HawgBeat - Arkansas walks off Texas A&M in extras at SEC Tournament
The Arkansas Razorbacks walked off the Texas A&M Aggies in the 11th inning of Wednesday's SEC Tournament game.
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The No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks (40-15) advanced to the winners bracket of the SEC Tournament with a 6-5 walk-off win over the Texas A&M Aggies (33-24) in the 11th inning on Wednesday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
Sophomore designated hitter Kendall Diggs turned on a 2-1 pitch to lead the bottom of the 11th inning off with a walk-off solo home run over the wall in right field. His 11th homer of the year — which was 105 mph off the bat and traveled 398 feet — was the first walk-off in the SEC Tournament since 2019, according to the SEC Network broadcast.
Prior to Diggs' big swing, the highlight of the game was when Arkansas trailed 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh and outfielder Jared Wegner turned on a first pitch fastball and put the Razorbacks ahead 5-4 with one swing of the bat. His grand slam resulted in Arkansas' first lead of the game and its first hit of the day with runners in scoring position.
Senior Zack Morris lefty went a career-long five innings and threw a career-best 85 pitches in relief. The Cabot native gave up one earned run on three hits, walked one and struck out five.
Once the Razorbacks took a one-run lead into the eighth inning, head coach Dave Van Horn elected to bring in right Will McEntire, who took care of business in his first inning of work. McEntire then gave up a leadoff solo shot to Austin Bost that tied things up at 5-5 in the top of the ninth and eventually sent things into extras.
McEntire did enough across the 10th and 11th innings to keep the Aggie bats quiet and give his team a shot to win. The righty ended with four innings pitched and he gave up one earned run on two hits, walked one and struck out three.
After needing just 33 pitches to get through two innings, Arkansas starter Cody Adcock ran into some trouble in the top of the third. The first two Aggie batters reach base and following a Matt Hobbs mound visit, Adcock loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk.
Van Horn turned to the left-handed Morris, who induced an RBI groundout and then gave up a two-run single that made it a 3-0 game after the first two batters Morris faced. The next two batters he faced went down on strikes to get the Hogs out of the top of the third.
In the bottom of the third, A&M starter Nathan Dettmer issued a one-out walk to Jace Bohrofen and then hit Wegner with a 2-2 pitch. The Aggies then turned to lefty Shane Sdao, who retired the two batters he faced to retired the fifth and sixth Razorback base runners to that point.
Morris gave up a leadoff moonshot to Ryan Targac in the top of the fourth that made it a 4-0 lead for Texas A&M. After putting on a pair of two-out baserunners, Morris escaped more trouble by inducing an inning-ending groundout.
Arkansas got on the board via an RBI sacrifice fly from Tavian Josenberger in the bottom of the fourth, but that was all the Hogs could muster up in the frame.
Morris worked his second straight 1-2-3 frame in the top of the sixth and then things looked promising when Peyton Holt blooped a one-out single to left, but Harold Coll grounded into a 6-3 double play to close the inning.
Another three up, three down pushed Morris' count to 10 straight batters retired and he was at five innings of one-run ball following the top of the seventh.
Arkansas gained a pair of one-out base runners in the bottom of the seventh to prompt a pitching change to A&M lefty Brandyn Garcia, who walked Jace Bohrofen and gave up a go-ahead grand slam to Wegner.
With a one-run lead, Van Horn turned to the reliable McEntire to start the eighth inning. McEntire worked around a one-out walk in the frame to keep the Aggies lineup quiet.
After Arkansas went down in order in the bottom of the eighth, Bost drove a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left to tie the game at 5-5. The Razorbacks were unable to capitalize on a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth and the game went to the 10th inning.
The Aggies had nothing going in the top of the 10th and a Caleb Cali leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame prompted a pitching change to Texas A&M right-hander Ty Sexton.
With runners on the second and third and one out, Arkansas elected to bunt Parker Rowland, who's soft tapper resulted in a fielder's choice out at home. A Josenberger groundout to second got the Aggies out of the jam.
After McEntire worked his first 1-2-3 frame of the game in the top of the 11th, Diggs smashed the walk-off to give Arkansas the win.
Up next, Arkansas moves to the winners bracket to face the LSU Tigers — who defeated South Carolina 10-3 on Wednesday — at 4:30 p.m. CT Thursday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
