to tie it up, and had the 3 and 4 hole hitter up and a guy throwing pretty much exclusively sliders, and they didn't find the barrel at all. Congratulations to Wansing. He did a great job finishing us up."
The Aggies scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the eighth off reliever Austin Ledbetter. Moss doubled and then scored on a single by Jace LaViolette. The Aggies broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third when Hunter Haas singled. He scored on a Trevor Werner double to center field.
In the bottom of the sixth, A&M scored three runs. Austin Bost doubled to knock in two runs and Haas walked with the bases loaded to score Brett Minnich all off of Will Ledbetter.
The Hogs got on the scoreboard for the first time in the top of the seventh. Caleb Cali, who had three hits on the day, doubled to start the inning. Ben McLaughlin singled to allow Cali to score to move within 4-1.
Brady Tygart got the start and pitched 3.1 innings allow a trio of hits and one run. He walked two, struck out three and threw 64 pitches. Tygart (2-1) took the loss. McEntire, Gage Wood, Parker Coil, Christian Foutch and Ledbetter also pitched for the Hogs.
"I thought McEntire was outstanding both outings," Van Horn said. "It says here he gave up three runs, but a couple freshmen walked in two of those for us."
Shane Sdol (3-1) worked 2.2 innings to get the win. He allowed five hits, one run and struck out four. Matt Dillard started for the Aggies working four innings, allowing two hits, no runs, one walk and striking out six. Wansing got the save, his first of the season.
Arkansas (41-16) will now return home to host a regional next weekend.