By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 2 Arkansas started off well against No. 12 Vanderbilt on Thursday winning 8-2, but then dropped the final two games of the series.

Arkansas (39-15, 20-10) will now enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed though they tied Florida at the top. The Gators owned the tiebreaker. On Saturday, Vanderbilt took a 7-6 win over the Hogs.

The Hogs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. However, Vanderbilt answered with three in the bottom half of the inning and then scored again in the third for a 4-2 lead. Arkansas had one last answer in them scoring four run in the top of the fifth for a 6-4 over Vandy. But Vandy plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good and escape with a one-run win.

Dave Van Horn started Hunter Hollan, who was the SEC Pitcher of the Week and honored nationally as well for his performance last week, but he didn't have his usual stuff on Saturday. Hollan went 2.2 innings allowing eight hits and four runs while striking out three. 

"His stuff wasn’t bad," Van Horn said. "We weren’t planning on pitching him very long today if possible. We might not even have pitched him today if we would have won yesterday. I would have played a lot of different players today if we would have won yesterday. 

"But he was throwing the ball around the plate. They nickeled and dimed him pretty good. You talk about bloops and cap balls. And he made good pitches and they just found holes. You’ve kind of going, ‘Wow.’ He was a little frustrated with it. And he pitched out of a jam or two. So this will give him an opportunity to rest a little bit."

Will McEntire followed him to the mound. McEntire worked 2.1 innings, allowed one hit, walked a batter and struck out two. Van Horn explained the reasoning for McEnire's short outing.

"Once we got to the fourth inning today, we found out that Georgia won, and we had won the West and the SEC championship," Van Horn said. "I think that was about the time McEntire was rolling along pretty good. We scored a few runs, took the lead by two, and we thought we were going to be safe and get him out.

"I think if we would have left him in, he probably could have gone another couple innings. But we just didn’t want to chance it. We thought, ‘Well, let’s get through this [sixth] inning with these young guys that want to do it, saying they want the ball.'"

The young pitcher Van Horn turned to was Parker Coil. He took the loss in his first decision. Coil allowed three hits and same number of runs along with striking out one hitter in 0.1 inning of work. 

"It didn’t go very good, obviously," Van Horn said. "We had opportunities, though. We had runners on first and second, nobody out, top of the order up, and we didn’t move anybody around. So that was disappointing."

Gage Wood and Cody Adcock finished up without allowing any more hits or runs in 2.2 innings of work. Offensively, Arkansas finished with nine hits. Brady Slavens got three of them and Peyton Holt added two more. Tavian Josenberger, Kendall Diggs, Jared Wegner and Caleb Cali each added one. 

"Just really excited to be SEC champs." Van Horn said. "It’s so hard to do. To share that crown with Florida. We didn’t play Florida. 

"So it’s kind of mixed emotions right now. Frustrated we lost the game, felt like we could have won it. But it’s not like we weren’t trying to win it. I think if we would have known that LSU would have beat Georgia, we definitely would have pitched differently going into that sixth inning. I guess that’s about all I’ve got."

However, the Hogs do have yet another injury. Shortstop John Bolton missed the entire series after suffering a sprained ankle the previous series.

"As of now I’d say he’s definitely not playing on Wednesday, Thursday, maybe not at all," Van Horn said. "He should be ready in a while, though. A week or so. We’ll see.

"He kept it iced off and on today during the game and kept it elevated in the dugout sitting on the bench. They’re doing everything they can to accelerate that and get that right."

Harold Coll replaced him. Van Horn talked about how Coll performed.

"He played really good today," Van Horn said. "I thought he had some good at bats and that was a big sac fly he had for us today. He works hard every day, takes his ground balls, does his work. I’m good with him. It’s fine."

Wood had struggled the night before against Vanderbilt on Friday. Any concern he's hit a freshman wall?

"With Wood, I don't think so," Van Horn said. "I don't know why he would have hit the wall. The last two weeks, I think we've only thrown him once, maybe three weeks. He hasn't thrown that much. Today, kind of the same as yesterday - all over the place, not throwing as hard as normal. It looked like nerves to me."

Van Horn also was asked if McEntire is good and could he possibly pitch twice at the SEC Tournament this week?

"Yeah, he's been good," Van Horn said. "He's really good out of the pen. He was sharp today. He was sharper on Thursday, but he was still pretty sharp today. Like you said, he threw 6+ innings and a total of 80 something pitches, I think. He didn't want to come out, but we just felt like we were good.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't think he has any problem with it at all. He's in good shape right now. He's feeling it. He's got a good feel for that cutter. He can throw it any time, and it's moving and diving. Yeah, I think he's got the stamina to do it."

Friday, May 19, Vanderbilt 10 - Arkansas 8

Possibly the most disappointing loss of the season for Arkansas. The Hogs held an 8-2 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth inning with the SEC Championship just six outs away. 

Vanderbilt scored eight runs in the bottom of the eighth to stun the Hogs. Brady Tygart and Zack Morris had combined to only allow two hits in seven innings. Tygart got the start and worked four innings allowing the pair of hits and two runs. Morris didn't allow a hit or run in three innings. Gage Wood entered in the bottom of the eighth working 0.1 inning. He allowed three hits, five runs and walked one. Tygart (7) and Morris (6) combined to strike out 13 batters. Morris had thrown 42 pitches and Dave Van Horn was asked about removing him at that point.

"Yeah, that’s probably the toughest one," Van Horn said. "I think he’d thrown about 42-45 pitches, three innings. That’s usually the max for him. I mean, Wood’s been good all year, or good for the last two months. You know if we leave Zack in too long and you’re kind of like ‘Why didn’t we bring Wood in?’ It kind of is what it is."

Van Horn talked about what he saw from Wood in the game.

"Well, he was behind in the count to almost every hitter," Van Horn said. "I don’t know, you know. He just had a bad outing. I think he’ll be fine. You know, just had a bad day. Just leave it there I guess."

Cody Adcock then entered and allowed a hit, two runs and walked one without recording an out. Adcock (4-2) took the loss. Parker Coil came in and got the final two outs and allowed a run.

Arkansas finished the game with 11 hits. Brady Slavens and Caleb Cali each had three while Peyton Holt had two. Holt also knocked in four runs on the night. Holt and Jace Bohrofen each hit a home run for the Hogs. 

Up Next 

Arkansas heads to the SEC Tournament where they will begin play on Wednesday. They will face either No. 7 Tennessee or No. 10 Texas A&M at approximately 1 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network. The SEC Baseball Tournament will take place from May 23-28 in the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Ala.