FAYETTEVILLE — Alabama snapped its five-game losing streak against Arkansas with the help of three home runs Friday.
Cobie Vance, Will Haynie and Chandler Taylor hit home runs as the Crimson Tide won 8-6 before an estimated crowd of 5,764 at Baum Stadium.
ARKANSAS BASEBALL
vs. ALABAMA
WHEN 6 p.m.
WHERE Baum Stadium
RECORDS Alabama 28-21, 13-12 SEC; Arkansas 26-23, 7-18 SEC
RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by affiliates. Check local listings.
PITCHING MATCHUP Alabama RHP Jake Walters (4-3, 1.98 ERA); Arkansas RHP Keaton McKinney (1-4, 6.06)
SHORT HOPS
Isaiah Campbell’s five-inning relief stint was the longest of the season for the Arkansas freshman right-hander. … Arkansas is now 8-5 in weekend openers and 4-5 in SEC series openers. … The Crimson Tide beat the Razorbacks for the first time since a 17-9 slug fest to open a series at Baum Stadium on March 21, 2014. … Arkansas freshman catcher Grant Koch had doubles in his first two at-bats and is now hitting .316.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY Alabama*, 6 p.m.
SUNDAY Alabama*, 1 p.m.
MONDAY Off
TUESDAY Missouri State, 6:35 p.m.
*SEC game
The Razorbacks (26-23, 7-18) lost their seventh-consecutive game — their longest losing streak under 14th-year Coach Dave Van Horn and the program’s worst streak since an eightgame skid in 2000. Arkansas remained in the SEC cellar with Tennessee.
Alabama (28-21, 13-12 SEC), which had an SEClow 18 home runs entering the game, built an 8-2 lead through four innings behind right-hander Geoffrey Bramblett (5-3) and held off a late Razorbacks rally.
“The game got away there in the fourth inning,” Van Horn said. “It’s just hard to recover down six runs to a pitcher like Bramblett, who throws nothing but strikes. He pitched to both sides of the plate with that big lead and got them into the seventh inning.”
Freshman Isaiah Campbell gave the Razorbacks a chance with five innings of one-hit relief behind Dominic Taccolini (5-4), as the big right-hander shut down the Crimson Tide after the fourth inning.
ALABAMA 8, ARKANSAS 6
“We were down, and I just wanted to throw strikes and keep us in the game and that’s what I did,” said Campbell, who threw a season-high five innings on 57 pitches. “It’s my first time all season going more than four innings and giving up no runs, so that’s always a big thing to keep your confidence up.”
Van Horn said Campbell has a shot at entering the rotation for the final SEC series at Mississippi State next weekend.
Vance, the Alabama second baseman, put a jolt into a Taccolini offering in the first inning, hitting his second home run off the batter’s eye in dead center field for a 410-foot plus shot and a 1-0 lead. Taccolini walked the next two batters, but he recovered to strike out Haynie and Cody Henry looking to get out of the jam.
The Razorbacks jumped ahead quickly after Clark Eagan’s leadoff double in the bottom of the first. Eagan advanced to third on interference by Alabama shortstop Daniel Cucjen after an errant pickoff throw, and he scored on Rick Nomura’s grounder to second base.
Arkansas was back at it in the second inning, with freshman catcher Grant Koch hitting a one-out double off the wall in center field and scoring on freshman Cody Scroggins’ two-out single through the pitcher’s box.
The lead didn’t last through a half inning. Keith Holcombe drew a walk to lead off the inning and Vance reached on a high chopper to third. After Georgie Salem’s sacrifice bunt, Taylor brought home a run with a groundout, then Taccolini uncorked a wild pitch to make it 3-2 Alabama. Haynie drove his next pitch over the wall in left-center for his teamhigh seventh home run and a 4-2 lead.
The Crimson Tide broke it open with a four-run third inning, with all the base runners coming with two outs. Taylor had the crowning blow, a three-run home run over the left-field bullpen that chased Taccolini with an 8-2 deficit.
“They beat us with the home run ball, and they’d only hit 18 coming into the ball game,” Van Horn said. “You make some mistakes and guys take good swings and they can hurt you. Credit to their offense, when Taccolini left pitches up and made mistakes, they made him pay.”
Bramblett, who allowed five hits in his six innings, held the Razorbacks silent for four consecutive innings after falling behind 2-1 in the second.
Reliever Sam Finnerty gave up a solo home run to Eagan and an RBI triple to Carson Shaddy with two outs in the seventh as Arkansas drew within 8-4.
The Razorbacks continued to climb back in the eighth when Chad Spanberger’s single drove in Jake Arledge and Michael Bernal, who had singled and doubled to lead off the inning against Matt Foster.
Thomas Burrows, Alabama’s left-handed closer, came on to escape the inning and finish up for his 11th save.
“It was a good job by our offense getting into that bullpen a little bit,” Van Horn said. “Hopefully that’ll help us out before the weekend’s over.”