The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (32-5, 12-3 SEC) were walked off by the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs (32-6, 10-5 SEC) in a 7-6 extra-inning loss Sunday afternoon at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia.
Junior starter Landon Beidelschies didn't always have his best stuff, but fought through a three-run bottom of the second to provide 5.0 innings for the Diamond Hogs. The lefty allowed four earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
It was a relatively rough day for the offense, which managed just seven hits in 44 at-bats and struggled mightily against Georgia starter Leighton Finley. The Hogs struck out 15times and walked in just three at-bats. The team finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Despite that, the Razorbacks didn't go down quietly. Down two runs in the top of the ninth, catcher Ryder Helfrick and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy blasted solo home runs to tie the game. in the top of the 11th, leadoff man Charles Davalan drove in the lead-taking run with an RBI groundout.
Bullpen righty Carson Wiggins was electric in 2.0 innings, as he topped out at 102 MPH and collected four straight strikeouts at one point. The Bulldogs did get an unearned run against him plus one hit.
As a whole, Arkansas' bullpen combined for seven innings with three hits allowed, two earned runs, 11 strikeouts and zero walks.
Charles Davalan walked on four pitches to open Sunday's rubber match, but that was met with back-to-back outs against Wehiwa Aloy (strikeout) and Logan Maxwell (popup). Fortunately for the Hogs, Kuhio Aloy reached base on a catcher's interference. With Davalan now on second, Cam Kozeal lined one out to center field, and after the centerfielder failed to come up with the catch, Davalan scored to hand Arkansas a 1-0 lead.
Unlike yesterday's game, Arkansas got off to a good start on the mound thanks to starting left-hander Landon Beidelschies, who worked a 1-2-3 frame with two groundouts and a strikeout.
Georgia starter Leighton Finley was excellent in the second inning, as he struck out Gabe Fraser and Ryder Helfrick. Kendall Diggs reached first on an error, but he was stranded.
The second frame didn't go as well for Beidelschies, however. After picking up the first two outs fairly easily, he gave up a hit-by-pitch, double and homerun to make it 3-1, Bulldogs.
Arkansas' lone baserunner in the third was Maxwell. Dave Van Horn challenged what he believed was catcher's interference, but after replay, it was deemed there was none. Naturally, on the very next pitch, there was catcher's interference and Maxwell reached first base.
Beidelschies got tagged with a leadoff bomb to left field in the bottom of the third, which made it 4-1 Bulldogs. The southpaw worked around a double to get out without allowing any more damage.
The Razorbacks got a run back against Georgia in the top of the fourth with a solo blast courtesy of Helfrick. That made it 4-2 at the ...
