FAYETTEVILLE -- Tough-luck Kyle Wright flirted with a no hitter and his Vanderbilt teammates backed him with a couple of home runs as the Commodores defeated the No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks 6-2 on Saturday night.
Wright (3-5) gave up two hits over seven shutout innings and helped Vanderbilt (30-20, 13-12) even its series with the Razorbacks (36-14, 15-10) in front of an announced crowd of 8,021 at Baum Stadium.
The Razorbacks fell two games behind SEC West leader LSU and stayed a game and a half behind Mississippi State.
Will Toffey and Julian Infante hit home runs for the Commodores, who outhit the Hogs 12-4. Infante's shot, a three-run blast to left field off Kacey Murphy in the seventh inning, was his 10th of the season and gave Wright some padding.
"I'd say I had pretty good command of really all my pitches," said Wright, who in December was rated as a top-5 prospect by MLB.com for the 2017 first-year player draft. "My arm felt good and I think I held my velo[city] pretty well the whole game.
"They did a good job of battling, I will say. I know a couple of different instances there were like 10-pitch at-bats. That was one thing that I could have done better, is if I could have put guys away a little sooner, I could have gone deeper into the game. Other than that, everything felt pretty good."
Arkansas avoided being shut out for the fourth time with two ninth-inning runs. Jake Arledge walked and came home on Luke Bonfield's ground out, then Grant Koch launched his 12th home run off of Drake Fellows.
"Trying to get a little spark," Koch said. "It was a little late. We had a pitcher that was on his game tonight. We could have been more competitive."
Wright, who struck out 11, had not won since firing a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over Florida on April 14. The 6-4 right-hander has started two 1-0 losses this season, and last week he received a no-decision after allowing 1 run on 3 hits, with 13 strikeouts in nine innings in a 2-1 loss to Missouri.
"You can't just hope somebody hits a home run all the time," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "You've got to string hits together and he didn't allow us to do that."
Wright allowed one base runner through 51/3 innings.
Alex Gosser reached first on an 11-pitch walk to lead off the third inning, but Arkansas didn't get a hit until No. 9-hole batter Jax Biggers ripped a solid single to right field in the sixth inning.
"Most of the night he was ahead in the count," Biggers said. "I got ahead 2-0, a good hitter's count, and sat on a fastball and got one."
Luke Bonfield reached base on a controversial leadoff single to open the seventh. Vanderbilt left fielder Ro Coleman raced in and made a diving attempt on Bonfield's sinking liner. Second base umpire Michael Phillips delayed a moment before calling the play a no-catch and Bonfield who had touched first and was looping back toward the Arkansas dugout, had to race back to the bag.
Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin argued the call and after a video review the umpiring crew upheld the call on the field.
Vanderbilt had the best scoring chance in the early going in the fourth inning after designated hitter Reed Hayes drew a leadoff walk. Hayes moved up on a wild pitch and a grounder to become the game's first runner to reach third. Knight got a high pop to shallow left field to retire Jason Delay. JJ Bleday grounded to the right of the mound and second baseman Carson Shaddy made a back-hand stop and a cross-the-body throw to first base to end the inning.
Vanderbilt took the lead with one out in the fifth when Toffey stroked an 0-2 offering from Knight over the right-field fence for a line-drive home run.
"The home run he gave up was on an 0-2 pitch that was not well located at all," Van Horn said. "It was supposed to be a foot off the plate and it ended up being, I guess it was right there."
Blaine Knight (6-4) gave up six hits and one earned run, and he has gone four consecutive starts without a victory after opening the season 6-1. Knight's last victory came in a 14-4 decision over Georgia on April 13.
Vanderbilt left fielder Ro Coleman extended his streak of reaching base safely to seven consecutive plate appearances with his seventh inning-bunt single.
Coleman's streak came to an end with a flyout in the eighth inning to finish 3 for 4 with a walk.
He entered the weekend with an .083 batting average in SEC games.
Coleman's bunt down the first-base line ignited the Commodores' key seventh inning. Kendall followed with a hard single to right field. Infante jumped on Murphy's first pitch and sent it well over the left field wall.
The Commodores expanded their lead in the ninth on catcher Jason Delay's two-out two-run single against Josh Alberius. Delay's single drove in Infante, who had doubled, and Reed Hayes.
Today’s game
VANDERBILT AT NO. 16 ARKANSAS
WHEN 1 p.m. WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville
RECORDS Arkansas 36-14, 15-10 SEC; Vanderbilt 30-20, 13-12
PROBABLE PITCHERS Arkansas: RHP Dominic Taccolini (3-0, 4.99); Vanderbilt: RHP Chandler Day (7-1, 3.54 ERA)
RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by affiliates. Check local listings.
TV SEC Network
Sports on 05/14/2017