Alabama
Arkansas
No. 22 Baseball Suffers 9-1 Loss to No. 1 Arkansas
3/20/2021 10:35:00 PM | Baseball
The Hogs scored in five of the eight innings on the night to even the series
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Alabama baseball suffered a 9-1 loss to the top-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night at Baum-Walker Stadium. The 22nd-ranked Crimson Tide is now 15-4 overall and 1-1 in Southeastern Conference play.
Arkansas began the night's scoring with one run in the third and proceeded to add one more in both the fourth and fifth. The Hogs followed with three apiece in the sixth and eighth innings to put the game out of reach. Alabama got its lone run in the sixth but was unable to add any more.
Dylan Smith (0-2) suffered the loss in his first career SEC start. The Crimson Tide junior allowed three runs on five hits and a walk with nine strikeouts across his 99 pitches. Arkansas' Zebulon Vermillion (2-0) earned the win with 8.0 innings of one-hit, one-run baseball in his starting effort.
From Head Coach Brad Bohannon
"Arkansas simply played better than we did tonight. I thought we competed well for five innings and then the game got away from us late. We will need to both hit and pitch better for all nine innings tomorrow if we want to win the series."
How It Happened
- B3 | Casey Opitz sent a solo home run over the wall in right. (1-0, Arkansas)
- B4 | A leadoff double followed by an RBI-single added one more to the Razorback lead. (2-0, Arkansas)
- B5 | The Razorbacks doubled to lead off the fifth. After one out, a 3-1 groundout served as out No. 2 but moved the leadoff man to third. That runner from third came across on a wild pitch to tack on one more. (3-0, Arkansas)
- T6 | Jim Jarvis began the inning with a single to right. He moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a flyout to center. One more lineout to center allowed Jarvis to cross to narrow the gap. (3-1, Arkansas)
- B6 | Arkansas began the inning with back-to-back singles. A fielder's choice put the runners in scoring position before a single scored one. A sac fly and another single then brought in two more. (6-1, Arkansas)
- B8 | A leadoff double followed by a single and an error on the play added one run. After a walk and a wild pitch, a sac fly crossed one more before a second wild pitch in the inning allowed the final run to come home. (9-1, Arkansas)
Postgame Notes
- Dylan Smith struck out nine with only one walk issued in tonight's start. Smith has now totaled 29 strikeouts compared to two walks over his last three starts.
- Smith's offense has averaged 1.8 runs of support per nine innings pitched through his five starts this season. Smith has totaled 30.0 innings of work with the Tide bats producing six total runs while he was on the mound.
- Jim Jarvis got aboard in tonight's game and has now reached base safely in 17 straight games dating back to Feb. 21.
Alabama and Arkansas will meet on Sunday to decide the series. The finale will feature a pair of left-handers with the Crimson Tide calling on Antoine Jean while the Razorbacks counter with Lael Lockhart. First pitch of the finale is set for 2 p.m. CT with the game airing on SEC Network.
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