KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn was honest. The continual downpour to end the week was frustrating.
Rain delayed the start of both Thursday's and Friday's games, turning a three-game series between the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and Tennessee into a Saturday doubleheader only.
The weekend did provide the Razorbacks with one bright spot with junior right-hander Trevor Stephan (5-3) delivering one of his best performances.
Stephan struck out 11, surrendered only 1 hit -- a leadoff single to Luc Lipicus in the second inning --and walked just 2 batters in No. 15 Arkansas' 2-0 seven-inning victory over Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Stephan's complete-game gem helped the Razorbacks avenge a 5-4 loss to the Vols in the opener.
"Trevor Stephen just did a tremendous job of giving us an opportunity to win that game," Van Horn said. "I would have it say it was his best [game] ... it was in his top two for sure because of the situation.
"[The weather] was frustrating. But really it's like I tell my team, 'We can't do anything about it. We can't control the weather. We can only control what we can control and that's our emotions.' That's what we just told them after the first game we lost. We need to somehow put it behind us and find a way to come out and play with energy."
That message was received, which in turn, helped Arkansas (35-13, 14-9 SEC) move into a tie for second place in the SEC West race after Auburn (14-9) was swept by Alabama on Saturday and division-leader Mississippi State (16-8) defeated Texas A&M 4-3.
"Once we lost the first game, our mindset was, we got to get the second game in, and more than anything we got to win it," Van Horn said. "For us to win that game and leave here 1-1 ... it gives us a chance to hang in the race."
Stephan struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning. He then struck out four consecutive batters between the third and fourth innings, using fastballs that approached 95 miles per hour while mixing in curves to frustrate the Volunteers (24-19, 7-15).
"He has good stuff," Tennessee Coach Dave Serrano said. "I don't want to take away from the quality of pitching that he brings to the table. I just didn't think our approach was as good as it needs to be."
Stephan's performance came on an afternoon when Arkansas struggled to string together hits. His run support finally arrived in the fifth when freshman Dominic Fletcher drove an off-speed pitch over the right-field wall for his second home run of the series and his eighth of the season.
The Razorbacks gave Stephan another run to work with in the seventh. Carson Shaddy clobbered a double to center to lead off the inning. He moved to third on a Fletcher single and scored on Eric Cole's single to center.
"We got a couple big hits," Van Horn said. "And that's all it took."
Arkansas produced plenty of big hits to finally conclude Saturday's first game, but it wasn't enough. The opener was originally scheduled to be played Thursday night, but it was suspended in the bottom of the second inning due to rain. More rain Friday moved the game to 9 a.m. Saturday.
Saturday featured even more rain, but field conditions were still playable. The game resumed with Arkansas holding a 1-0 lead in the second. But it didn't last long, as Tennessee scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The Razorbacks tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth, thanks to an RBI triple from Jake Arledge. Fletcher gave Arkansas a 4-3 lead in the sixth with a solo home run.
An infield single led to an error by Arkansas first baseman Chad Spanberger in a light rain allowed Tennessee to score twice in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead, 5-4.
"It was slick out there, but the way I look at it is it's the same for both teams," Van Horn said. "Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. We were just unfortunate ... We made a fielding mistake. They had the bases loaded with one out and our first baseman tried to field it and throw it before he fielded it.
"Unfortunately it got by him and two runs scored, and we never caught up."
Arkansas had to contend with yet another delay as more rain pushed back the second game by three hours.
"We didn't have a game time," Van Horn said. "We didn't know if we were going to start at 8 o'clock tonight, or 4 o'clock, or 3 o'clock. They kept running me back and forth for meetings ... Finally we got the game in."
Sports on 05/07/2017