April 21, 2008

Fayetteville, AR (UWIRE) -- After Arkansas won the first two games of its series with Tennessee, the Volunteers spoiled the Razorbacks' first chance to sweep an SEC team Sunday, knocking off the Hogs 7-6 in 10 innings thanks to a 17-hit onslaught.

Arkansas's two-run ninth-inning rally forced extra innings, where Tennessee's Cody Brown hit an RBI-double with two outs in the top of the 10th. The Hogs threatened in the bottom of the inning, where Sean Jones was hit by a pitch and reached third base on Ryan Cisterna's two-out single. Scott Lyons came to plate with runners on the corners and grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.

"We battled back and had an opportunity to win it there [in the 10th]," Hog head coach Dave Van Horn said. "I'm disappointed we didn't [win], but we played hard all weekend, and we won another series."

Steve Crnkovich was the winning pitcher for Tennessee, getting the last six outs for the Vols without allowing a run.

"We needed him to step up," said Volunteer head coach Todd Raleigh. "That was our last guy, I even had to let him hit. You've gotta give him credit, he made pitches when he had to."

Stephen Richards took the loss for the Hogs, giving up one earned run in 2.2 innings on 5 hits.

After holding the Tennessee scoreless in the top of the ninth, the Razorbacks loaded the bases with no outs down 6-4.

Tim Smalling singled to start the inning, Ryan Cisterna walked, both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Scott Lyons was walked to bring Chase Leavitt to the plate.

The Vols' designated hitter Jeff Lockwood came in to pitch and hit the first batter he faced, Leavitt, to score Smallling and make the score 6-5.

Ben Tschepikow then drew a game-tying walk to bring up Logan Forsythe with no outs and the bases still loaded.

Forsythe, hitless on the day, hit the first pitch sharply up the middle and grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. "He was being aggressive, trying to finish the game," Van Horn said. "He was definitely looking offspeed and that's what he got...I liked his approach, but that pitch wasn't the one we wanted him to swing at."

Leavitt, the runner on second base, went back to second thinking the ball was caught before being thrown out at third.

"We finally put together a good inning there in the bottom of the ninth. Leavitt, I don't know what he was thinking," Van Horn said.

Arkansas had another chance when Aaron Murphree pinch-hit with two outs of the tied game, but another sharp ground ball was snagged in the gap by the Volunteer third baseman on the in-between hop for the third out.

A one-out, solo home run from the Vols' nine-hole hitter Cody Grisham off Shaun Seibert in the eighth inning of a tied game put Tennessee on top 5-4. The sophomore's first hit of the series was also his first home run and first RBI of the season.

The Volunteers' freshman centerfielder Kentrail Davis added his third run of the game in the eighth inning to cap a 7-for-15 weekend performance, putting Tennessee up 6-4.

Tennessee out-hit Arkansas in all three games over the weekend, but the Razorbacks managed to pull out the first two games by identical 5-4 scores.

"We could've won all three, or we could've lost all 3 this weekend. We just battled hard," Raleigh said.

Arkansas has now won back-to-back conference series for the first time since late April 2007. The Hogs had dropped seven straight SEC series dating back to last season.

The Razorbacks get Northern Colorado for a mid-week set starting at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at Baum Stadium. Game 2 is an afternoon game Wednesday, scheduled for 1:05 pm. Arkansas takes on the SEC West-leading Ole Miss Rebels next weekend in Oxford.

(C) 2008 Arkansas Traveler via UWIRE