Arkansas Completes Sweep of Aggies

Saturday, April 29

Fayetteville, Ark.

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

25-19, 9-12

Arkansas

33-11, 14-7

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

Apr 29, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Texas A&M Aggies comeback bid fell just short Saturday in the series finale as the No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks completed a series sweep with an 8-7 win at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Aggies (25-19, 9-12 SEC) trailed 8-0 after five innings, but scored seven unanswered runs in the final four frames to get back within a run before coming up just shy.

A&M was held to just two hits through the first five innings but finished with nine for the game, drawing to within a run on a leadoff home run by Jace LaViolette in the ninth.

However they also made a trio of uncharacteristic errors for just the fourth time this season, miscues that helped the Razorbacks (33-11, 14-7 SEC) extend innings, including in the fifth when Arkansas broke the game open with a five-run frame with help of two errors.

The Aggies gave the ball to Will Johnston to open the game, his third career start and the first since 2021. The lefty responded with a career-high six strikeouts and kept Arkansas off the board until the third inning when the Razorbacks put up a pair of runs. He took the loss to fall to 3-2 on the season.

Arkansas handed the ball to Cody Adcock and got 4.0 innings to get the win and move to 4-1 on a predetermined staff day. Parker Coil closed out the final 1.2 innings for his first save as the final of five Razorback pitchers to throw.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Jace LaViolette – 2-for-2, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, SF, 2 BB
Ryan Targac – 1-for-2, BB, 2 RBI
Jordan Thompson – 1-for-4, 2B, RBI
Brett Minnich – 3-for-4, 2 R, 2B, BB
Will Johnston – 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Brandyn Garcia – 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K

UP NEXT
The Aggies return home for a midweek game at Blue Bell Park against the Tarleton Texans on Tuesday. The game is set for SEC Network. It can also be heard locally on 1150 AM/ 93.7 FM The Zone with Andrew Monaco on the call.

GAME SUMMARY
B3 | ARK 2, A&M 0
Johnston put up a pair of zeros before the Arkansas offense was able to strike for a pair of scores in the bottom of the third. Shortstop John Bolton opened the inning with a clean bunt single up the first-base line and then moved all the way around to third on a failed pickoff and a wild pitch, setting the table for Kendall Diggs to bring him home with a sacrifice fly to left field. The Razorbacks were not done, though, as Caleb Cali singled to left field on an 0-2 pitch and then swiped second and came home one batter later on an RBI single by Jace Bohrofen that fell in front of Jace LaViolette in left field.

B4 | ARK 3, A&M 0
Arkansas added on another run against reliever Matt Dillard an inning later, taking advantage of a pair of walks to open the inning. Bolton then laid down another bunt, this time a sacrifice to advance the runners and set up Diggs who converted the RBI opportunity into his second sacrifice fly in as many innings.

B5 | ARK 8, A&M 0
The Razorbacks broke it open in the fifth, scoring five times on just three hits, but by also taking advantage of a pair of Aggie errors in the field. A leadoff walk to Cali was followed by consecutive singles, the second coming from Ben McLaughlin that scored the first run. One play later the Aggies misplayed a sacrifice bunt with an error allowing a second run to score and three batters later Bolton struck again, singling to right field to plate two more Arkansas runs.

T6 | ARK 8, A&M 3
The Aggies finally broke through in its half of the sixth for three runs, and they did their damage with two outs. A walk, single and hit batter loaded the bases and the Aggies turned to Ryan Targac off the bench in a pinch-hitting opportunity and he delivered with a two-run single into left field. Max Kaufer kept the inning going with the third walk of the frame and Arkansas reliever Christian Foutch then hit Hunter Haas with a 2-0 pitch to force home the third run of the inning.

T7 | ARK 8, A&M 5
A&M continued to chip away at the Arkansas lead in the seventh, scoring twice to trim the deficit to just three runs. A one-out double by Brett Minnich was followed by a walk to Austin Bost to get the inning going, and after a wild pitch moved them up, LaViolette cut the lead to 8-4 on a sacrifice fly to left field. Jordan Thompson followed that by splitting the right-center field gap for a double which scored Bost.

T8 | ARK 8, A&M 6
The first fielding error of the game by Arkansas proved costly as Peyton Stovall booted a ball off the bat of Haas and that was followed by a single by Jack Moss. One batter later Trevor Werner reached on a fielder's choice to score Haas and cut further into the Razorback lead.

T9 | ARK 8, A&M 7
LaViolette worked the count to 1-2 before blasting a solo home run over the left-center field fence to cut the lead to 8-7; however, Parker Coil retired each of the next three Aggies he faced to end the game.