Arkansas baseball loses its second series of the year

After weeks of Arkansas handing Kentucky Ls, the Wildcats have finally struck back.

The Diamond Hogs traveled to Lexington this weekend to play its series against No. 8 Kentucky. The Hogs won the first match 10-3 but gave up the following two, 11-3 and 7-4, respectively.

In game one, the Razorbacks took control of the game late. Hagen Smith was his spectacular, again, and held off the Cats offense for most of the game. He gave up one run in the third, but other than that, the performance was nearly flawless. He pitched his second-most strikeouts of the season with 14 for his ninth double-digit game.

The offense finally started to heat up going into the fifth. Peyton Stovall kicked things off with an RBI double. In the sixth, the Hogs took advantage of a back-to-back walks and brought in three more runs. However, they opened up the throttle in the sixth inning, scoring six runs. Unfortunately, they left little in the gas tank for the rest of the weekend.

In the final two games, Arkansas looked emaciated from the plate, scoring a combined seven runs to Kentucky's 18. The Razorbacks batted a measly 2-15 with runners in scoring position (RISP) for a .133 average in games two and three. To compare, Arkansas batted 5-17 (.294) in the first game. Batting with RISP has been an Achilles heel of this baseball, hitting .278 since the beginning of conference play. That's last in the league.

Arkansas has two SEC series left before the conference tournament, and it doesn't get easier. The Diamond Hogs will face No. 16 Mississippi State at home and take on No. 1 Texas A&M in College Station.