No. 1 Baseball Doomed by Arkansas' Five-Run Eighth Inning

Saturday, April 18

College Station

7:30 PM

Texas A&M

35-4, 12-4

Arkansas

23-17, 8-9

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Apr 19, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION – In the resumption of Saturday evening's suspended contest, the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies let a five-run lead dissipate on Sunday afternoon and dropped a 9-8 decision to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The Arkansas win evened the series at 1-1 with the rubber match slated for 3:03 pm on Sunday.

The Aggies held an 8-3 lead at the suspension of play on Saturday night. The teams played 2-hours, 27-minutes before play was delayed at 10:00 pm Central. After a 75-minute delay, the decision was made to halt the game until Sunday afternoon.

Arkansas (23-17, 8-9 SEC) immediately seized the momentum on Sunday afternoon, shaving a run off the A&M lead in the top of the seventh. Joe Serrano led off the frame with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Arkansas put runners on the corners as Blake Allemand was unable to field a pop up in shallow left-center by Andrew Benintendi. Tyler Spoon popped up to first base for the first out of the inning, but Serrano came around to score as Benintendi was in a rundown, trimming the A&M advantage to 8-4.

The Razorbacks sent 10 batters to the plate in the eighth to ambush the Aggies. Bobby Wernes singled to left and Rick Nomura drew a walk, driving Kyle Simonds from the contest. Blake Kopetsky came in from the bullpen and got a foul pop up and strikeout to get two outs in the inning, but he was deemed to hit Clark Eagan with a pitch, loading the bases.

A&M closer Mark Ecker entered the game to try to nail down his eighth save of the season. Serrano gave Ecker a rude greeting, tripling to the gap in left-center to cut the lead to 8-7. Benintendi sent the equalizer home on an infield single to second. After an infield single by Spoon to shortstop, Chad Spanberger snaked a single through the right side of the infield to send Benintendi home for the 9-8 lead.

The Aggies tried to mount a rally in the ninth, but it did not come to fruition. Mitchell Nau was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second with a sacrifice bunt by Nick Choruby. After Hunter Melton was hit by a pitch to put two runners on, James Teague spelled Jackson Lowery on the mound. Teague got GR Hinsley to line out to second and got Logan Nottebrok swinging to end the game to earn his first save of the season.

Lowery (4-0) earned the win working 2.2 scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and two hit batters.

Arkansas pounced on the Aggies for a run in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Benintendi sparked the rally by singling to center and stealing second base. With Benintendi off and moving on a full-count offering, Tyler Spoon bounced a grounder up middle. Aggie second baseman Ryne Birk dove to snare the ball and leapt to his feet as Benintendi rounded third. Birk tried to retire Spoon at first, but the throw didn't retire him and Benintendi scored on the single for the 1-0 lead.

Texas A&M (35-4, 12-4 SEC) wrestled the lead away from the Razorbacks in the bottom of the second. With one out, Ryne Birk drew a six-pitch walk. He was replaced at first base when Ronnie Gideon bounced into a fielder's choice to short. Jonathan Moroney singled through the left side of the infield and a wild pitch put two runners into scoring position. Michael Barash plated Gideon and Moroney with a single through the left side of the infield staking the Aggies to a 2-1 advantage.

The Maroon and White tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third. After the inning started with a pair of A&M strikeouts, Logan Taylor launched a 3-1 offering to leftfield for his second home run of the doubleheader and his 10th of the season. Melton kept the inning going with a five-pitch walk. Birk singled through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners and Gideon bounced a single up the middle to inflate the A&M cushion to 4-1.

Arkansas shaved a run off the Aggie lead in the fourth. Komura drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a single by Bernal and scored on a groundout to short by Tucker Pennell.

The Razorbacks cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth. Benintendi hit a leadoff single and stole third base. After Spoon grounded to third base for the first out of the inning, Spanberger plated Benintendi with a double to the gap in right-center.

With Arkansas creeping back into the contest, Nick Banks unleashed an epic clout to put the Aggies back in control. Birk roped a single to rightfield and stole second base to start the inning. Ronnie Gideon dropped a single into centerfield to put runners at the corners. JB Moss pinch-ran for Gideon and stole second base to give the Aggies two runners in scoring position.

After Moroney popped up for the first out of the inning, Arkansas went to the bullpen and summoned Zach Jackson. He issued a base on balls to Barash, filling the bags with Ags. Blake Allemand swung and missed on a 1-2 offering for the second out of the inning, bringing Banks to the plate. The Aggie centerfield got ahead in the count 2-0 before unleashing his second grand slam in the last seven days. His salami went over the rightfield fence, giving the Maroon and White an 8-3 lead.

In his first career SEC start, Ryan Hendrix worked 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out five. The loss was hung on Ecker (0-1) who suffered his first blown save of the season. He allowed two runs on five hits while walking two in 1.1 innings.

Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out six in 5.1 innings.

The Razorbacks' No. 2-5 hitters combined to go 11-for-18 with five runs and seven RBI with Benintendi, Spoon and Spanberger each logging three hits.