Credit to Ben Rikard | Associate Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas’ Jace Bohrofen hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to push the No. 7 Razorbacks past Texas A&M, 7-5, in the series opener on Thursday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Aggies (25-17, 9-10 SEC) erased a 5-0 lead to draw even and had opportunities in both the seventh and eighth innings to go ahead, but Arkansas (31-11, 12-7 SEC) got three straight outs from Hagen Smith in the seventh and then the left-hander was the benefactor of a great throw by Hunter Grimes to end the eighth inning on a play at the plate.
A grand slam by Peyton Stovall had the Hogs up 5-0 in the second inning, but homers by Jordan Thompson and Hunter Haas in the fourth inning cut the lead to one and an inning later Austin Bost tied it up with a sac fly.
The bullpen trio of Carson Lambert, Matt Dillard and Brandyn Garcia managed to keep the Razorbacks off the scoreboard until the eighth when Bohrofen launched his eleventh homer of the year out to right field to put Arkansas back in front.
Smith pitched the final 4.0 innings and got the win for the Hogs to move to 6-1 on the year. Garcia was saddled with the loss for the Aggies despite punching out three in 1.2 frames.
TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Jordan Thompson – 2-for-3, HR, BB, 3 RBI
Trevor Werner – 2-for-4, 2B, BB, 1 R
Carson Lambert – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K
Brandyn Garcia – (L, 1-1) 1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
UP NEXT
The Aggies and Razorbacks will play the second game of the series on Friday with first pitch set for 6 p.m. from Baum-Walker Stadium. The game will be aired on ESPNU with Tom Hart and Chris Burke on the call. It can also be heard locally on 1150 AM/ 93.7 FM The Zone with Andrew Monaco on the call.
GAME SUMMARY
B2 | ARK 5, A&M 0
After a clean first inning, Wansing was stung by the walk bug in the bottom of the second. He walked the bases loaded with three straight one-out free passes and the Razorbacks took a 1-0 lead with an infield hit off the bat of John Bolton. Wansing then struck out Kendall Diggs but allowed a grand slam to Peyton Stovall to give Arkansas a five-run inning.
T4 | ARK 5, A&M 4
The Aggies powered their way right back into the ballgame with a pair of home runs off Hollan in the top half of the fourth. Consecutive one-out singles by Jace LaViolette and Ryan Targac set the table for Jordan Thompson who connected on an 0-2 pitch for a three-run homer that cut the Hog lead to 5-3. Two batters later Hunter Haas tagged Hollan again with a solo homer into the left-field bullpen to trim the Arkansas advantage to 5-4.
T5 | A&M 5, ARK 5
Texas A&M drew even with another run in the fifth off reliever Dylan Carter. Consecutive singles by Trevor Werner and Brett Minnich put runners on the corners with nobody out and Austin Bost just missed a three-run homer, flying out to the warning track in straightaway center field to score Werner and knot things at 5-5.
B8 | ARK 7, A&M 5
Garcia issued a free pass to Caleb Cali to open the inning, prompting the Aggies to go the pen for stopper Will Johnston. But Jace Bohrofen connected on the second pitch he threw and launched a two-run homer in tnto the home bullpen to surge the Razorbacks in front.