No. 2 Arkansas (25-3, 7-1 SEC) played some small ball to grind out a 10-inning victory over the No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores (20-7, 4-4 SEC), 6-4, on Saturday evening to take the series at Charles Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn. The Razorbacks have won seven consecutive Southeastern Conference games and are still tied for first place in the league.
Arkansas vs Vanderbilt: Game two
The Hogs struck first in the top of the second thanks to some power by a former Commodore. After 3B Brent Iredale singled to left field with one out, 1B Camden Kozeal smashed a two-run home run to left center off of his former team to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead for his third dinger of the weekend. Kozeal hit just three home runs during his freshman year at Charles Hawkins Field in 2024.
Vanderbilt scored its first run of the series in the bottom of the fifth with C Colin Barczi leading off with a single. LF Ruston Rigdon roped a single and advanced to second on a throwing error by CF Justin Thomas Jr., while Barczi came around to score on the play to cut the lead to one. Rigdon advanced to third on a groundout by 2B Mike Mancini, but RHP Gabe Gaeckle got the Razorbacks out of the frame by getting Jacob Humphrey to strike out swinging.
The Commodores tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth with CF RJ Austin leading off with an infield single. After 3B Brodie Johnston struck out swinging, 1B Riley Nelson moved Austin to second on a ground out to second. Austin advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI single by DH Mac Rose to knot up the contest, 2-2. Gaeckle was relieved by RHP Carson Wiggins, who made Barczi ground into a fielder's choice.
Gackle had a strong start on the mound in his seventh start of the season. The strike thrower tossed 5.2 innings while allowing two runs and six hits with seven strikeouts on 92 pitches (63 strikes).
Arkansas took the lead right back when Thomas had a solo shot to left field off of RHP Sawyer Hawks. However, Vanderbilt tied the game right back up in the bottom of the seventh. SS Jonathan Vastine worked his way on with a lead-off walk and stole second base. Rigdon struck out for the first out of the inning, and Mancini grounded out to first while Vastine moved over to third. Vastine scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, 3-3.
After Wiggins allowed a walk to Humphrey, RHP Aiden Jimenez was placed on the mound. He forced Austin to fly out to center to end the seventh. Jimenez came back out in the bottom of the eighth and struck out the side. He also blanked the Commodores in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings while only allowing a two-out single.
LHP Miller Green was inserted on the hill for the Hawks to open up the 10th. SS Wehiwa Aloy reached on a fielding error at second to begin the inning and stole second base. RF Logan Maxwell singled to right field to place runners on the corners with nobody out. With one out, Iredale broke the tie with an RBI single through the right side to hand the Razorbacks the lead. Both Maxwell and Iredale moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Kozeal laid down a squeeze bunt to cash in Wehiwa Aloy to lengthen the lead, 5-3, while Maxwell advanced to third. C Ryder Helfrick dropped down a squeeze bunt of his own near first base to score Maxwell while scampering to first and Kozeal advancing to second.
Jimenez came back for the bottom of the 10th but allowed a leadoff single to Humphrey. After Humphrey advanced to second base on a wild pitch, Austin legged out a single to put runners on the corners. Johnston fouled out behind the plate, and Nelson drove in Humphrey with a sacrifice fly to center field to cut the lead to two. Rose grounded out to Kozeal at first to end the game to give the Hogs their first series win in Nashville since 2010.
The Razorbacks and the Commodores will finish up the series on Sunday at Charles Hawkins Field. The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.