For the first time since 2010, No. 2 Arkansas has won the series at No. 14 Vanderbilt with a 6-4 10-inning win on Saturday and will go for the sweep Sunday.
Arkansas got three runs in the top of the 10th and then limited Vandy to a single run in the bottom half of the inning to escape with the victory. Dave Van Horn was pleased with his team getting the tough win. Cam Kozeal and Justin Thomas Jr. hit home runs for the Hogs and Aiden Jimenez was brilliant out of the bullpen. Jimenez (3-0) got the win relieving Gabe Gaeckle and Carson Wiggins.
"Just a really good win for the team," Van Horn said. "I mean, last night’s game, on paper it looks like we blew them out, but we really didn’t. It was a lot closer game than the final score. Today, we knew it was going to be a dogfight. Got out to a quick two-run lead. We left some runners out there. We didn’t get that big two-out hit that could have doubled our lead or even just extended it. You kind of felt they were going to creep back in it and they did. Just a very well-played game by both teams. There were a couple little errors that — the big one there in the 10th by them, that ball was hit extremely hard that we took advantage of. They scored when that ball went off our center fielder’s glove and then he kind of kicked it. Just really well pitched. Both teams pitched extremely well. I think we walked a couple, they walked three or vice versa.
"Feel good winning the series here. Have a chance to win all three at Vandy. I’ve never done that here with one of my teams. It’s tough to win a series, tough to win a game here. So hats off to the players. A lot of guys contributed."
Jimenez (3-0) worked 3.1 innings. He allowed three hits, one run, walked none and struck out four. Gaeckle went 5.2 innings allowing six hits, two runs, and struck out seven while not walking anyone, Wiggins followed Gaeckle to the mound and issued the only two walks on the day by Arkansas. Wiggins worked 1.0 inning allowing one run and striking out a hitter while not allowing a hit. He did allow a run on a wild pitch.
With the score tied at 3 after nine innings, Arkansas went to work in the top of the 10th. Wehiwa Aloy reached on an error by Vandy second baseman Mike Mancini to start the inning. Aloy then stole second. Logan Maxwell then singled to move Aloy to third with no outs. Kuhio Aloy struck out. Brent Iredale then singled to plate Wehiwa Aloy. Maxwell and Iredale advanced a base on a wild pitch. Maxwell then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Kozeal. Ryder Helfrick then got Iredale across the plate on a fielder's choice for a 6-3 lead heading to bottom of the 10th. Van Horn went to small ball in the top of the 10th.
"Yeah, just a chance to either get the lead, extend the lead," Van Horn said. "That situation I felt like was the perfect time. Iredale takes that fastball away and hits hit hard right past the first baseman and all of a sudden we have the lead and we got a runner at third with Cam coming up. Cam’s a really good bunter, can handle a bat. Laid down a beautiful safety squeeze. We score on that. Then Ryder actually laid down a great safety squeeze, as well. Iredale got a late read on it. I don’t know what took him so long, but the first baseman panicked a little bit and we got another run in. No lead’s really safe. Things happen. A ball went off the pitcher’s glove, the next thing you know they’ve got the tying run at the plate three batters in a row, and we got out of it. Great job of handling the bat there and extending that lead and finding a way to win that game."
Jacob Humphrey singled off Jimenez to start the bottom of the 10th. A wild pitch moved him to second. RJ Austin moved him to third. Humphrey scored on a sacrifice fly by Riley Nelson, but then Jimenez shut the door on Vandy. Van Horn was pleased to be able to use Jimenez again after a short outing on Friday night.
"It was huge, obviously," Van Horn said. "I mean, he got some experience and throws that heavy ball. Figured he'd get some ground balls, some quick outs, throw it over the plate. And we didn't know if we would use him today or tomorrow. And, I mean, coach came up to me — Coach Hobbs — and we discussed it a little bit when we brought in Wiggins and the game was tied and we were like, let's just go for it today. We don't know what tomorrow is going to be all about. It's tied up. Let's go. Let's not save him. Tomorrow he might be sore from yesterday. Today he felt great, so it ended up working out."
In the top of the second, Iredale singled with one out. Kozeal greeted Vandy starter Cody Bowker with a shot over the fence for a 2-0 lead. Vandy answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to tie the game.
Thomas hit a solo home run to start the top of the seventh to put the Hogs up 3-2. Jonathan Vastine walked to start the bottom of the seventh. He stole second and then moved to third on a ground out by Mancini. Vastine scored when Wiggins threw a wild pitch to tie the game at 3. Neither team could get a runner across the plate in the eighth or ninth innings.
Vandy used three pitchers on the day. The last one, Miller Green (0-2) took the loss. Green worked 1.0 inning allowing two hits, three runs, walking none and struck out a pair. He had one wild pitch. Bowker went 5.0 innings and then Sawyer Hawks pitched 4.0 innings. Hawks kept Vandy in the game during his time on the mound. He allowed just one hit and run. He walked one and fanned three Hogs.
Arkansas (25-3, 7-1) and Vanderbilt (20-7, 4-4) will play the final game of the series on Sunday with the first pitch set for 1 p.m. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network+.