FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas got the big pitch when it needed it Thursday night.
The Razorbacks worked around jams in the second and seventh innings, and beat Ole Miss 10-3 at Baum Stadium. Arkansas leads the best of three-game series 1-0.
Game Sketch
Line Score: Arkansas 10-15-0; Ole Miss 3-5-4
Records: Arkansas 13-12, 2-5 SEC; Ole Miss 13-13, 3-4 SEC
WP: Dominic Taccolini (5-2)
LP: Christian Trent (4-2)
Turning Point: Zach Jackson struck out the Ole Miss 3-4-5 batters with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning to preserve a 5-3 lead.
Notable: Arkansas played in its third city in three days, having played in North Little Rock on Tuesday and in Memphis on Wednesday.
Attendance: 2,632
Up Next: Arkansas and Ole Miss will play again Friday at 6:05 p.m.
With the Razorbacks leading 5-3, Zach Jackson worked around the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the seventh. Jackson struck out J.B. Woodman, Sikes Orvis and Tate Blackman - the Rebels' three, four and five batters in the lineup - to end the threat.
"Very rarely can you wiggle out of a jam like that with that type of talent," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "But when you have the kind of stuff that Jackson has, you can. It's rare. I'd rather he not gotten into that jam but it was good to see him get out of it."
Aided by four Ole Miss errors, Arkansas scored five more runs over the final two innings to pull away. Five Razorbacks had multiple hits and the team had 15.
"That was a big blow when you have an opportunity, especially with your main guys in the lineup," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "More disappointing probably than that is you could tell that just knocked the wind out of us. We come out and make three errors and in doing so it kind of takes the pressure off of them, off of Jackson and that was disappointing we didn't continue playing the game because we could have maybe had another opportunity later in the game."
Arkansas (13-12, 2-5 SEC) took the lead for good with a three-run fifth inning that included RBI doubles by Cullen Gassaway and Tyler Spoon.
Clark Eagan scored on a double-error and Brett McAfee and Michael Bernal each added RBI singles in the seventh inning. Eagan tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Dominic Taccolini earned the win on the mound despite a shaky third inning in which he walked four batters, allowing two Ole Miss runs. Taccolini pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and working around six walks.
Jackson struck out six batters in 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Rebels (13-13, 3-4) struck out 14 times in all.