Missouri was in a giving mood yet again in the seventh inning Sunday and the No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks were obliged to take advantage of the home team's blunders.
After the Tigers gifted the Razorbacks a pair of runs, Braydon Webb dealt the crowning blow, a two-run double on a would-be waste pitch that powered the University of Arkansas to a 6-4 series-winning victory before a crowd of 1,127 on a windy and cold day at Taylor Stadium in Columbia, Mo.
Arkansas (18-4, 5-1 SEC) won its 12th consecutive SEC series by bouncing back against the Tigers (13-7, 1-5) after a 7-5 loss on Saturday that snapped its 12-game winning streak. All three games were decided by two runs and featured butchered defensive plays by the Tigers and a shaky bullpen outing in the middle game by the Razorbacks.
"It wasn't the prettiest of series, that's for sure," said Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn, who earned his 300th SEC win Sunday. "I've seen a lot prettier. But I'll take two out of three any time on the road up here. I think we're just disappointed that we didn't play very well and last night kind of let it slip. The guys fought back today, had a good attitude."
Arkansas sophomore Jaxon Wiggins (4-1) gave up a two-run opposite field home run to Luke Mann in the second inning that bounced on top of the wall and over before mowing the Tigers down for the next five innings.
Wiggins got 12 outs in 12 batters from the second into the sixth before giving up a hit by pitch with two outs.
"I just found whatever pitch was working and just kept working on other pitches during the first two innings," Wiggins said on the SEC Network.
"Their pitcher, he settled in, but I also thought we made it easy on him at times," Missouri Coach Steve Bieser said on the Missouri Radio Network. "That's something we've been pretty good at is not letting a pitcher go very long with easy innings. But man, he had some easy innings there through the middle and we just didn't do enough during that time and we got a little sloppy defensively."
The Razorbacks, who squandered a golden scoring opportunity in the second inning, broke through in the fourth against 6-8 right-hander Austin Marozas.
Jalen Battles hit a bases-loaded single up the middle to plate Chris Lanzilli, then Zack Gregory drew a walk to bring in Kendall Diggs for a 2-2 tie.
The seventh inning proved decisive for the Razorbacks and messy for lefty reliever Christian Wall (0-2) and the Tigers.
Cayden Wallace drew a walk to open the inning. Peyton Stovall followed with a chopper to third base that could have started a double play. However, second baseman Nander De Sades had a long run to the bag and third baseman Justin Colon air-mailed his throw over the base and into right field, sending Wallace scampering to third.
Michael Turner hit a chopper to the first baseman Mann that brought Wallace home and was ruled a single as De Sades was late covering first base for Mann's throw.
Robert Moore bunted toward first and Mann bobbled it before spinning and throwing late to De Sades at first to load the bases.
"I just thought we should play traditional baseball right there," Van Horn said. "I just felt like it was going to give us a better chance to score some runs with the way it had been going for us. He laid down a beautiful sac bunt."
Ace reliever Austin Troesser struck out Lanzilli and got ahead of Diggs before committing a balk that brought home another run to make it 4-2. The umpires got together to call the delayed balk on Troesser, who stepped off the mound and feigned a throw to second with no defender near the bag. Bieser protested the call to no avail.
After Diggs struck out, Webb lashed a 1-1 pitch down the third base line and into left to bring home Turner and Moore for a 6-2 lead.
"I think the balk call there really kind of got ... Troess[er] off making and locating his pitches," Bieser said on the Missouri Radio Network. "It was maybe a bad pitch choice and a bad location on that particular hitter. We knew how to attack him and we were trying to waste a pitch and we just kind of missed it a little bit where he could hit a double down the line and that was the difference in the game."
Wiggins opened the ninth by walking the nine-hole batter De Sades and hitting Josh Day with a pitch. He struck out Ross Lovich, but Tre Morris hit an opposite-field single to right to make it 6-3 and chase Wiggins after a 109-pitch outing.
Reliever Brady Tygart hit Torin Montgomery with a pitch to load the bases. The Razorbacks nearly turned a double play on Carlos Pena's slow roller to second but Pena beat the rap at first to make it 6-4. Tygart retired pinch hitter Fox Leum on a soft liner to second to end the threat, then worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to post his team-high fourth save.
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NO. 4 ARKANSAS BASEBALL VS. UALR
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE Baum-Walker Stadium, Fayetteville
RECORDS UALR 11-10; Arkansas 18-4
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
INTERNET SEC Network-Plus